The Visual Studio installation project is the way to go. Installshield SUCKS. I cannot say just how much it sucks, but believe me, it SUCKS. Did I mention installshield SUCKS - anyone who has done any real work with installshield will tell you IT SUCKS. If someone doesn't think Installshield SUCKS, then they don't realize how screwed up their project really is. There is no comparison - just use the Visual Studio Installation project - Its really straightforward. If it cannot do what you need, then you're doing it wrong. Also, look to see what installers some of the open source projects are using - I've seen some really nice installers on various mainstream projects such as Python, MySQL, and many others.