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What is a Transform?

A transform is a type of Windows Installer database which is used to customize an .MSI file. It contains only the changes which need to be made to the .MSI.

They are typically used in two situations:

1. When you receive a vendor-supplied MSI file which you need to customize. It is recommended that you never directly modify a vendor supplied MSI. Therefore, you need to create a transform that modifies it at run time.
2. When you have an .MSI which needs to be modified slightly for two different departments in an organization. Instead of creating two MSI files, create just the one MSI and two transforms which do the modifications.