WiX 3.8: Create an .EXE Installer

Question

Back in WiX 3.7, there was a setupbld.exe tool, which could output .EXE setup files. Issue 4210 removed "SetupBld and friends", and nothing was added in exchange.

What I want is to have the simplest possible EXE "launcher", to which I could attach a Manifest, so that it will start Elevated out of the box. I don't want any fancy bootstrappers and chainers, I want a simple EXE. What is the way to do it in WiX 3.8?

Answer 1

If you want to use setupbld.exe in WiX 3.8+, you just need to copy the following files from WiX 3.7 "bin" folder into 3.8 / 3.9 WiX "bin" folder:

• setup.exe
• setupbld.exe
• SetupBuilder.dll