How Can I Reliably Register a C DLL as a COM Component During MSI Installation?

Registering a CPP dll into COM after installation using Wix Msi installer

Question:

I am facing issues registering a CPP dll into COM during the MSI installation using batch scripts and custom actions.

Answer:

To register a COM file correctly during installation, avoid using batch files and custom actions. Instead, extract the COM registration information using the heat.exe tool from the WiX toolkit. This will compile the necessary COM registration data into your MSI database at compile time.

In this specific case, it helped to run heat.exe on the COM file after deployment, when all dependencies were available for the COM file to load correctly.

Here's a step-by-step guide:

1. Ensure all dependencies for the COM file are present and accessible. Use Dependency Walker to identify missing dependencies.
2. Run heat.exe on the COM file (e.g., heat.exe file Abc.dll -o Abc.dll.wxs).
3. Incorporate the generated WiX registry data into your main WiX source using a command like heat.exe file Abc.dll -o Abc.dll.wxs -sfrag -gg.
4. Compile and build your MSI installer.
5. During installation, the COM file will be registered automatically.

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