Installing a Shell (Integrated or Isolated) Application

Article
04/21/2015

To install a Shell app you must perform the following steps.

Prepare your solution.
Create a Windows Installer (MSI) package for your application.
Create a Setup bootstrapper.

All of the example code in this document comes from the Shell Deployment Sample, which you can download from the Code Gallery on the MSDN website. The sample shows the results of performing each of these steps.

Prerequisites

To perform the procedures that this topic describes, the following tools must be installed on your computer.

The Visual Studio 2013 SDK
The Windows Installer XML Toolset version 3.6

The sample also requires the Microsoft Visualization and Modeling SDK, which not all shells require.

Preparing Your Solution

By default, Shell templates build to VSIX packages, but this behavior is intended primarily for debugging purposes. When you deploy a Shell application, you must use MSI packages to allow for registry access and for restarts during installation. To prepare your application for MSI deployment, perform the following steps.

To prepare a Shell application for MSI deployment

Edit each .vsixmanifest file in your solution.

In the Identifier element, add an InstalledByMSI element and a SystemComponent element, and then set their values to true.

These elements prevent the VSIX installer from trying to install your components and the user from uninstalling them by using the Extensions and Updates dialog box.
For each project that contains a VSIX manifest, edit the build tasks to output the content to the location from which your MSI will install. Include the VSIX manifest in the build output, but don't build a .vsix file.

Creating an MSI for Your Shell

To build your MSI package, we recommend that you use the Windows Installer XML Toolset because it gives greater flexibility than a standard Setup project.

In your Product.wxs file, set detection blocks and the layout of Shell components.

Then create Registry entries, both in the .reg file for your solution and in ApplicationRegistry.wxs.

Detection Blocks

A detection block consists of a Property element that specifies a prerequisite to detect and a Condition element that specifies a message to return if the prerequisite isn't present on the computer. For example, your Shell application will require the Microsoft Visual Studio Shell redistributable, and the detection block will resemble the following markup.

<Property Id="ISOSHELLSFX">
  <RegistrySearch Id="IsoShellSfx" Root="HKLM" Key="Software\Microsoft\DevDiv\vs\Servicing\\$(var.ShellVersion)\IsoShell\$(var.ProductLanguage)" Name="Install" Type="raw" />
</Property>
<Property Id="INTSHELLSFX">
  <RegistrySearch Id="IntShellSfx" Root="HKLM" Key="SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DevDiv\vs\Servicing\$(var.ShellVersion)\devenv\$(var.ProductLanguage)" Name="Install" Type="raw" />
</Property>

<Condition Message="This application requires $(var.IsoShellName).  Please install $(var.IsoShellName) then run this installer again.">
  <![CDATA[Installed OR ISOSHELLSFX]]>
</Condition>
<Condition Message="This application requires $(var.IntShellName).  Please install $(var.IntShellName) then run this installer again.">
  <![CDATA[Installed OR INTSHELLSFX]]>
</Condition>

The previous example block assumes an isolated Shell application. For an integrated Shell application, the Id values would be set to "IsoShellSfx" or "ISOSHELLSFX", and the registry key would point to \IntShell\$(var.ProductLanguage) instead of \IsoShell\$(var.ProductLanguage).

Layout of Shell Components

You must add elements to identify the target directory structure and the components to install.

To set the layout of Shell components

Create a hierarchy of Directory elements to represent all of the directories to create on the file system on the target computer, as the following example shows.

    <Directory Id="TARGETDIR" Name="SourceDir">
      <Directory Id="ProgramFilesFolder">
        <Directory Id="CompanyDirectory" Name="$(var.CompanyName)">
          <Directory Id="INSTALLDIR" Name="$(var.FullProductName)">
            <Directory Id="ExtensionsFolder" Name="Extensions" />
            <Directory Id="Folder1033" Name="1033" />
          </Directory>
        </Directory>
      </Directory>
      <Directory Id="ProgramMenuFolder">
        <Directory Id="ApplicationProgramsFolder" Name="$(var.FullProductName)"/>
      </Directory>
    </Directory>

These directories are referred to by Id when files that must be installed are specified.

Identify the components that the Shell and your Shell application require, as the following example shows.

Note

Some elements may refer to definitions in other .wxs files.

    <Feature Id="ProductFeature" Title="$(var.ShortProductName)Shell" Level="1">
      <ComponentGroupRef Id="ApplicationGroup" />
      <ComponentGroupRef Id="HelpAboutPackage" />
      <ComponentRef Id="GeneralProfile" />
      <ComponentGroupRef Id="EditorAdornment"/>      
      <ComponentGroupRef Id="SlideShowDesignerGroup"/>

      <!-- Note: The following ComponentGroupRef is required to pull in generated authoring from project references. -->
      <ComponentGroupRef Id="Product.Generated" />
    </Feature>

The ComponentRef element refers to another .wxs file that identifies files that the current component requires. For example, GeneralProfile has the following definition in HelpAbout.wxs.
```
<Fragment Id="FragmentProfiles">
  <DirectoryRef Id="INSTALLDIR">
    <Directory Id="ProfilesFolder" Name="Profiles">
      <Component Id='GeneralProfile' Guid='*'>
        <File Id='GeneralProfile' Name='General.vssettings' DiskId='1' Source='$(var.BuildOutputDir)Profiles\General.vssettings' KeyPath='yes' />
      </Component>
    </Directory>
  </DirectoryRef>
</Fragment>
```
The DirectoryRef element specifies where these files go on the user's computer. The Directory element specifies that it will be installed into a sub-directory, and each File element represents a file that's built or that exists as part of the solution and identifies where that file can be found when the MSI file is created.

The ComponentGroupRef element refers to a group of other components (or components and component groups). For instance, ComponentGroupRef under ApplicationGroup is defined as follows in Application.wxs.

    <ComponentGroup Id="ApplicationGroup">
      <ComponentGroupRef Id="DebuggerProxy" />
      <ComponentRef Id="MasterPkgDef" />
      <ComponentRef Id="SplashResource" />
      <ComponentRef Id="IconResource" />
      <ComponentRef Id="WinPrfResource" />
      <ComponentRef Id="AppExe" />
      <ComponentRef Id="AppConfig" />
      <ComponentRef Id="AppPkgDef" />
      <ComponentRef Id="AppPkgDefUndef" />
      <ComponentRef Id="$(var.ShortProductName)UI1033" />
      <ComponentRef Id="ApplicationShortcut"/>
      <ComponentRef Id="ApplicationRegistry"/>
    </ComponentGroup>

Note

Required dependencies for Shell (Isolated) applications are: DebuggerProxy, MasterPkgDef, Resources (especially the .winprf file), Application, and PkgDefs. Shell (Integrated) has all of these files already installed.

Registry Entries

The Shell (Isolated) project template includes a ProjectName.reg file for registry keys to merge on installation. These registry entries must be part of the MSI for both installation and cleanup purposes. You must also create matching registry blocks in ApplicationRegistry.wxs.

To integrate registry entries into the MSI

In the Shell Customization folder, open ProjectName.reg.
Replace all instances of the $RootFolder$ token with the path of the target installation directory.
Add any other registry entries that your application requires.
Open ApplicationRegistry.wxs.

For each registry entry in ProjectName.reg, add a corresponding registry block, as the following examples show.

ProjectName.reg	ApplicationRegisty.wxs
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{bb431796-a179-4df7-b65d-c0df6bda7cc6}] @="PhotoStudio DTE Object"	<RegistryKey Id='DteClsidRegKey' Root='HKCR' Key='$(var.DteClsidRegKey)' Action='createAndRemoveOnUninstall'> <RegistryValue Type='string' Name='@' Value='$(var.ShortProductName) DTE Object' /> </RegistryKey>
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{bb431796-a179-4df7-b65d-c0df6bda7cc6}\LocalServer32] @="$RootFolder$\PhotoStudio.exe"	<RegistryKey Id='DteLocSrv32RegKey' Root='HKCR' Key='$(var.DteClsidRegKey)\LocalServer32' Action='createAndRemoveOnUninstall'> <RegistryValue Type='string' Name='@' Value='[INSTALLDIR]$(var.ShortProductName).exe' /> </RegistryKey>

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{bb431796-a179-4df7-b65d-c0df6bda7cc6}]

@="PhotoStudio DTE Object"

</RegistryKey>

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{bb431796-a179-4df7-b65d-c0df6bda7cc6}\LocalServer32]

@="$RootFolder$\PhotoStudio.exe"

</RegistryKey>

In this example, Var.DteClsidRegKey resolves to the registry key in the top row. Var.ShortProductName resolves to PhotoStudio.

Creating a Setup Bootstrapper

Your completed MSI will install only if all the prerequisites are installed first. To ease the end user experience, create a Setup program that gathers and installs all prerequisites before it installs your application. To ensure a successful installation, perform these actions:

Enforce installation by Administrator.
Detect whether the Visual Studio Shell (Isolated) is installed.
If your Shell is integrated, detect whether the Visual Studio Shell (Integrated) is installed.
Run one or both Shell installers in order.
Handle restart requests.
Run your MSI.
If your Shell is integrated, run devenv /Setup to notify Visual Studio about the new extensions.

Enforcing Installation by Administrator

This procedure is required to enable the Setup program to access required directories such as \Program Files\.

To enforce installation by Administrator

Open the shortcut menu for the Setup project, and then choose Properties.
Under Configuration Properties/Linker/Manifest File, set UAC Execution Level to requireAdministrator.

This property puts the attribute that requires the program to be run as Administrator into the embedded manifest file.

Detecting Shell Installations

To determine whether the Visual Studio Shell (Isolated) must be installed, first determine whether it's already installed by checking the registry value of HKLM\Software\Microsoft\DevDiv\vs\Servicing\ShellVersion\isoshell\LCID\Install.

To determine whether the Visual Studio Shell (Integrated) must be installed, first determine whether it's already installed by checking the registry value of HKLM\Software\Microsoft\DevDiv\vs\Zervicing\ShellVersion\devenv\LCID\Install, where ShellVersion is 12.0 and LCID is the target culture code (1033 for US English).

Note

These values are also read by the Shell detection block in Product.wxs.

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\AppEnv\12.0\ShellFolder specifies the location where the Visual Studio Shell was installed, and you can check for files there.

For an example of how to detect a Shell installation, see the GetProductDirFromReg function of Utilities.cpp in the Shell Deployment Sample.

If one or both of the Visual Studio Shells that your package requires isn't installed on the computer, you must add them to your list of components to install. For an example, see the ComponentsPage::OnInitDialog function of ComponentsPage.cpp in the Shell Deployment Sample.

Running the Shell Installers

To run the Shell installers, call the Visual Studio Shell redistributables by using the correct command-line arguments. At a minimum, you must use the command-line arguments /norestart /q and watch for the return code to determine what should be done next. The following example runs the Shell (Isolated) redistributable.

dwResult = ExecCmd("Vs_IsoShell.exe /norestart /q", TRUE);

After the Shell (Isolated) redistributable has been installed, you can then install the Shell (Integrated) redistributable.

dwResult = ExecCmd("Vs_IntShellAdditional.exe /norestart /q", TRUE);

Running the Shell Language Pack Installers

If you instead find that the shell or shells have been installed and just need a language pack, you can install the language packs as the following example shows.

dwResult = ExecCmd("Vs_IsoShellLP.exe /norestart /q", TRUE);

The code to install the Shell (Integrated) language pack is similar.

dwResult = ExecCmd("Vs_IntShellAdditinoalLP.exe /norestart /q", TRUE);

Deciphering Return Values

On some operating systems, the Visual Studio Shell (Isolated) installation will require a restart. This condition can be determined by the return code of the call to ExecCmd.

Return Value	Description
ERROR_SUCCESS	Installation completed. You can now install your application.
ERROR_SUCCESS_REBOOT_REQUIRED	Installation completed. You can install your application after the computer has been restarted.
3015	Installation is in progress. A computer restart is required to continue the installation.

Handling Restarts

When you ran the Shell installer by using the /norestart argument, you specified that it wouldn't restart the computer or ask for the computer to be restarted. However, a restart might be required, and you must ensure that your installer continues after the computer is restarted.

To handle restarts correctly, make sure that only one Setup program is set to resume and that the resume process will be handled correctly.

If either ERROR_SUCCESS_REBOOT_REQUIRED or 3015 is returned, your code should restart the computer before the installation continues.

To handle restarts, perform these actions:

Set the registry to resume installation when Windows starts.
Perform a double restart of the bootstrapper.
Delete the Shell installer ResumeData key.
Restart Windows.
Reset the start path of the MSI.

Setting the Registry to Resume Setup When Windows Starts

The HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce\ registry key executes at system startup with administrative permissions and then is erased. HKEY_CURRENT_USER contains a similar key, but it runs as a normal user and isn't appropriate for installations. You can resume installation by putting a string value in the RunOnce key that calls your installer. However, we recommend that you call the installer by using a /restart or similar parameter to notify the application that it's resuming instead of starting. You can also include parameters to indicate where you are in the installation process, which is especially useful in installations that may require multiple restarts.

The following example shows a RunOnce registry key value for resuming an installation.

"c:\MyAppInstaller.exe /restart /SomeOtherDataFlag"

Installing Double Restart of Bootstrapper

If Setup is used directly from RunOnce, the desktop won't be able to load completely. To make the full user interface available, you must create another execution of Setup and end the RunOnce instance.

You must re-execute the Setup program so that it obtains the correct permissions, and you must give it enough information to know where you stopped before the restart, as the following example shows.

if (_cmdLineInfo.IsRestart())
{
    TCHAR path[MAX_PATH]={0};
    GetModuleFileName(NULL, path, MAX_PATH * sizeof(TCHAR));    
    ShellExecute( NULL, _T( "open" ), path, _T("/install"), 0, SW_SHOWNORMAL );
}

Deleting the Shell Installer ResumeData Key

The Shell installer sets the HKLM\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\12.0\Setup\ResumeData registry key with data to resume Setup after restart. Because your application, not the Shell installer, is resuming, delete that registry key, as the following example shows.

CString resumeSetupPath(MAKEINTRESOURCE("SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\VisualStudio\\12.0\\Setup\\ResumeData"));
RegDeleteKey(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, resumeSetupPath);

Restarting Windows

After you set the required registry keys, you can restart Windows. The following example invokes the restart commands for different Windows operating systems.

OSVERSIONINFO ov;
HANDLE htoken ;
//Ask for the SE_SHUTDOWN_NAME token as this is needed by the thread calling for a system shutdown.
if (OpenProcessToken(GetCurrentProcess(), TOKEN_ADJUST_PRIVILEGES | TOKEN_QUERY, &htoken))
{
    LUID luid ;
    LookupPrivilegeValue(NULL, SE_SHUTDOWN_NAME, &luid) ;
    TOKEN_PRIVILEGES    privs ;
    privs.Privileges[0].Luid = luid ;
    privs.PrivilegeCount = 1 ;
    privs.Privileges[0].Attributes = SE_PRIVILEGE_ENABLED ;
    AdjustTokenPrivileges(htoken, FALSE, &privs, 0, (PTOKEN_PRIVILEGES) NULL, 0) ;
} 

//Use InitiateSystemShutdownEx to avoid unexpected restart message box
try
{            
    if ( (ov.dwMajorVersion > 5) || ( (ov.dwMajorVersion == 5) && (ov.dwMinorVersion  > 0) ))
    {
        bExitWindows = InitiateSystemShutdownEx(0, _T(""), 0, TRUE, TRUE, REASON_PLANNED_FLAG);
    }
    else
    {
#pragma prefast(suppress:380,"ignore warning about legacy api")
        bExitWindows = InitiateSystemShutdown(0, _T(""), 0, TRUE, TRUE);
    }
}
catch(...)
{
    //advapi32.dll call not available! Will not restart!
}

Resetting the Start Path of MSI

Before restart, the current directory is the location of your Setup program but, after restart, the location becomes the system32 directory. Your Setup program should reset the current directory before each MSI call, as the following example shows.

CString GetSetupPath()
{
    TCHAR file[MAX_PATH];
    GetModuleFileName(NULL, file, MAX_PATH * sizeof(TCHAR));
    CString path(file);
    int fpos = path.ReverseFind('\\');
    if (fpos != -1)
    {
        path = path.Left(fpos + 1);
    }

    return path;
}

Running the Application MSI

After the Visual Studio Shell installer returns ERROR_SUCCESS, you can run the MSI for your application. Because your Setup program is providing the user interface, start your MSI in quiet mode (/q) and with logging (/L), as the following example shows.

TCHAR temp[MAX_PATH];
GetTempPath(MAX_PATH, temp);

CString boutiqueInstallCmd, msi, log;
CString cmdLine(MAKEINTRESOURCE("msiexec /q /I %s /L*vx %s REBOOT=ReallySuppress"));
CString name(MAKEINTRESOURCE("PhotoStudioIntShell.msi"));
log.Format(_T("\"%s%s.log\""), temp, name);
msi.Format(_T("\"%s%s\""), GetSetupPath(), name);
boutiqueInstallCmd.Format(cmdLine, msi, log);

//TODO: You can use MSI API to gather and present install progress feedback from your MSI.
dwResult = ExecCmd(boutiqueInstallCmd, FALSE);

Running devenv /Setup to Notify Visual Studio of New Extensions

As part of the layout of Shell components, you may need to add extensions and templates to the user's computer. In the case of Shell (Isolated), you don't need to do anything extra because it's a separate product and extensions will be found on the first run of your shell. However, in the case of Shell (Integrated), the user may already be a Visual Studio user, and that instance of Visual Studio won't be aware of added templates or extensions until it checks for them. A Setup executable handles this step.

First, find the location where Visual Studio is installed by reading the value of HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\AppEnv\ShellVersion\ShellFolder.

lResult = RegOpenKeyEx( HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,       // handle to open key
                        key,                     // name of subkey to open
                        NULL,
                        KEY_READ,
                        &hkey                    // handle to open key
                        );


// don't proceed unless the call above succeeds
if (ERROR_SUCCESS != lResult && ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND != lResult)
{
    throw HRESULT_FROM_WIN32(lResult);
}

// If getting the registry key was successful, verify that the product directory exists on the machine to
// protect against any orphaned state
if (ERROR_SUCCESS == lResult)
{
    CString value("ShellFolder");
    TCHAR buffer[MAX_PATH];
    DWORD len = sizeof(buffer);

    lResult = RegQueryValueEx( hkey,
                            value,
                            NULL,
                            NULL,
                            (LPBYTE)buffer,
                            &len);

    if (ERROR_SUCCESS == lResult)
    {
        productDirectory = buffer;
        DWORD dwResult = GetFileAttributes(productDirectory);

        if (dwResult == INVALID_FILE_ATTRIBUTES || 
            !(dwResult & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY))
        {   
            productDirectory = _T("");
        }
    }
    else if (ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND != lResult)
    {
        RegCloseKey(hkey);
        throw HRESULT_FROM_WIN32(lResult);
    }

    RegCloseKey(hkey);
}

When you know where Visual Studio is installed, you can run devenv /Setup to tell Visual Studio to search for new extensions.

CString SlashSetup = GetProductDirFromReg();
SlashSetup = SlashSetup + CString("Common7\\IDE\\devenv /Setup");
dwResult = ExecCmd(SlashSetup, FALSE);

return dwResult;

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Installing a Shell (Integrated or Isolated) Application

Prerequisites

Preparing Your Solution

To prepare a Shell application for MSI deployment

Creating an MSI for Your Shell

Detection Blocks

Layout of Shell Components

To set the layout of Shell components

Registry Entries

To integrate registry entries into the MSI

Creating a Setup Bootstrapper

Enforcing Installation by Administrator

To enforce installation by Administrator

Detecting Shell Installations

Running the Shell Installers

Running the Shell Language Pack Installers

Deciphering Return Values

Handling Restarts

Setting the Registry to Resume Setup When Windows Starts

Installing Double Restart of Bootstrapper

Deleting the Shell Installer ResumeData Key

Restarting Windows

Resetting the Start Path of MSI

Running the Application MSI

Running devenv /Setup to Notify Visual Studio of New Extensions

See Also

Tasks

Concepts

Additional resources