Burn bundles

The Bundle element is the top-level element for a Burn bundle. It contains child elements that let you specify the chain of packages to be installed, the bootstrapper application that provides the user experience, custom and built-in variables, system searches, and all the other goodies that let you define a bundle.

<Wix
    xmlns="http://wixtoolset.org/schemas/v4/wxs"
    xmlns:bal="http://wixtoolset.org/schemas/v4/wxs/bal">

    <Bundle
        Name="$(BundleName)"
        Version="$(Version)"
        UpgradeCode="$(UpgradeCode)"
        Compressed="no"
        SplashScreenSourceFile="splashscreen.bmp">

        <BootstrapperApplication>
            <bal:WixStandardBootstrapperApplication
                LicenseUrl=""
                Theme="hyperlinkLicense" />
        </BootstrapperApplication>

        <Chain>
            <PackageGroupRef Id="BundlePackages" />
        </Chain>
    </Bundle>
</Wix>

Bundle package chains

Burn supports the following kinds of packages:

Package	Description
BundlePackage	Another Burn bundle .exe
ExePackage	An executable .exe installer
MsiPackage	A Windows Installer .msi package
MspPackage	A Windows Installer .msp patch package
MsuPackage	A Windows update .msu package

To include a package in a bundle's chain of packages:

• Include the package element as a child of the Chain element.
• Include the package element as a child of a PackageGroup element and include that package group in the chain with a PackageGroupRef element as a child of the Chain element.

For example:

<Wix xmlns="http://wixtoolset.org/schemas/v4/wxs">
    <Bundle>
        <Chain>
            <PackageGroupRef Id="BundlePackages" />

            <ExePackage
                DetectCondition="DetectedSomethingVariable"
                UninstallArguments="-uninstall"
                SourceFile="EndOfChain.exe" />
        </Chain>
    </Bundle>

    <Fragment>
        <PackageGroup Id="BundlePackages">
            <PackageGroupRef Id="PrereqPackages" />
            <MsiPackage Id="PackageA" SourceFile="PackageA.msi" />
            <MsiPackage Id="PackageB" SourceFile="PackageB.msi" />
        </PackageGroup>
    </Fragment>

    <Fragment>
        <PackageGroup Id="PrereqPackages">
            <MsiPackage SourceFile="Prereqs.msi">
                <MsiProperty Name="PREREQSONLY" Value="1" />
            </MsiPackage>
        </PackageGroup>
    </Fragment>
</Wix>

Bootstrapper applications

Each bundle needs a bootstrapper application to implement the user experience, including business logic and UI. WiX includes two BAs:

• WixStandardBootstrapperApplication (WixStdBA) provides a simple, wizard-like UI and typical BA behavior. The UI is provided by XML files that let you change the appearance without needing to change the code of the BA. WixStdBA is written in C++, so has no additional system requirements.
• WixInternalUIBootstrapperApplication (WixIUIBA) provides typical BA behavior and defers the UI to the UI defined in the primary MSI package. WixIUIBA is useful when you have a complex UI defined in an MSI package and don't want to convert it to a BA. WixIUIBA is written in C++, so has no additional system requirements.

Here's how you might add a built-in BA to a bundle:

<Wix
    xmlns="http://wixtoolset.org/schemas/v4/wxs"
    xmlns:bal="http://wixtoolset.org/schemas/v4/wxs/bal">

    <Bundle>

        <BootstrapperApplication>
            <bal:WixStandardBootstrapperApplication
                LicenseUrl=""
                Theme="hyperlinkLicense" />
        </BootstrapperApplication>

You can also create an entirely custom bootstrapper application, either in native code or managed code. Here's how you might reference a custom native-code BA in WiX v4:

<Wix xmlns="http://wixtoolset.org/schemas/v4/wxs">
    <Bundle>
        <BootstrapperApplication>
            <BootstrapperApplicationDll
                Id="MyStandardBootstrapperApplication"
                SourceFile="bobstdba.dll" />
            <PayloadGroupRef
                Id="MyStandardBootstrapperApplicationPayloads" />
        </BootstrapperApplication>

...or in WiX v5:

<Wix xmlns="http://wixtoolset.org/schemas/v4/wxs">
    <Bundle>
        <BootstrapperApplication SourceFile="bobstdba.exe">
            <PayloadGroupRef
                Id="MyStandardBootstrapperApplicationPayloads" />
        </BootstrapperApplication>

Here's how you might reference a custom managed-code BA written in .NET 6:

<Wix
    xmlns="http://wixtoolset.org/schemas/v4/wxs"
    xmlns:bal="http://wixtoolset.org/schemas/v4/wxs/bal">

    <Bundle>
        <BootstrapperApplication>
            <Payload SourceFile="MyBA.EarliestCoreMBA.deps.json" />
            <Payload SourceFile="MyBA.EarliestCoreMBA.dll"
                bal:BAFactoryAssembly="yes" />
            <Payload SourceFile="MyBA.EarliestCoreMBA.runtimeconfig.json" />
            <Payload SourceFile="mbanative.dll" />
            <Payload SourceFile="WixToolset.Mba.Core.dll" />
            <bal:WixDotNetCoreBootstrapperApplicationHost />
        </BootstrapperApplication>

...or in WiX v5:

<Wix
    xmlns="http://wixtoolset.org/schemas/v4/wxs"
    xmlns:bal="http://wixtoolset.org/schemas/v4/wxs/bal">

    <Bundle>
        <BootstrapperApplication SourceFile="MyBA.EarliestCoreMBA.exe">
            <Payload SourceFile="MyBA.EarliestCoreMBA.deps.json" />
            <Payload SourceFile="MyBA.EarliestCoreMBA.dll" />
            <Payload SourceFile="MyBA.EarliestCoreMBA.runtimeconfig.json" />
            <Payload SourceFile="mbanative.dll" />
            <Payload SourceFile="WixToolset.Mba.Core.dll" />
        </BootstrapperApplication>