WiX Toolset
WiX Toolset
WiX Toolset
The most powerful set of tools available to create your Windows installation experience
WiX Extended Support
WiX v3 and v4 are out of community support.
We know it can take time to upgrade, so FireGiant offers extended support for both versions.
WiX Toolset by the numbers
The most powerful set of tools available to create your Windows installers
11M+ installs and counting
Our tools build the most installers
Downloaded more than 11 million times since we started counting in 2015, the WiX Toolset is the most popular tool for creating Windows installers. HeatWave brings the power of WiX to Visual Studio and your product's installer, too.
25+ years as open source
An Open Source pioneer in the .NET ecosystem
The WiX Toolset was released as an Open Source project in 2004. It was Microsoft's first Open Source project and led the way for many more. Through it all, Rob Mensching has led the project bringing the most powerful set of Windows installer tools to the world.
It's all code
WiX fits naturally into the software development process. Rather than relying on proprietary binary files, WiX uses XML text files for seamless integration into any source control and build system.
- View and edit installer source code with any text editor.
- Easily track changes in the installer source code in source control.
- Merge changes simply and intuitively.
Clean, compact, correct
WiX is the only installer technology that provides complete control of the resulting Windows Installer packages.
- WiX enables the full capabilities of the underlying Windows Installer platform.
- You can control exactly what goes into your packages because WiX adds only what's required to each generated MSI.
- Features like smart cabbing ensure the most compact output by removing duplicate files from cabinet files.
Beyond the Windows Installer
WiX is far more than a thin veneer on top of the Windows Installer. The Burn bootstrapper engine lets you create rich UI experiences with familiar and powerful technologies like WinForms and WPF.
- Bundles let you have a single installation experience from many packages in your product and its prerequisites.
- The Burn engine does the heavy lifting when building highly customized user experiences.
- Packages can be downloaded on demand from the Internet, to minimize the installer size.
- Add-on bundles allow for easy integration of out-of-band product releases into the original installer.
Latest news about WiX
The FireGiant blog about setup matters - because setup matters.
WiX Online Meeting 300 Highlights
I missed September's WiX Online Meeting because some of my internal organs decided to assert their dominance and we needed extended negotiations about who's in charge. But now I'm back, just in time to triage our latest batch of issues and talk about some ideas for WiX v7.
, Bob Arnson
WiX Online Meeting 299 Highlights
I flew solo today as Bob was unavailable for today's meeting. Which means I also get to write these meeting notes. So, 'Hi!' and did you know that today was the 12th anniversary of WiX Online Meetings on YouTube? Anyway, short meeting today, just triage.
, Rob Mensching
WiX v6.0.2 has been released
In early celebration of Labor Day, we're releasing WiX v6.0.2—a very minor bug-fix release. Rob suggested we could release on Labor Day, as releasing on holidays is a well-established WiX tradition. I provided documentation that the intent of Labor Day was not, in fact, to do extra labor, so we're releasing today instead.
, Bob Arnson