title: How do I correctly publish my app?
body: <p>I am using visual studio to create my first windows desktop c# wpf app. </p>
  
  <p>I am at the phase I want to release/deploy/build it. </p>
  
  <p>In Visual Studio Express 2013 I right click my project and click publish, I click next and leave the publish location default as I dont know what I should put, next I choose to have the users install from a cd-rom/dvd and tell it not to check for updates and click finish.</p>
  
  <p>It then create a 'clickonce' application on my desktop. So I upload to it a web server, download it, and try to run it. </p>
  
  <p>It fails. </p>
  
  <p>It says:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Cannot download the application. The application is missing required files. Contact application vendor for assistance. 
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>If I click details I get more detailed info:</p>
  
  <pre><code>PLATFORM VERSION INFO
      Windows             : 6.2.9200.0 (Win32NT)
      Common Language Runtime     : 4.0.30319.18449
      System.Deployment.dll       : 4.0.30319.17929 built by: FX45RTMREL
      clr.dll             : 4.0.30319.18449 built by: FX451RTMGDR
      dfdll.dll           : 4.0.30319.17929 built by: FX45RTMREL
      dfshim.dll          : 4.0.41209.0 (Main.041209-0000)
  
  SOURCES
      Deployment url          : file:///C:/Users/Lanboy/Downloads/Bingo%20Game.application
  
  IDENTITIES
      Deployment Identity     : Bingo Game.application, Version=1.0.0.1, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=a82aa93ff33fa9be, processorArchitecture=msil
  
  APPLICATION SUMMARY
      * Installable application.
  
  ERROR SUMMARY
      Below is a summary of the errors, details of these errors are listed later in the log.
      * Activation of C:\Users\Lanboy\Downloads\Bingo Game.application resulted in exception. Following failure messages were detected:
          + Downloading file:///C:/Users/Lanboy/Downloads/Application Files/Bingo Game_1_0_0_1/Bingo Game.exe.manifest did not succeed.
          + Could not find a part of the path 'C:\Users\Lanboy\Downloads\Application Files\Bingo Game_1_0_0_1\Bingo Game.exe.manifest'.
          + Could not find a part of the path 'C:\Users\Lanboy\Downloads\Application Files\Bingo Game_1_0_0_1\Bingo Game.exe.manifest'.
          + Could not find a part of the path 'C:\Users\Lanboy\Downloads\Application Files\Bingo Game_1_0_0_1\Bingo Game.exe.manifest'.
  
  COMPONENT STORE TRANSACTION FAILURE SUMMARY
      No transaction error was detected.
  
  WARNINGS
      There were no warnings during this operation.
  
  OPERATION PROGRESS STATUS
      * [24/06/2014 19:49:15] : Activation of C:\Users\Lanboy\Downloads\Bingo Game.application has started.
      * [24/06/2014 19:49:15] : Processing of deployment manifest has successfully completed.
      * [24/06/2014 19:49:15] : Installation of the application has started.
  
  ERROR DETAILS
      Following errors were detected during this operation.
      * [24/06/2014 19:49:15] System.Deployment.Application.DeploymentDownloadException (Unknown subtype)
          - Downloading file:///C:/Users/Lanboy/Downloads/Application Files/Bingo Game_1_0_0_1/Bingo Game.exe.manifest did not succeed.
          - Source: System.Deployment
          - Stack trace:
              at System.Deployment.Application.SystemNetDownloader.DownloadSingleFile(DownloadQueueItem next)
              at System.Deployment.Application.SystemNetDownloader.DownloadAllFiles()
              at System.Deployment.Application.FileDownloader.Download(SubscriptionState subState)
              at System.Deployment.Application.DownloadManager.DownloadManifestAsRawFile(Uri&amp; sourceUri, String targetPath, IDownloadNotification notification, DownloadOptions options, ServerInformation&amp; serverInformation)
              at System.Deployment.Application.DownloadManager.DownloadApplicationManifest(AssemblyManifest deploymentManifest, String targetDir, Uri deploymentUri, IDownloadNotification notification, DownloadOptions options, Uri&amp; appSourceUri, String&amp; appManifestPath)
              at System.Deployment.Application.DownloadManager.DownloadApplicationManifest(AssemblyManifest deploymentManifest, String targetDir, Uri deploymentUri, Uri&amp; appSourceUri, String&amp; appManifestPath)
              at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationActivator.DownloadApplication(SubscriptionState subState, ActivationDescription actDesc, Int64 transactionId, TempDirectory&amp; downloadTemp)
              at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationActivator.InstallApplication(SubscriptionState&amp; subState, ActivationDescription actDesc)
              at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationActivator.PerformDeploymentActivation(Uri activationUri, Boolean isShortcut, String textualSubId, String deploymentProviderUrlFromExtension, BrowserSettings browserSettings, String&amp; errorPageUrl)
              at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationActivator.ActivateDeploymentWorker(Object state)
          --- Inner Exception ---
          System.Net.WebException
          - Could not find a part of the path 'C:\Users\Lanboy\Downloads\Application Files\Bingo Game_1_0_0_1\Bingo Game.exe.manifest'.
          - Source: System
          - Stack trace:
              at System.Net.FileWebRequest.EndGetResponse(IAsyncResult asyncResult)
              at System.Net.FileWebRequest.GetResponse()
              at System.Deployment.Application.SystemNetDownloader.DownloadSingleFile(DownloadQueueItem next)
          --- Inner Exception ---
          System.Net.WebException
          - Could not find a part of the path 'C:\Users\Lanboy\Downloads\Application Files\Bingo Game_1_0_0_1\Bingo Game.exe.manifest'.
          - Source: System
          - Stack trace:
              at System.Net.FileWebResponse..ctor(FileWebRequest request, Uri uri, FileAccess access, Boolean asyncHint)
              at System.Net.FileWebRequest.GetResponseCallback(Object state)
          --- Inner Exception ---
          System.IO.DirectoryNotFoundException
          - Could not find a part of the path 'C:\Users\Lanboy\Downloads\Application Files\Bingo Game_1_0_0_1\Bingo Game.exe.manifest'.
          - Source: mscorlib
          - Stack trace:
              at System.IO.__Error.WinIOError(Int32 errorCode, String maybeFullPath)
              at System.IO.FileStream.Init(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, Int32 rights, Boolean useRights, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, FileOptions options, SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES secAttrs, String msgPath, Boolean bFromProxy, Boolean useLongPath, Boolean checkHost)
              at System.IO.FileStream..ctor(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, FileOptions options, String msgPath, Boolean bFromProxy)
              at System.IO.FileStream..ctor(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, Boolean useAsync)
              at System.Net.FileWebStream..ctor(FileWebRequest request, String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, FileShare sharing, Int32 length, Boolean async)
              at System.Net.FileWebResponse..ctor(FileWebRequest request, Uri uri, FileAccess access, Boolean asyncHint)
  
  COMPONENT STORE TRANSACTION DETAILS
      No transaction information is available.
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>What am I doing wrong?
  Am I missing a crucial step?
  Do I need to host the manifest file on my server and point it to it somehow?</p>
  
  <p>Any help is greatly appreciated. </p>
  
  <p><strong>Update</strong>
  As per comments and answer I decided to take all the files given to me on publish and zip them. The files in the zip folder included:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Bingo Game.application
  Bingo Game.exe.config.deploy
  Bingo Game.exe.deploy
  Bingo Game.exe.manifest
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I then re upload to the server, download, unzip and click Bingo Game.application and it fails with exactly the same error as above. </p>