Create a standalone .exe file

Question

I have a console application built in visual studio 2010.

When I actually build the project I am getting .exe file under \bin\Debug\MyProj.exe.

When I Paste and run this .exe from other location it is expecting other files too.

Any thoughts how can I make this as Stand alone exe file.

Well presumably you have references to other libraries. Why don't you just copy those as well? You *can* use ilmerge, but it would be better to just copy the libraries IMO. — Jon Skeet, Nov 21 '13 at 14:50
Visual Studio comes with a simple (but good for many needs) install project. You add the the output of your console project and it should detect any dependencies (including the .NET framework) that need to go with it. — Moo-Juice, Nov 21 '13 at 14:53
This has already been answered here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2035083/compile-to-a-stand-alone-executable-exe-in-visual-studio — randoms, Nov 21 '13 at 14:53
@JonSkeet.Thank you for response. I have the dlls. I want to make it stand alone program. could you tell me how to do that. — Patan, Nov 21 '13 at 14:54
May it is this, what you need: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/433171/how-to-embed-a-text-file-in-a-net-assembly Cheers — florianbaer, Nov 21 '13 at 14:54
Moo-Juice: not anymore in 2012 and 2013. You can use WIX, which is simple and has a plugin to Visual Studio as well. Sorry for off topic — eMko, Nov 21 '13 at 14:56
https://blogs.unity3d.com/2015/05/06/an-introduction-to-ilcpp-internals/ — gman, Nov 15 '19 at 05:06
Does this answer your question? [Can a .NET windows application be compressed into a single .exe?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/126611/can-a-net-windows-application-be-compressed-into-a-single-exe) — ymdred16, May 05 '23 at 11:13

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 21 '13 at 14:52

1

There should be other DLL's in the Debug library. You need those to run your exe.
If there are no DLL's there, make sure you set the 'Copy local' property of the required references to True, and build again.
If you want to make a standalone program, you should create a new Setup project in your solution. Include the Primary Output from your application project, and the setup should include the required DLL's automatically. Once you build the setup project, you can install your application as a standalone software.

answered Nov 21 '13 at 14:52

Marton

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Copy Local won't help the OP here, as he's manually copy/pasting to another directory. – Moo-Juice Nov 21 '13 at 14:53
Thank you for response. I have the dlls. I want to make it stand alone program. – Patan Nov 21 '13 at 14:54
@Patan I've edited my answer, see #3. The cleanest solution to this is to create a setup. – Marton Nov 21 '13 at 14:57

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 03 '18 at 09:45

You usually distribute application with bunch of DLLs, that's nothing bad.

But if you really want to make it a single exe, you can look here - same question is answered Embed .net dll in c# .exe . (Valid if your DLLs are also .Net assemblies)

Edit: If you need to easily distribute app to not-very-computer-friendly users, consider also trying ClickOnce. It's roughly something like Java Web start - only disadvantage is that you can't get "Windows Logo" certificate from Microsoft for projects distributed that way.

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 16 '21 at 01:57

0

I don't have Visual Studio 2010 to experiment with, but in Visual Studio 2019 this worked:

Project Properties->Configuration Properties->Advanced->Use of MFC->Use MFC in a Static Library

answered Jul 16 '21 at 01:57

trindflo

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Create a standalone .exe file

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