What is the difference between NetFx45WebLink and NetFx45RedistLink

Question

I used WiX 3.7 to write a bootloader that first installs .net 4.5, and then my MSI application:

<Chain> <PackageGroupRef Id="NetFx45Redist"/> <MsiPackage Id="MainAppPackage" After="NetFx45Redist" SourceFile="..\bin\Debug\MyApp.msi"/> </Chain> 

The WiX documentation says NetFx45Redist is a standalone setup, and NetFx45Web is a web setup. After I built the bootloader with the identifier set to NetFx45Redist , it was the same size as when I built it with the specified NetFx45Web identifier. I was curious, so I downloaded WiX sources (v3.7). I was surprised to see that there were few differences between the two PackageGroup elements.

DownloadUrl for NetFx45Web is http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=225704 , and for NetFx45Redist is http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=225702 . According to the RemotePayload\@Size NetFx45Web is 1005568 bytes, and NetFx45Redist is 50352408 bytes.

I expected NetFx45Redist to include the installation of .net 4.5 in my bootloader, and no download would be required. I see it wrong. What PackageGroup should be used then and what is the difference between two loaded .net 4.5 installations?

Answer 1

Both groups of packages are designed to download files from Microsoft. Both provide full customization of the framework of Microsoft.NET 4.0. Smaller is the boot loader, which then loads only parts that are not on the system. The larger one has all the parts that any system may need.

It's a little surprising that WixNetFxExtension does not offer a group of packages without downloading. But, since you have already looked at the source code of NetFx4.5.wxs , you just need to copy the attributes you want into your own package group.

EDIT:

I should also indicate that bootstrapper accepts command line arguments as described here . -layout dvd will download packages to a folder named dvd , which can be used for offline installation. (Obviously, NetFx45Web is not suitable for this.)