WiX v7.0.0-rc.1 is here

WiX v7.0.0-rc.1 is now available. It’s almost embarrassing how predictable our WiX release schedules have gotten—this is the third of the annual release cadence we set up after WiX v4 (which could have benefited from that kind of discipline).

WiX v7 includes a good number of bug fixes, enhancements, and most juicily new features. Given that Rob is letting me write this blog post, I’ll highlight the coolest feature that I coincidentally created: Configurable-scope bundles.

Going all the way back to WiX v3.6, Burn required that packages were either per-user or per-machine. Dual-purpose packages, which were introduced in Windows Installer 5.0, handle both cases: They can be configured to install per-user to per-user directories or, if the user has appropriate privileges, they can install per-machine to protected directories. The traditional workaround is to build both per-user and per-machine packages and include both in the bundle. You can use checkboxes or radio buttons in your bundle application to set a property and use that property in an InstallCondition to make the per-user and per-machine packages mutually exclusive.

But wouldn’t it be easier to have one package that could do both?

In WiX v7, I taught Burn how to consume dual-purpose packages and how to let a bootstrapper choose whether they should be installed per-user or per-machine.

It’s not a flashy feature and unless you have some dual-purpose packages, you won’t even know it’s there. But it is, patiently waiting for when you do.

Open Source Maintenance Fee EULA

WiX v7 adopts the Open Source Maintenance Fee v1.1, which adds a “minimum annual revenue threshold of US$10,000 before the maintenance fee applies.” That means if you’re more tinkering than selling, you can use WiX without the fee. There are no other changes in the EULA.

Also, because .NET has no mechanism to require acceptance of a EULA when using command-line tools, WiX v7 adds a couple of ways to let users acknowledge their acceptance of the OSMF EULA.

Other highlights

There are plenty of other things coming in WiX v7, of course. Here’s a list of highlights from the release notes:

• BREAKING CHANGE The behavior of relative paths in the Files element appeared inconsistent but it was technically correct (the best kind of correct). Still, it was confusing, so between tarot cards and a well-used D20 die, we picked one behavior: Relative paths in Files are relative to the source path. (Issue 9097)
• Use integrity level to detect elevated privileges instead of elevation tokens. (Issues 8178 and 9205)
• Add the Payloads element to harvest bundle payloads like Files does for package payload. (Issue 9049)
• Support longer-than-MAX_PATH paths for payloads in packages and bundles. (Issues 3065 and 9115)
• Heat was deprecated in WiX v6 after the introduction of Files and Payloads and has now been removed from WiX v7. (Issue 9039)
• Add support for RedirectionGuard to Burn as an additional security mitigation. (Issue 9228)
• Correctly uninstall a patch bundle when uninstalling the base bundle. (Issue 9104)
• Ensure that a patched package can be uninstalled. (Issue 6350)
• Restore the ability to specify an icon that appears in a WixStdBA bootstrapper application window. (Issue 8104)
• Make WixUI_Advanced handle 64-bit installation directories. (Issue 2165)
• Add ProductSearch/@Result='exists' to Burn searches. (Issue 9079)

Get started

Get started with an SDK-style .wixproj project:

<Project Sdk="WixToolset.Sdk/7.0.0-rc.1">
</Project>

and a simple .wxs source file:

<Wix xmlns="http://wixtoolset.org/schemas/v4/wxs">
    <Package Id="Acme.HelloWorld" Name="HelloWorld" Version="7.0.0" Manufacturer="Acme">
        <Files Include="*" />
    </Package>
</Wix>

You can get the latest WiX MSBuild SDK, WiX .NET tool, or every last bit from the GitHub release.

Try using WiX v7.0.0-rc.1 in your existing projects and report any bugs so we have a chance to get them fixed before the release of WiX v7 on 6-April-2026. FireGiant customers: As always, ask any questions you have about WiX v7; you’re already supported.