Managed Bootstraper Application (for .Net Framework ) for Wix Toolset v4 Bundle

Question

Been struggling for days to find a working example for a Managed BA for Wix Toolset v4. Most of them are in v3. I have exactly the same issue with this existing question here, and some similar questions too but without answer:

Wix Bundle Managed Bootstrapper Application - Error 0x80131524: Failed to create the bootstrapper application

Basically, my installer has a custom UI built using WPF (.Net Framework), an msi built using Wix Toolset v4 and using Bundle to create the exe.

Log says:

Error 0x80131508: Failed to create the bootstrapper application. Error 0x80131508: Failed to create the managed bootstrapper application. Error 0x80131508: Failed to create BA. Error 0x80131508: Failed to load BA. Error 0x80131508: Failed while running

Here is the project file of the UI:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>net48</TargetFramework>    
    <RuntimeIdentifier>win-x86</RuntimeIdentifier>
  </PropertyGroup>
  
  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Debug|x86' ">
    <PlatformTarget>x86</PlatformTarget>
    <DebugSymbols>true</DebugSymbols>
    <DebugType>full</DebugType>
    <Optimize>false</Optimize>
    <OutputPath>bin\Debug\x86\</OutputPath>
    <DefineConstants>DEBUG;TRACE</DefineConstants>
    <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
    <WarningLevel>4</WarningLevel>
  </PropertyGroup>
  
  <PropertyGroup>
    <StartupObject />
  </PropertyGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <Reference Include="System" />
    <Reference Include="System.Data" />
    <Reference Include="System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement" />
    <Reference Include="System.ServiceProcess" />
    <Reference Include="System.Windows.Forms" />
    <Reference Include="System.Xml" />
    <Reference Include="Microsoft.CSharp" />
    <Reference Include="System.Core" />
    <Reference Include="System.Xml.Linq" />
    <Reference Include="System.Data.DataSetExtensions" />
    <Reference Include="System.Net.Http" />
    <Reference Include="System.Xaml" />
      
  
    <Reference Include="WindowsBase" />
    <Reference Include="PresentationCore" />
    <Reference Include="PresentationFramework" />
    <PackageReference Include="Newtonsoft.Json">
      <Version>13.0.3</Version>
    </PackageReference>
    <PackageReference Include="WixToolset.Mba.Core" Version="4.0.*" PrivateAssets="All" GeneratePathProperty="true" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <Content Include="WixToolset.Mba.Host.config" CopyToOutputDirectory="PreserveNewest" />
    <Content Include="$(PkgWixToolset_Mba_Core)\runtimes\win-x86\native\mbanative.dll">
      <Visible>false</Visible>
      <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
      <CopyToPublishDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToPublishDirectory>
      <IsAssembly>false</IsAssembly>
    </Content>
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    
    <Page Include="AdditionalStyles.xaml">
      <SubType>Designer</SubType>
      <Generator>MSBuild:Compile</Generator>
    </Page>
    <Page Include="MainWindow.xaml">
      <Generator>MSBuild:Compile</Generator>
      <SubType>Designer</SubType>
    </Page>
   
  </ItemGroup>
 
  
 
</Project>

CustomUI.cs

using System.Windows.Threading;
using WixToolset.Mba.Core;

namespace MyOwnApp
{
   public class CustomUI : BootstrapperApplication
    {
        public CustomUI(IEngine engine) : base(engine)
        {
        }

        public IEngine Engine => this.engine;
        public static Dispatcher BootstrapperDispatcher { get; private set; }

        protected override void Run()
        {
            this.Engine.Log(LogLevel.Verbose, "Launching Custom UI");
            BootstrapperDispatcher = Dispatcher.CurrentDispatcher;

            MainWindow view = new MainWindow(this);
            view.Bootstrapper.Engine.Detect();        
            view.DataContext = view;
            view.Closed += (sender, e) => BootstrapperDispatcher.InvokeShutdown();
            view.Show();

            Dispatcher.Run();
            this.Engine.Quit(0);
        }

        protected override void OnStartup(StartupEventArgs args)
        {
            base.OnStartup(args);

            this.engine.Log(LogLevel.Standard, nameof(CustomUI));
        }

        protected override void OnShutdown(ShutdownEventArgs args)
        {
            base.OnShutdown(args);

            var message = "Shutdown," + args.Action.ToString() + "," + args.HResult.ToString();
            this.engine.Log(LogLevel.Standard, message);
        }
    }
}

CustomUIFactory:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace MyOwnApp
{
    using WixToolset.Mba.Core;
    public class CustomUIFactory : BaseBootstrapperApplicationFactory
    {
        private static int loadCount = 0;

        protected override IBootstrapperApplication Create(IEngine engine, IBootstrapperCommand bootstrapperCommand)
        {
            if (loadCount > 0)
            {
                engine.Log(LogLevel.Standard, $"Reloaded {loadCount} time(s)");
            }
            ++loadCount;
            return new CustomUI(engine);
        }
    }
}

WixToolset.Mba.Host.config

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
  <configSections>
    <sectionGroup name="wix.bootstrapper" type="WixToolset.Mba.Host.BootstrapperSectionGroup, WixToolset.Mba.Host">
      <section name="host" type="WixToolset.Mba.Host.HostSection, WixToolset.Mba.Host" />
    </sectionGroup>
  </configSections>
  <startup useLegacyV2RuntimeActivationPolicy="true">
    <supportedRuntime version="v4.0" sku=".NETFramework,Version=v4.8" />
  </startup>
  <wix.bootstrapper>
    <host assemblyName="MyOwnApp" />
  </wix.bootstrapper>
</configuration>

Tried almost all of the examples found on the internet to no avail. :(

mcross5129 · Accepted Answer · 2024-08-07 16:16:59Z

After many hours of struggling myself, I finally found a solution that worked for me.

When using .NET Framework, your AssemblyInfo.cs file needs a reference to the BootstrapperApplicationFactory implementation (in your case CustomUIFactory) like this:

using Bootstrapper;
using System.Windows;
using WixToolset.Mba.Core;

[assembly: ThemeInfo(
    ResourceDictionaryLocation.None, //where theme specific resource dictionaries are located
                                     //(used if a resource is not found in the page,
                                     // or application resource dictionaries)
    ResourceDictionaryLocation.SourceAssembly //where the generic resource dictionary is located
                                              //(used if a resource is not found in the page,
                                              // app, or any theme specific resource dictionaries)
)]

[assembly: BootstrapperApplicationFactory(typeof(CustomUIFactory))]

This reference used to be to the BootstrapperApplication class in WiX v3, but that is no longer the case in v4 since it is now abstract.

Alternatively, the

[assembly: BootstrapperApplicationFactory(typeof(CustomUIFactory))]

can also be included at the top of your factory class above the namespace.

Rambabu Nethi · Accepted Answer · 2025-04-14 15:14:54Z

0

Any pointers on where to locate the

WixToolset.Mba.Core.dll

I have installed the wix tools set 4.x but dont find the WixToolset.Mba.Core.dll installed under %%user profile%%/.nuget\packages\wixtoolset.sdk\4.0.0\Sdk

please help.

answered Apr 14 at 15:14

Rambabu Nethi

1

1 Comment

Community Apr 14 at 22:17

As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please edit to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Managed Bootstraper Application (for .Net Framework ) for Wix Toolset v4 Bundle

2 Answers 2

Comments

1 Comment

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Comments

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related