VS 2010 installer project not carrying shared referenced assemblies to all outputs

Question

I am setting up an installer project for a C# solution and I encounter a dependency problem:

In my solution, I have 4 independent project outputs – one windows service and three executables, who all share between them some references.

I need the installer to install all four of them in order for the solution to work.

I've set up an installation folder for each project output under "Application folder" in the "File system on target machine" dialog, added the project output of the windows service successfully in its folder. But when I continue to try and add the executables' project outputs in their folders the assemblies already carried into the windows service folder are not carried into the executable folder, and following the installation the executables won't run as they are missing dependencies.

I can manually add the missing assemblies to the executables' folders, but it seems that this is not how it should be done and there's something I'm missing.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

Well you should create a new project in the solution, and set the "installer" to be the output of your main application (or main applications) it should solve the dependencies itself.