How to convert vdproj file to WiX format?

Question

I need to convert a vdproj file to WiX format so that I can get it building using msbuild. One solution was to call the devenv executable from msbuild and build the vdproj file from there but that's just nasty. I thought that I would try manually converting the file to WiX format but looking at its contents scared me quite a bit. Are there any tools or elegant solutions that could possibly help with this conversion?

Answer 1

You can try work with Dark which converts any MSI into Wix. You will need to remove a lot of "junk" especially in the UI areas but it will give you a decent start.

Answer 2

There is a utility by Chris Oldwood that converts a .vdproj to .wxs (using powerscript command line) I hope that helps, this is my current research and I will report back on any issues. Once converted do not forget WixEdit. Microsoft have removed .vdproj from VS2012.

Answer 3

If you want to switch to NSIS or Inno Setup you can use Visual & Installer extension: http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/5e57fe9a-ae5d-4740-a1c3-7a8e278e105b

It also supports conversion from .vdproj files into NSIS or Inno Setup script.

Answer 4

"VDProj to WiX Converter" will help you to convert vdProj file to wix.

It can be downloaded from the link http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/0f8ff662-c844-4c3c-9c7b-b170cea16baf