Visual Studio Project Import Errors and Warnings

Check the Knowledge Base for information about this error, or request technical support.

This error occurs if InstallShield cannot create an Express project from the Visual Studio setup project. InstallShield tries to create the project in the same folder that contains the Visual Studio project file (.vdproj).

To resolve this error, see if the folder that contains the Visual Studio project file is read-only, and change it to writable.

This error may occur if the Visual Studio project file is corrupted or if InstallShield cannot correctly read the Visual Studio project file. To resolve this error, request technical support.

This error may occur if the Visual Studio project file is corrupted or if InstallShield cannot correctly read the Visual Studio project file. To resolve this error, request technical support.

This error may occur if the Visual Studio project file is corrupted or if InstallShield cannot correctly read the Visual Studio project file. To resolve this error, request technical support.

This error may occur if the Visual Studio project file is corrupted or if InstallShield cannot correctly read the Visual Studio project file. To resolve this error, request technical support.

This error may occur if the Visual Studio project file is corrupted or if InstallShield cannot correctly read the Visual Studio project file. To resolve this error, request technical support.

This error may occur if the Visual Studio project file is corrupted or if InstallShield cannot correctly read the Visual Studio project file. To resolve this error, request technical support.

This error may occur if the Visual Studio project file is corrupted or if InstallShield cannot correctly read the Visual Studio project file. To resolve this error, request technical support.

This error may occur if the Visual Studio project file is corrupted or if InstallShield cannot correctly read the Visual Studio project file. To resolve this error, request technical support.

This error may occur if the Visual Studio project file is corrupted or if InstallShield cannot correctly read the Visual Studio project file. To resolve this error, request technical support.

This error may occur if the Visual Studio project file is corrupted or if InstallShield cannot correctly read the Visual Studio project file. To resolve this error, request technical support.

This error may occur if the Visual Studio project file is corrupted or if InstallShield cannot correctly read the Visual Studio project file. To resolve this error, request technical support.

This error may occur if the Visual Studio project file is corrupted or if InstallShield cannot correctly read the Visual Studio project file. To resolve this error, request technical support.

This error may occur if the Visual Studio project file is corrupted or if InstallShield cannot correctly read the Visual Studio project file. To resolve this error, request technical support.

This error may occur if the Visual Studio project file is corrupted or if InstallShield cannot correctly read the Visual Studio project file. To resolve this error, or request technical support.

This error may occur if the Visual Studio setup project file is corrupted or if InstallShield cannot correctly read the Visual Studio setup project file. To resolve this error, request technical support.

This error may occur if the Visual Studio setup project file is corrupted or if InstallShield cannot correctly read the Visual Studio setup project file. To resolve this error, request technical support.

This error may occur if the Visual Studio setup project file is corrupted or if InstallShield cannot correctly read the Visual Studio setup project file. To resolve this error, request technical support.

This error may occur if the Visual Studio setup project file is corrupted or if InstallShield cannot correctly read the Visual Studio setup project file. To resolve this error, request technical support.

This error may occur if the Visual Studio setup project file is corrupted or if InstallShield cannot correctly read the Visual Studio setup project file. To resolve this error, request technical support.

This error may occur if the Visual Studio setup project file is corrupted or if InstallShield cannot correctly read the Visual Studio setup project file. To resolve this error, request technical support.

This error may occur if the Visual Studio setup project file is corrupted or if InstallShield cannot correctly read the Visual Studio setup project file. To resolve this error, request technical support.

This error may occur if the Visual Studio setup project file is corrupted or if InstallShield cannot correctly read the Visual Studio setup project file. To resolve this error, request technical support.

This error may occur if the Visual Studio setup project file is corrupted or if InstallShield cannot correctly read the Visual Studio setup project file. To resolve this error, request technical support.

This warning occurs if the Extensions property for the specified file type was left blank in the File Types Editor in Visual Studio. The warning alerts you that InstallShield could not configure the file extension during the import or conversion process.

To resolve this issue, specify one or more file extensions for the file type in Visual Studio, and then convert or import the Visual Studio project into an InstallShield project. Otherwise, you can add and configure the file extension in the File Extensions view in InstallShield after you have converted or imported the Visual Studio project.

This warning occurs if the FileName property for the specified file search was left blank in the Launch Conditions Editor in Visual Studio. The warning alerts you that InstallShield could not configure the file search during the import or conversion process.

To resolve this issue, specify the file name for the file search in Visual Studio, and then convert or import the Visual Studio project into an InstallShield project. Otherwise, you can add and configure the file search in the Requirements view in InstallShield after you have converted or imported the Visual Studio project.

This warning occurs if you have a Visual Studio project that contains a particular folder and you import that project into an InstallShield project that already contains that folder. This scenario may occur if you import the same Visual Studio project into your InstallShield project more than once.

If you encounter this warning, check the Files view to ensure that the folder that is identified in the warning message is not missing from your InstallShield project.

This warning occurs if you have a Visual Studio project that contains a shortcut that is associated with a particular shortcut key and you import that project into an InstallShield project that already contains a shortcut with that same shortcut key. This scenario may occur if you import the same Visual Studio project into your InstallShield project more than once.

If you encounter this warning, check the Shortcuts/Folders view to ensure that the shortcut that is identified in the warning message is not missing from your InstallShield project.

Edition • The Premier and Professional editions of InstallShield contain a Direct Editor view that shows the shortcut key that is associated with each shortcut in your project. The shortcut keys are the primary keys of the Shortcut table in the .msi database; the Shortcut table cannot contain duplicate shortcut keys.

This warning occurs if you have a Visual Studio project that contains a particular registry entry and you import that project into an InstallShield project that already contains that same registry entry. This scenario may occur if you import the same Visual Studio project into your InstallShield project more than once.

If you encounter this warning, check the Registry view to ensure that the registry entry that is identified in the warning message is not missing from your InstallShield project.

This warning occurs if you have a Visual Studio project that contains a particular launch condition and you import that project into an InstallShield project that already contains a launch condition with that same name. This scenario may occur if you import the same Visual Studio project into your InstallShield project more than once.

If you encounter this warning, check the Requirements view to ensure that the launch condition that is identified in the warning message is not missing from your InstallShield project.

This warning occurs if you have a Visual Studio project that contains a particular file or folder search and you import that project into an InstallShield project that already contains a file or folder search with that same name. This scenario may occur if you import the same Visual Studio project into your InstallShield project more than once.

If you encounter this warning, check the Requirements view to ensure that the file or folder search that is identified in the warning message is not missing from your InstallShield project.

Edition • Support for Windows Installer properties that resolve to 64-bit locations is available in the following editions of InstallShield:

This warning occurs if the DefaultLocation property in your Visual Studio project uses a 64-bit location ([ProgramFiles64Folder], [CommonFiles64Folder], or [System64Folder]) and if you indicate in the Visual Studio Deployment Project Import Wizard that you want to import the INSTALLDIR value from your Visual Studio project. If this warning occurs, InstallShield Express Edition uses the 32-bit equivalent of the folder (for example, [ProgramFilesFolder]). The Premier and Professional editions use the 64-bit location.

If you require 64-bit support in your installation, consider upgrading to the Premier or Professional editions of InstallShield; these editions enable you to create 64-bit packages, install to 64-bit locations, and configure other 64-bit related settings.

Edition • InstallShield Premier Edition and InstallShield Professional Edition include the InstallShield Prerequisite Editor, a tool that enables you to define custom InstallShield prerequisites and to edit settings for any existing InstallShield prerequisites. If you have either one of these editions of InstallShield, you would be able to create your own InstallShield prerequisites that would install the Microsoft redistributables during your product’s installation.

This warning occurs if you import a Visual Studio setup project that contains a prerequisite but InstallShield does not have an equivalent InstallShield prerequisite.

To resolve this warning, consider upgrading to the Premier or Professional edition of InstallShield; these editions enable you to create your own InstallShield prerequisites and add them to your InstallShield installation projects.

Edition • The System Search Wizard in the following editions of InstallShield let you create Windows Installer searches.

This warning occurs if your Visual Studio project contains a Windows Installer search for the existence of a particular component ID on the target system, and you try to import that project into an InstallShield project.

To resolve this warning, consider upgrading to the Premier or Professional edition of InstallShield, which have support for this type of target system search.

This error occurs if you convert a Visual Studio setup or merge module project that contains one or more project outputs but InstallShield encounters a problem when incorporating the project outputs into the InstallShield project.

To resolve this error, request technical support.

This warning occurs if you have a Visual Studio project that contains a project output that has a file that is associated with a particular file key, and you import that project into an InstallShield project that already contains a file with that same file key. This scenario may occur if you import the same Visual Studio project into your InstallShield project more than once.

If you encounter this warning, check the Files view to ensure that the file that is identified in the warning message is not missing from your InstallShield project.

Edition • The Premier and Professional editions of InstallShield contain a Direct Editor view that shows the file key that is associated with each file in your project. The file keys are the primary keys of the File table in the .msi database; the File table cannot contain duplicate file keys.

You can also see file key information in the Files area of the Components view in the Premier and Professional editions of InstallShield.

If you want to import into an InstallShield project a Visual Studio setup or merge module project that contains a project output, the Visual Studio project must be in the same solution as all of its project dependencies. Otherwise, this error occurs when you try to import the Visual Studio project.

To resolve this error, ensure that your InstallShield project is in the same Visual Studio solution that contains the Visual Studio setup or merge module project that you are importing. In addition, ensure that the solution also includes all of the other Visual Studio projects that are dependencies of the Visual Studio setup or merge module project. Then you can import the Visual Studio setup or merge module project into your InstallShield project.

This warning occurs if you import into an InstallShield project a Visual Studio setup or merge module project that contains a file whose Exclude property is set to True.

If you want the specified file to be excluded from your InstallShield project, you can ignore this warning.

If you want the specified file to be included in your InstallShield project, you can use the Files view in InstallShield to add it. For more information, see Adding Files and Folders to a Project.

This warning occurs if you import into InstallShield project a Visual Studio setup or merge module project that contains a default launch condition.

If you want the specified launch condition to be excluded from your InstallShield project, you can ignore this warning.

If you want to add a launch condition to your InstallShield project to check the target system for the default launch condition that Visual Studio added to the original project, you can use the Requirements view in InstallShield to add it. For more information, see Specifying Software Requirements for Your Product.

Edition • The following editions of InstallShield include support for creating advanced conditions for custom actions:

This warning occurs if you try to import a Visual Studio project into an InstallShield project, but the Visual Studio project contains a custom action that has a type of condition that is not supported in edition of InstallShield that you are using.

To resolve this warning, use the Custom Actions view in InstallShield to add a condition to the custom action after you have converted or imported the Visual Studio project.

This warning occurs if you attempt to import or convert a Visual Studio setup that has a file search with an invalid value for the MaxDate property.

To resolve this warning:

This error occurs if you attempt to import or convert a Visual Studio CAB setup project in InstallShield, since InstallShield does not have support for this conversion.