I just completed a stand-alone VB.NET application that I wish to create an installer for. My program has two dependency files, one is a .dll and the other is a .xml. The files need to be in the working directory of the VB.NET executable.

When I go through the wizard to create an installer, I specify that these two files are dependencies. I also opt to create shortcut on the user's desktop, and in their programs menu. I set the Working Directory property of these shortcuts to the Application Path where the program is installed, i.e. C:\Program Files\Company\<app name>.

The problem is that when the shortcuts are created on the desktop and programs menu, they aren't really "true" shortcuts that point to the location of the executable. They are actually copies of the executable, which means the app will not run properly because the .dll and .xml files are not with.

The desktop shortcut is literally an executable installed in C:\docs and settings\user\desktop\program.exe.

Is there anyway around this?

Thanks in advance.

Yeah, you can take the files out of the Debug directory in your project folder, those will run quite happily in a directory. Also, have a look at this, I have the same problem and haven't had a chance to play with it, but it looks good:

http://research.microsoft.com/~mbarnett/ilmerge.aspx

I'm working on an installer right now. My method of doing this is:
First, I wrote an MD5 hash checker (this is to get the MD5 for later use)
Then, I wrote a small application to download the actual program itself and all files off of my server into "C:\Program Files\MyAppName\" on the users local computer
I then tell it to install a shortcut to the desktop folder of the current user, as well as under "C:\Document and Settings\currentuser\Start Menu\MyAppName\MyAppName.Ink"(MyAppName.ink is a shortcut to "C:\Program Files\MyAppName\Myapp.exe" to make a folder under Start>All Programs, you could also exclude a folder so the shortcut appears without a folder
I then tell it to retrieve the MD5 of all the files except the shortcut
If the MD5 of all the files match what they are on my computer, then finish the download
If not, delete the local content