WIX-Installer MSI Publisher Unknown

Question

How to provide publisher Name for MSI installer which is developed using WIX Installer?

While installing my .msi installer it's showing unknown publisher, how to provide a name for publisher?Is it possible to do this within WIX? If so kindly help me how to implement this using WIX installer.

Answer 1

I think you are looking to avoid the security warning that is displayed when someone installs your setup. For this you would need to sign the setup with your certificate and a private key. You can try to do this by following the steps explained in the following links:

• How to Digitally Sign Microsoft Files
• Signing .MSI and .EXE files
• Everything you need to know about Authenticode Code Signing

Assuming you are looking for a publisher name in the control panel Programs and Features. You could use the Manufacturer attribute in your Product tag.

<Product Id="PUT-YOUR-GUID"  
 Manufacturer="PublisherName" 
 Name="ProductName" 
 UpgradeCode="PUT-YOUR-GUID" 
 Version="1.0.0">

Answer 2

Using WiX's in-built tool insignia is fairly straight-forward. Here's the steps to do code-sign a WiX MSI:

1. Add signtool to my PATH. It is commonly found in C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\x64 or, more recently, C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\App Certification Kit
2. Add insignia to my PATH. Your WiX Toolset directory is commonly found at
   "C:\Program Files (x86)\WiX Toolset v3.10\bin"
3. Sign my MSI in a post-build event (MSI Project -> Properties -> Build Events) by calling this:
   signtool sign /f "c:\certificates\mycert.pfx" /p cert-password /d "Your Installer Label" /t http://timestamp.verisign.com/scripts/timstamp.dll /v $(TargetFileName)

---

Further notes and thoughts:

• I have also signed the application (I think) by just doing Project Properties -> Signing and enabling click-once manifests, selecting the certificate and checking the Sign the assembly option.

• Here's my similar answer on how to do the same but for a bootstrap bundle: using insignia to sign WiX MSI and bootstrap bundle