ClickOnce

ClickOnce is new windows based application deployment technology. It has made the deployment of windows based application quite easy. It’s rightly called clickonce because end-user can install application published using this technology by just single click.

To publish your windows application follows these steps:

1. Open the property of your windows project and choose the publish tab.
2. Now click on publish wizard button.
3. Publish wizard window will open, alternatively you can open this wizard from Build->Publish locattion in the menue.
4. Now specify the location on the harddisk where you want to create publish folder and click next.
5. Now choose the installation method like from website,from UNC path or from CD and click next.
6. Then choose whether the application will be available offline or not and click next.
7. Last, click on finish.

If you have choosen installation from website option then clickonce application will open in the IE. On the web page you have to just click on install button to install the application.

ClickOnce applications can be deployed via web servers, file servers or CDs. You can also configure during publishing whether the application should check for an update or not.

Reference: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa497348.aspx