Installer and deployment recommendation for .NET4.5 application

Question

we used to use the Visual Studio Setup Project, together with Git, TeamCity and NetSparcle to create an easy deployment process along with comfortable auto update functionality for our customers.

Since we are switching to .net4.5 we cannot use the VS Setup Project anymore (not supported anymore) and have to switch to another installer. So here is my question to you:

• Do you have any recommendations, which installer works fine for .net4.5 in VS2012? If you recommend InstallShield, which one should i
• Which one goes well well with TeamCity or which deployment server/system do you recommend?
• Any good or bad experiences with particular installers?

I read this, but .net4.5 seems to be a game changer here.

PS: Flexira Software is quite expensive...

Answer 1

Advanced Installer recently added support for .NET Framework 4.5. You can try it and see if it does what you need. It has both a free version and licensed editions.

Here is a list of other setup authoring tools: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_installation_software

You can try testing the ones you like to see if they meet your needs.

As a side note, .NET Framework 4.5 is not much of a game changer. The application deployment process hasn't changed much. So even if a setup tool doesn't offer full .NET 4.5 support, it may still meet your needs.

Answer 2

The ability to download and install for free InstallShield Limited Edition is included with Visual Studio. It's basically on par with what VS Setup Project was capable of doing so if you were happy with that, you should be happy with this and in better position from an installer quality and upgrade path perspective.

If you choose to upgrade, generally Professional is enough. Also there is windows Installer XML and I've blogged in the past about strategies of how to "augment installshield" limited edition project using WiX merge modules. This allows you to increase the scope of what InstallShield LE can do in various ways.