Deployment is not working

Question

I am having a problem with the deployment of a C#.net 2008 windows app that contains a large volume of project files. I am able to complete the following steps: 1. I create the setup folder without the wizard, 2. I then open the file system on target machine and select the application folder. 3. I then right click on the application folder and select add and then file. 4. I then select file files in the bin/X86/debug folder of the startup project file. 5. I then create a shortcut to the application folder. I drag the shortcut to the user's desktop folder. 6. I then select the setup project in solution explorer and I select build. After the build finishes, I select install.
From here I find the location of where the setup proejct was installed. In the release folder I expect to see nothing. In the debug folder I would expect to see something where I could click on it and the application I worked on would be eployed. However, what I see is the windows installer again. All I can do is to a fix on the installer again.
Thus my application is not installed. Thus can you tell me the following:
1. What would I expect to see if the application were installed correctly?
2. Did i possibly select incorrect files to be deployed? Is there a way to tell what files should be deployed?