I got this script from the following blog article which was helpful in accomplishing this task.Īfter building the install package, I checked the program database using Orca. I added the script SetArpInstallLocation.vbs to the deployment project folder. I added a post build event to the setup and deployment project with the followingĬscript '$(ProjectDir)SetArpInstallLocation.vbs' '$(BuiltOuputPath)' In my research, I discovered a convenient way to add the custom action after the MSI package is built using VB script. You can only include an Installer class written in C# or VB that is compiled in your solution.

Unfortunately, you can’t create a simple type 51 custom action using Visual Studio. Therefore, it has to be set with a custom action in a proper place in the execution sequence. It has to be set after the user selects the destination directory. Yet it can’t be a simple property that you set up front as an initial property. My first reaction was to just set the registry entry myself using the Registry view in the Visual Studio Setup and Deployment project, however the MSDN documentation showed me that the correct way to do it is to use the ARPINSTALLLOCATION property in the installer package. After discovering that my Windows Installer package was not correctly setting the InstallLocation value in the registry, I sought to correct it using Visual Studio.

Visual studio install location