Extract text from Visual Studio setup projects (VDPROJ)
To convert VDPROJ setup projects to another format, you need Visual Studio or other Developer software.
To convert other file formats to the "Setup Project File" file type, you need software like Visual Studio or a similar tool.
A .VDPROJ file is a Setup and Deployment Project file created by Microsoft Visual Studio. It stores the exact configuration settings required to package compiled application code into executable Windows Installer (MSI) or setup (EXE) files.
Historically built directly into older versions of Microsoft Visual Studio, these files now require the specific 'Microsoft Visual Studio Installer Projects' extension to open.
The primary disadvantage of the .VDPROJ format is its proprietary, outdated nature. The file relies on a highly custom, nested plain-text structure that is neither standard XML nor JSON. This makes it notoriously difficult to parse or integrate into modern automated CI/CD pipelines. As a result, developers often need to convert or migrate these legacy configurations into modern formats like WXS for the WiX Toolset or standard XML to rebuild their deployment workflows.
This file format is exceptionally difficult to convert directly because it functions as a set of build instructions rather than a standalone document. It requires the accompanying software codebase and the MSBuild engine to generate an actual installer. Standard online converters fail entirely because they cannot emulate a local compiler environment.
Convert.Guru analyzes your VDPROJ file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted CSPROJ, DSP, O and WIX files.
If you want to convert VDPROJ file to WIX, CSPROJ, JS, TS, PY, JAVA, CPP, C, CS, PHP, RB or GO, you can use Visual Studio or similar software from the "Setup and Deployment Configuration" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert SH, PY, KT, PS1, SWIFT, LUA, PL, JAVA, SCALA, JS, VBS or TS files to VDPROJ, try Visual Studio or another comparable tool in the "Setup and Deployment Configuration" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our VDPROJ converter.