Visual Studio build not using Active Solution Configuration with WiX Project

Question

I have a VS2012 Solution with 3 build configurations:

Debug
Release
"Mine"

In the Configuration Manager, I have some .NET projects with options based on the Mine configuration. All ok.

I have a WiX installer project which in the Configuration Manager, appears to only support Release and Debug as options - I cannot add Mine as an option there.

As a consequence, when I build my WiX project, while each dependent C# project uses the Mine configuration, the WiX project uses Release.

Generally this would not be a problem, however I have a BeforeBuild action which is using $(Configuration). And this is pulling in Release instead of my desired and selected "Mine".

Any ideas how I can pass or reference Mine from MSBuild from a project that does not include it? Is there another $(ActiveConfiguration) or similar?

Thanks

Erti-Chris Eelmaa · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-25 10:57:15Z

12

I do believe it's a bug in WiX. If you edit your wxproj file, you should see that there is no record for "Mine". To fix such issues, you need to edit wixproj file manually and copy the relevant section for "Release" mode and dupliate it and change it to "Mine".

Some links: http://windows-installer-xml-wix-toolset.687559.n2.nabble.com/Adding-deleting-project-configurations-td7582655.html

http://windows-installer-xml-wix-toolset.687559.n2.nabble.com/Changing-configuration-and-or-platform-in-solution-Configuration-Manger-does-nothing-td7588992.html

answered Dec 25, 2013 at 10:57

Erti-Chris Eelmaa

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1 Comment

dotNET Aug 6 at 5:50

Thanks, but neither link works. Maybe you'd like to update.

dotNET · Accepted Answer · 2025-08-06 08:56:06Z

Just in case it helps, I was using Wix 3.14 in VS2022 to build installer for an Office add-in (VSTO). Point to remember is that you need to actually have all configurations listed in your wixproj file for it to follow solution configuration. Even if you used Wix Project Templates to create your installer project, your wixproj may not have matching platform/configuration entry, which you need to add manually.

Simply right-click your wix project, unload it and edit the wixproj file to add the following:

  <!-- Common build attributes -->
  <PropertyGroup>
    <OutputPath>bin\$(Platform)\$(Configuration)\</OutputPath>
    <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
    <WarningLevel>4</WarningLevel>
    <LangVersion>9.0</LangVersion>
    <DefineConstants>VSTO40;TRACE</DefineConstants>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Debug|x86' ">
    <DebugSymbols>true</DebugSymbols>
    <DebugType>full</DebugType>
    <Optimize>false</Optimize>
    <PlatformTarget>x86</PlatformTarget>
    <EnableUnmanagedDebugging>false</EnableUnmanagedDebugging>
    <DefineConstants>$(DefineConstants);DEBUG</DefineConstants>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Debug|x64' ">
    <DebugSymbols>true</DebugSymbols>
    <DebugType>full</DebugType>
    <Optimize>false</Optimize>
    <PlatformTarget>x64</PlatformTarget>
    <EnableUnmanagedDebugging>false</EnableUnmanagedDebugging>
  </PropertyGroup>

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