Passing command line args to MSI from WiX bundle
windows-installer, wix, wix3.7
Solution
Your MSI needs to define a property like so:
<Property Id="SOMEPROPERTY" Value="Default"/>
You can then set this property from the bundle:
<MsiPackage SourceFile="<package>.msi" Id="SomeId">
<MsiProperty Name="SOMEPROPERTY" Value="[SomeProperty]" />
</MsiPackage>
After this you can set the property in the Bootstrapper as described here: WiX Bootstrapper: How do I set burn variables from the command line?
Notice that SomeProperty is a Burn variable which you have to define:
<Variable Name="SomeProperty" Type="string" Value="DefaultValue" />
Update:
In the MSI you are then able to do a registry search based on this property:
<RegistrySearch Id="GetSomeValue" Root="HKLM" Key="SOFTWARE\<Manufacturer>\[SOMEPROPERTY]" Name="<ValueName>" Type="raw" />
Problem
I’m on Wix 3.7. I have an MSI that I would like to set a registry key (perhaps via a Custom Action, as he will have to check if the key already exists). I understand that a Bundle in a bootstrapper project can't change the machine state (such as setting the registry). Therefore, I'm attempting to pass a command line argument via `<MsiProperty>`, but doesn't appear to show up as a command line argument in my log file for the bootstrapper. - Is it possible to set a registry key up in a Bundle? - If not, how can I add a command line argument (or some other piece of custom data) to be passed to the MSI. - How can the MSI read whatever it is I pass to it (whether It ends up being a command line arg or something else). Bundle: ``` <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <Wix xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/2006/wi"> <Bundle Name="MyInstallerBootstrapperLocalDb" Version="1.0.0.0" Manufacturer="some company" UpgradeCode="PUT-GUID-HERE"> <BootstrapperApplicationRef Id="WixStandardBootstrapperApplication.RtfLicense" /> <Chain> <MsiPackage Id="MyInstallerInstaller" SourceFile="$(var.MyInstallerInstaller.TargetPath)" Compressed="no"> <!-- TODO - if this is being set correctly, the MSI needs to interpret it and set up the key--> <MsiProperty Name="SetLocalDb" Value="yes"/> </MsiPackage> </Chain> </Bundle> </Wix> ```