How do we create an installer than doesn't require administrator permissions?

Question

When creating a setup/MSI with Visual Studio is it possible to make a setup for a simple application that doesn\'t require administrator permissions to install? If its not

Answer 1

ClickOnce is a good solution to this problem. If you go to Project Properties > Publish, you can setup settings for this. In particular, "Install Mode and Settings" is good to look at:

• The application is available online only -- this is effectively a "run once" application
• The application is avaiable offline as well (launchable from Start Menu) -- this installs the app on the PC

You don't actually have to use the ClickOnce web deployment stuff. If you do a Build > Publish, and then zip up the contents of the publish\ folder, you can effectively distribute that as an installer. To make it even smoother, create a self-extracting archive from the folder that automatically runs the setup.exe file.

Even if you install this way, if you opt to use it, the online update will still work for the application. All you have to do is put the ClickOnce files online, and put the URL in the project's Publish properties page.