Building Visual Studio Setup/Deploy project asks to install 2010 shell integrated

Question

For the first time I'm creating Visual Studio Setup and Deploy project in which points to a Windows Service that will run on our VPS. Usually I use CMD to start/stop the service but was ideally looking for a more robust approach.

At the moment I'm seeing that I need to install an additional package (Visual Studio 2010 Shell Integrated)... In all honesty I'm not sure if it's really needed and if I can bypass the installation somehow. Most Windows Services will run on our VPS and will not be distributed to our clients.

Obviously I'd like to learn a new concept/method. Anyhow I suppose what I'm really asking is can any one help me understand why it's needed etc?

I've noticed there are a few older posts but as I'm using Visual Studio 2015, I'm sure the process will be different in some way. I have also looked through MSDN but not quite sure what I need to install.

Answer 1

I actually found a solution to this now over at Microsoft's Visual Studio Developer Community (Quoted relevant parts to prevent the likelihood of future dead links):

1- Open a cmd as admin.

2- Go to directory C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\MSI Tools

3- run: regsvr32.exe /u mergemod.dll"

4- run: regsvr32.exe mergemod.dll"

I followed these steps, restarted VS2017 and it worked perfectly. No more request for the VS2010 Integrated Shell installer!

Answer 2

Ok, So I'm still unsure to was is happening, a bug in Visual Studio?! Who knows.

Basically If I click Build on the set up project, it tries to install and crashes the machine BUT if I click Rebuild and then Cancel on the Dialog, it builds fine and I have access to the Setup file.

A strange one but never the less, I now have access to the install file, which I've installed on our VPS and is working like a charm.