How do i make an installer?

I've made my very first application in Visual C# Express Edition 2005 , i made a text editor!
            So I finished my app but now i want to make an installer to be able to run it on other computers, i found the option to "publish" it, so i did that, and it create something that looked like an installer along with other files. I sent those files to a friend to see if it would install on his computer but it wouldn't, so my question is, Is that the only kind of installer i can make through Visual C# Express Edition 2005
            Any ideas how to make a good installer, i found in the documentation that there are 4 type of installers but i couldn't find any of them in Visual C# Express Edition 2005, all i found was the ClickOnce deployment thing-a-majig which i was talking about above.   PLEASE HELP!

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How do i make an installer?

Gayathri
Personally i feel very limited by the Clickonce installer so i'm thinking of wrting my own installer in C#. (I mean you don't even get to choose where you want to install your app with Clickonce!)
Sean Walker
Sometimes this solution does not work. In my case I had to put required files in "C:\Program Files\Microsoft.NET\SDK\v2.0\Bootstrapper\Packages" . I think that this is my .NET SDK 2.0 install dir which was instaled before VC# Express.
Alan Robbins
Unfortunately, yes. The Express editions only support the Clickonce deployment. What error did your friend get when he installed your app

Because with .NET applications, it should be enough to copy the exe file (and maybe some dlls) into a directory and run them. Of course, the .NET framework runtime has to be installed first.
pbrowntwi

I found this in another part of the msdn forum (https://forums.microsoft.com/msdn/showpost.aspx postid=13937&siteid=1). You can change the setting but make an installer that automatically installs the .net framework along with your program. All you have to do is make some changes the publish tab in the 'project properties', especifically in de prerequisites part, at the bottom, select "download prerequisites from the same location as my application". As you try to compile you will bump into some errors and the following is the way to correct them. So Enjoy!

Hi Netasia,

Here's what you need to do to fix the problem

1. In your web browser, go to http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/ LinkId=37283 and save the file to '<Visual Studio install directory>\SDK\v2.0\Bootstrapper\Packages\DotNetFX'. An example of the VS install directory is 'C:\Program Files\Visual Studio 8'
2. Also save the files at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/ LinkId=37285 and http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/ LinkId=37287 to the same location, <Visual Studio install directory>\SDK\v2.0\Bootstrapper\Packages\DotNetFX'.
3. To solve this same problem for SQL Server Express, then go to http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/ LinkId=37280 and save the file to '<Visual Studio install directory>\SDK\v2.0\Bootstrapper\Packages\SqlExpress\en'
4. Then return to the prerequisites dialog and select 'Download prerequisites from the same location as my application.'
5. Publish

Cheers,
-Patrick
Nihilists
I suggest you to take a look at Nullsoft installer (http://sourceforge.net/projects/nsis/). It's strongest points are that it's free, it uses great compression algorythms and is extremely flexible. You can handle start menu groups and icons, optonal features, integration with 'Add and remove programs' and more. The worst that can be said about it is that the scripting it uses can be very complex, but you can get around this because in most cases it'll be enough to tweak one of the many example scripts and compile it. In addition, if you want to go beyond the basics, it includes complete documentation ;)
How do i make an installer?

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