Setting the Default Product Destination Folder (INSTALLDIR)
Project:This information applies to the following project types:
| • | Basic MSI |
| • | InstallScript MSI |
| • | MSI Database |
| • | Transform |
Your project’s INSTALLDIR property serves as the default folder for all of your product’s files. Its value is assigned to the Windows Installer folder property INSTALLDIR, which is the default feature and component destination folder.
Windows Logo Guideline:According to the Windows logo program requirements, the default destination of your product’s files must be a subfolder of the Program Files folder or the end user’s Application Data folder, regardless of the language of the target system. If you use ProgramFilesFolder as the parent folder for your product’s destination folder setting, your files are installed to the correct location. The default value for the INSTALLDIR setting is:
[ProgramFilesFolder]Company Name\Product Name
To set a product’s INSTALLDIR property:
| 1. | In the View List under Installation Information, click General Information. |
| 2. | To use a built-in Windows Installer directory as part of your path: In the INSTALLDIR setting, click the ellipsis button (...) . The Set INSTALLDIR dialog box opens. In the Destination Directories box, select a destination folder. |
As an alternative, you can manually enter the path in the INSTALLDIR setting.
Note:Selecting a new folder property in the Set INSTALLDIR dialog box overwrites the contents of the value in the INSTALLDIR setting. You can specify a subfolder of any folder property by separating subfolders with a backslash—for example, [ProgramFilesFolder]My Company\Program.
Other Destination Folder Considerations (Windows Installer–based projects only)
Setting the feature’s Remote Installation setting to Favor Source—or to Favor Parent when the subfeature’s parent feature is set to Favor Source—means that the feature’s files will not be installed on the target system, regardless of the product’s INSTALLDIR property.
Each feature and component has a Destination setting. The feature’s Destination setting overrides the product’s Destination Folder setting, and the component’s Destination setting overrides the feature’s. Therefore, if you want all of your product’s files to be installed by default to the product’s destination folder, enter [INSTALLDIR] for all of your features’ and components’ Destination settings.
When using an installer folder property such as INSTALLDIR, you are specifying a default value. An end user could change this value by setting a property when launching Msiexec.exe at the command line or by selecting a new destination folder for a feature in the CustomSetup dialog.