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I have a VS 2012 solution with WiX Installer projects. However, when I open the solution in VS 2013 (Release) the WiX project is incompatible.

Does anyone know where / whether a VS 2013 version (wixtoolset ?) is available being worked on yet? Or is there a way to make the current project compatible in VS 2013?

Henry Disoza
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Redeemed1
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7 Answers7

125

Update 2013-12-02: WiX Toolset 3.8 is released with official support for Visual Studio 2013 editions. It is available for download from wixtoolset.org.

You can manually enable Visual Studio 2013 compatibility with older versions of WiX:

  1. Copy
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE\Extensions\Microsoft\WiX to
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\IDE\Extensions\Microsoft\WiX

  2. Modify
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\IDE\Extensions\Microsoft\WiX\extension.vsixmanifest by adding the following:

    <VisualStudio Version="12.0">
    <Edition>Ultimate</Edition>
    <Edition>Premium</Edition> 
    <Edition>Pro</Edition>
    <Edition>Express_All</Edition>
</VisualStudio>

  3. Then open VS2013 Native Tools Command Prompt (from C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\Tools\Shortcuts) and execute:

    devenv /setup

When you open Visual Studio 2013, WiX 3.7 projects will be compatible.

Chris Schiffhauer
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    I'm guessing this was taken from my post: http://windows-installer-xml-wix-toolset.687559.n2.nabble.com/Using-WiX-3-7-Votive-with-VS2013-RC-td7589257.html – Christopher Painter Nov 08 '13 at 20:34
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    It should be noted that this won't fully support VS2013. There is additional work in WiX 3.8 that gets other pieces working such as C++ project templates. – Christopher Painter Nov 08 '13 at 20:35
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    I had [blogged these instructions](http://www.schiffhauer.com/enable-support-for-wix-3-7-in-visual-studio-2013-rc/) when VS2013 was in Release Candidate on October 14, well before this question. But the instructions are the same as in the nabble link. – Chris Schiffhauer Dec 04 '13 at 00:53
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    FYI: If you have followed these instructions for 3.7 and install 3.8 you might get this error loading wixproj files: `The 'WiX Project Package' package did not load correctly.` I you get it, remove the WiX dir from `C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\IDE\Extensions\Microsoft\` and repair the Wix 3.8 setup to get it working again. – urk_forever Jan 13 '14 at 09:02
  • I tried this with 3.6 but didn't get any intellisense whilst typing. :( – tommed Jul 26 '14 at 18:51
  • This worked for me on Visual Studio 2015RC using WiX 3.9. Remember to open the Native Tools Command Prompt as an administrator. I found the extension under C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\Extensions\Microsoft\WiX – Daz Jul 06 '15 at 10:25
21

Just update to WiX v3.8, it does support VS2013: http://wixtoolset.org/releases/v3.8/stable

eMazeika
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  • +1 for the link. As I was using an earlier 3.8 build this is a natural improved solution for me. – Redeemed1 Oct 29 '13 at 16:50
  • Does anyone know how to use the binaries for off-line installation? There doesn't appear to be a setup program included. – Jeff Oct 29 '13 at 20:37
16

If you install VS2013 after WiX you will have to uninstall WiX then reinstall it. Just repairing the WiX installation is not sufficient.

Ruskin
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    OK, didn't for me, but I did not reboot after repairing - also deving on a win2k8 server box - other OSs may be different – Ruskin Jun 10 '14 at 10:38
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    Sorry, I jumped the gun. It didn't work for me either. – James Jun 10 '14 at 16:09
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After running the toolkit installer for wix:

For Wix 3.8 and 3.9, with Visual Studio 2012 and 2013, I was required to delete all the cache files in:

"%appdata%..\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0\ComponentModelCache" (for VS 2012) and "%appdata%..\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\12.0\ComponentModelCache" (for VS 2013) respectively.

After deleting these files, execute from command prompt for each version of VS:

devenv /setup

e.g. "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\IDE\devenv /setup"

and "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE\devenv /setup"

Only after I deleted these files and restarted the machine did executing "devenv /setup" have the desired effect.

If these cache files are not deleted first, then you may experience a problem where your packages fail to load properly. You will know if your packages fail to load because VS will fail miserably upon startup.

devinbost
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    I had problems going from WiX 3.8 to 3.9 and getting it working w/VS 2013 the first time. I did this step and it worked. Thanks! – Brad W Nov 19 '14 at 22:13
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With WiX 3.7, even if you cannot open wixproj in Visual Studio 2013, it does compile using MSBuild for a VS2013 solution. (change wixproj ToolsVersion="12.0")

linquize
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1

the latest Wix installer seems to correct the installation without any configuration.

  1. close all visual studios. run the .exe at https://wix.codeplex.com/releases/view/136891.
  2. A fancy red splashcreen appears, click the centre section titled "install", this reinstalls Wix for all versions of VS on your machine.

worked for me.

learnerplates
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1

You must upgrade your wix and install WIX 3.9 to make your WIX Project compatible with vs 2013. Below is the link to download wix 3.9 https://wix.codeplex.com/releases/view/136891

Henry Disoza
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