I have a standard simple vb.net application and setup an installer within VS 2010.

So I have two resulting files setup.exe and myapp.msi.

I understand from another forum that "The MSI file really *is* a single file solution - but only if your users already have MS Installer 2.0 installed. The exe and ini files are really just provided to make it easier for people without MSI2 to get it installed." - Jon Skeet

If this is so, then it would seem sensible to use both to cover older and newer installations. But the problem then is a multi step process, ie download a zip or similar file. Extract then have the user run setup.exe.

What I would like to achieve is for a user to download a single file from a web site and execute that file to do the install.

Sort of like a single file download with auto execute of the setup.exe, like a single file bootstraper.

Can anyone provide some help.

PS. I can't afford a commercial package like installshield so am looking for alternatives.