Installing 64-bit files

Let's say that you have a .NET assembly that's targeting the x64 platform and you want the installer for it to place that file into the 64-bit Program Files folder (available on 64-bit Windows operating systems). For the uninitiated: you can set the platform for the assembly using Visual Studio's Configuration Manager, as shown in the following screenshot:

The first thing to do is to open Properties for the WiX project and, on the Tools Settings tab, add –arch x64 to the Compiler parameters, as shown in the following screenshot:

Next, change the Directory element that is referencing ProgramFilesFolder to instead reference ProgramFiles64Folder, given as follows:

<Directory Id="TARGETDIR" Name="SourceDir">
  <Directory Id="ProgramFiles64Folder">
    <Directory Id="INSTALLFOLDER" Name="My Software" />
  </Directory>
</Directory>

Now your 64-bit assembly can be put into this directory. WiX detects the architecture of the .NET assemblies for...