Programmatically installing MSI packages

Question

I would like to install a given .msi package programmatically from my C# .NET application, preferably with the installation parameters that my application specifies (like th

Answer 1

The "Deployment Tools Foundation" project which is a part of the WIX3.5 install contains a .NET wrapper for most (if not all) of the Windows Installer API. Get it by downloading and installing the WiX install: http://wixtoolset.org/ (currently WiX 3.11, updated Aug.2017).

Locate the Microsoft.Deployment.WindowsInstaller.dll file in the %ProgramFiles%\Windows Installer XML v3.??\SDK\ folder. Set a reference in your C# project and try to run the different APIs and see if you get the desired functionality.

I highly recommend using Deployment Tools Foundation over any COM Interop from .NET code.