How to create/Where to get Wix Bootstrapper for Multiple Instances

Question

I\'m currently learning how to create msi installers using WiX and it seems I\'ve hit a wall.

All is well when I create an MSI containing everything needed for a single

Answer 1

Although I've never created a multi-instance setup, I also noticed that Acresso announced MI support in IS 2009. We have IS 2009 but didnt use this feature.

However, Installshield often simply makes use of new MSI features by offering an "intuitive" frontend to them (like for chaining multiple MSIs together into one). So you might want to look for general information on how to achieve that by using the MSI SDK.

Here are some useful links that might point you to the right direction:

• Authoring Multiple Instances with Instance Transforms
• Multiple Instance Transforms Walkthrough, Proposed Simple Addition to WiX to Make Them Easier

Answer 2

Creating multiple instances is pretty easy with WiX v3. You just use the InstanceTransform and Instance elements to create everything. Now, the bootstrapper problem requires something outside of the WiX toolset since we don't have burn, yet. I'm not sure we'll get this functionality in WiX v3.5 (with burn) but it is on our list for burn post v3.5.