How to bundle multiple installers into a single installer?

I have multiple unrelated WPF and Winforms applications that I need to give to users.

Typically, there is one installer per application. However, they want a just a single file they can run to install every app in the appropriate location. So is there anyway to combine multiple installers into a single installer?

I want to be able to specify a root folder for everything to install under, but multiple sub folders will exist to split the apps up into their “type”.

Ex: Say the I was deliver three apps: Spotify, VLC Player, and Google Chrome. I need a single installer that installs these into a user specified folder (let’s say MainApplications). So when finished it would look like:

  • MainApplications (directory)
    • MediaPlayers (directory)
      • Spotify
      • VLC Player
    • Browsers (directory)
      • Google Chrome

What I am currently trying: Going through the typical publish steps in Visual Studio for each project -> putting each installer in the same folder -> executing a file that runs each installer silently.

  • I think VS installer is very limited in capabilities. They some 3rd-party offerings

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