Adding .NET 4.0 Web Download increases Setup.exe by 22MB!

[ISUser43782]

Today I updated InstallShield from 2012 Spring to 2012 Spring SP1. After building my Setup.exe (Basic MSI) I noticed that it has gone from 1.98MB in size to 24.1MB!

I found that this extra 22MB is coming from the Redistributable "Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 Full (Web Download)". This redistributable has not changed and I can see that it is only 868KB by browsing to its location in Windows Explorer. Unchecking this redistributable does however bring the Setup.exe size back down to its small size.

What has changed in SP1 to add 22MB to this Setup.exe when including the .NET Framework web download? Perhaps it's a bug?

[MichaelU]

What other prerequisites does it depend on, and how are those being included?

[ISUser43782]

There's no other items in the Redistributables list that are checked off and no other prerequisites. I created a brand new Basic MSI project and tried this and found the same result.

I tried changing the "InstallShield Prerequisites Location" from "Extract from Setup.exe" to "Copy From Source Media" and found that the extra space is being taken up by what appears to be Windows updates:

C:\InstallShield 2012 Spring Projects\Test Project 1\PROJECT_ASSISTANT\SINGLE_EXE_IMAGE\DiskImages\Disk1\ISSetupPrerequisites\{08FA496D-B19A-42f4-ABE8-0463EF768B1B}
C:\InstallShield 2012 Spring Projects\Test Project 1\PROJECT_ASSISTANT\SINGLE_EXE_IMAGE\DiskImages\Disk1\ISSetupPrerequisites\{2A0CC195-B3AF-4B63-8F5C-1F88A7E28ADF}
C:\InstallShield 2012 Spring Projects\Test Project 1\PROJECT_ASSISTANT\SINGLE_EXE_IMAGE\DiskImages\Disk1\ISSetupPrerequisites\{531950bf-fab7-4434-8ca7-b5893ab197f8}
C:\InstallShield 2012 Spring Projects\Test Project 1\PROJECT_ASSISTANT\SINGLE_EXE_IMAGE\DiskImages\Disk1\ISSetupPrerequisites\{57bcd1d4-2de9-49d9-bc0c-3f4263e9970e}
C:\InstallShield 2012 Spring Projects\Test Project 1\PROJECT_ASSISTANT\SINGLE_EXE_IMAGE\DiskImages\Disk1\ISSetupPrerequisites\{7CF06819-7AA4-4e3e-AC77-07931178671B}
C:\InstallShield 2012 Spring Projects\Test Project 1\PROJECT_ASSISTANT\SINGLE_EXE_IMAGE\DiskImages\Disk1\ISSetupPrerequisites\{7f53ac5d-d59d-4f72-b8d3-2cc3bb6383ce}
C:\InstallShield 2012 Spring Projects\Test Project 1\PROJECT_ASSISTANT\SINGLE_EXE_IMAGE\DiskImages\Disk1\ISSetupPrerequisites\{ce5f9d26-8a64-470b-a408-6d19381f5018}
C:\InstallShield 2012 Spring Projects\Test Project 1\PROJECT_ASSISTANT\SINGLE_EXE_IMAGE\DiskImages\Disk1\ISSetupPrerequisites\{08FA496D-B19A-42f4-ABE8-0463EF768B1B}\dotNetFx40_Full_setup.exe
C:\InstallShield 2012 Spring Projects\Test Project 1\PROJECT_ASSISTANT\SINGLE_EXE_IMAGE\DiskImages\Disk1\ISSetupPrerequisites\{2A0CC195-B3AF-4B63-8F5C-1F88A7E28ADF}\wic_x86_enu.exe
C:\InstallShield 2012 Spring Projects\Test Project 1\PROJECT_ASSISTANT\SINGLE_EXE_IMAGE\DiskImages\Disk1\ISSetupPrerequisites\{531950bf-fab7-4434-8ca7-b5893ab197f8}\WindowsXP-KB898715-x64-enu.exe
C:\InstallShield 2012 Spring Projects\Test Project 1\PROJECT_ASSISTANT\SINGLE_EXE_IMAGE\DiskImages\Disk1\ISSetupPrerequisites\{57bcd1d4-2de9-49d9-bc0c-3f4263e9970e}\WindowsInstaller-KB893803-v2-x86.exe
C:\InstallShield 2012 Spring Projects\Test Project 1\PROJECT_ASSISTANT\SINGLE_EXE_IMAGE\DiskImages\Disk1\ISSetupPrerequisites\{57bcd1d4-2de9-49d9-bc0c-3f4263e9970e}\WindowsServer2003-KB898715-x86-enu.exe
C:\InstallShield 2012 Spring Projects\Test Project 1\PROJECT_ASSISTANT\SINGLE_EXE_IMAGE\DiskImages\Disk1\ISSetupPrerequisites\{7CF06819-7AA4-4e3e-AC77-07931178671B}\wic_x64_enu.exe
C:\InstallShield 2012 Spring Projects\Test Project 1\PROJECT_ASSISTANT\SINGLE_EXE_IMAGE\DiskImages\Disk1\ISSetupPrerequisites\{7f53ac5d-d59d-4f72-b8d3-2cc3bb6383ce}\WindowsServer2003-KB898715-x64-enu.exe
C:\InstallShield 2012 Spring Projects\Test Project 1\PROJECT_ASSISTANT\SINGLE_EXE_IMAGE\DiskImages\Disk1\ISSetupPrerequisites\{ce5f9d26-8a64-470b-a408-6d19381f5018}\WindowsServer2003-KB898715-ia64-enu.exe

If I uncheck "Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 Full (Web Download)" in the Redistributables list then that ISSetupPrerequisites folder isn't even created. Not all of these Windows updates are required now are they?

[stefanm1]

Open the Prerequisite "Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 Full (Web Download)" with the prerequiste editor and switch to "Dependencies". All files listet here are also included in setup file.

Windows Installer 3.1 (x86).prq
Windows Imaging Component (x86).prq
Windows Installer 3.1 for Windows Server 2003 SP1 (x86).prq
Windows Imaging Component (x64).prq
Windows Installer 3.1 for Windows Server 2003 SP1 (IA64).prq
Windows Installer 3.1 for Windows Server 2003 SP1 (x64).prq
Windows Installer 3.1 for Windows XP (x64).prq"

Delete all entries will help to minimize the setup.

[ISUser43782]

Thanks stefanm1! After removing those dependency entries the Setup.exe file size is back to its small size. The product requires Windows XP SP3/Windows Server 2003 SP2 or greater so these dependencies are already included in those operating systems and do not need to be included.