Windows installer (MSI) does not copy a config file

Question

I installed an MSI buillder tool on my visual studio 2017 and started deploying my desktop application with generated MSIs. The istaller is able to copy vital files and adds registery keys but it does not copy some additional config files which are required for logger. According to this page , switching "Copy to Output Directory Property" to "Copy always" supposed to take care the issue however, it still does not copy the config file into output directory on client's computer.

Can somebody give an advice about how I can diagnose this problem ?

Edit:

I think I can explicitly add logs files into MSI with following method but I have two concerns on this. Would I add the file into MSI with its global or relative path ? Secondly will it be a good practice ?

Edit 2:

For the reference for developers who has the same issue, looks like the method stated above adds files with its relative path. I added screenshot of difference page at source control.

Answer 1

It is completely normal to add individual files to a VS setup project. Every tool that generates an MSI works this way. VS setups are probably the exception with their "project output" type of input choice, where you get little idea of the actual files that will be installed. So you get the best control of the MSI content by adding each file individually, including that config file. Also, some files really don't belong in the Application Folder (that defaults to Program Files) because they are data files that belong somewhere like the User's Application Data.

The path where the MSI build gets its files from is nothing to do with where that file is deployed on the target system. You tell the MSI build where files will be deployed on the target system by using the File System view on target machine, where you get a list of destination folders to add files to.

Also, the copy to output directory stuff is nothing to do with the build of the MSI file. As far as I know, its main reason is to allow you to have all dependencies at the output build location of the code so that the program will work correctly from that location, and it happens to give you the opportunity to get all the files going into a setup from the same place. It does not mean "copy this file somewhere in such a way that it is automatically included in the MSI build and the deployed on the target system".

Once you get the MSI working and installing the config file, you may run into Windows Installer file overwrite rules that prevent you from overwriting files that have been updated after they were installed.