InstallShield Limited Edition

Note

This article applies to Visual Studio 2015. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here

By using InstallShield Limited Edition, you can create a setup file and distribute it to users so that they can install a desktop application or component without being connected to a network. InstallShield Limited Edition is free for users Visual Studio Professional and Enterprise editions. It replaces Windows Installer technology, which Visual Studio no longer supports. As an alternative, you can distribute applications and components by using ClickOnce, which requires network connectivity. See ClickOnce Security and Deployment.

Note

You can continue using Windows Installer projects created in earlier versions of Visual Studio by installing the Visual Studio Installer Projects Extension. See Visual Studio Installer Projects Extension.

To enable InstallShield Limited Edition

  1. On the menu bar, choose File, New, Project.

  2. In the New Project dialog box, expand the Other Project Types node, and then choose the Setup and Deployment node.

  3. In the template list, choose Enable InstallShield Limited Edition, and then choose the OK button.

  4. In the browser window that opens, read the instructions, and then choose the Go to the download web site link.