Why do I need an installation wizard? How to create it?

Question

If I create a WPF or WinForms application, I can run it using the executable in the Debug folder. Why do all programs come with the installation wizard and how to create it for my WPF / WinForms application?

Answer 1

When deploying a Windows-based application on a client machine, we need to take care of several aspects, such as the installation location, registry values, and ensure that the required version of the .Net infrastructure is present on the client machine. Such things can be automated by the installer. You can create an installer using the installation and deployment project or using clickonce

Check out the links below for more.

Installation and Deployment Projects
Deploying a WPF Application
Deploying a standard WPF application with ClickOnce and Visual Studio
Deploy WPF 3.5 SP1

Answer 2

Programs usually come with the installer, because it can put the program in a known location, add things to the Start menu, add registry keys, etc.

You can create an installer using NSIS .

Answer 3

installers will be run (most of the time) by administrators. This will allow you to modify protected system objects during installation, such as the file system (Program Files folder), registry and installation services, etc.

The actual program then will not need these privileges and can be run by non-admins.

In addition: the requirements for the Microsoft logo make it mandatory to use the Windows installer (a service that installs MSI and adds them to the control panel for easy removal).

Answer 4

For example, almost any program created by Visual Studio 2010, if it is copied to a recently installed Windows XP system, will not work. This is what installers succeed, and it's hard to understand: dependencies.