[Bug] Portable package Anthropic.ClaudeCode is not tracked after installation (Missing from winget list, fails to upgrade/uninstall)

[ZJRui]

Relevant area(s)

WinGet CLI

Relevant command(s)

No response

Brief description of your issue

Description:
When installing the CLI tool Anthropic.ClaudeCode (which is distributed as a Portable package), the installation succeeds and the executable is correctly added to the system PATH. However, winget fails to track the installed package in its local database. The package does not appear in winget list, and attempting to upgrade or uninstall it results in a "No installed package found matching input criteria" error.
This issue seems to be caused by a naming collision or registry overwrite with the Claude Desktop application (Anthropic.Claude), as both use the executable name claude.exe.
Environment:
OS: Windows 10 / Windows 11
Package 1: Anthropic.Claude (Desktop App, version 1.5354.0)
Package 2: Anthropic.ClaudeCode (CLI Tool, version 2.1.121)

Steps to reproduce

Steps to Reproduce:
Ensure the Claude desktop application (Anthropic.Claude) is already installed.
Install the Claude Code CLI tool using winget:
winget install Anthropic.ClaudeCode
Verify the installation is physically successful by running:
claude --version (Output: 2.1.121 (Claude Code))
Check the executable path, which correctly points to the portable package directory:
C:\Users<Username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WinGet\Packages\Anthropic.ClaudeCode_Microsoft.Winget.Source_8wekyb3d8bbwe\claude.exe
Run winget list | findstr Claude.
Run winget upgrade Anthropic.ClaudeCode.

Expected behavior

Expected Behavior:
winget list should display both Anthropic.Claude and Anthropic.ClaudeCode as separate entries.
Running winget upgrade Anthropic.ClaudeCode or winget uninstall Anthropic.ClaudeCode should successfully locate and execute the operation on the installed portable package.

Actual behavior

Actual Behavior:
winget list only displays the desktop application (Anthropic.Claude). Anthropic.ClaudeCode is completely missing from the list.
Running winget upgrade Anthropic.ClaudeCode returns the following error:
No installed package found matching input criteria. / 找不到与输入条件匹配的已安装程序包。
Possible Root Cause Analysis:
Since Anthropic.ClaudeCode is a portable package, winget relies on creating a virtual "Apps & Features" registry entry to track it. Because both the desktop app (Anthropic.Claude) and the CLI tool (Anthropic.ClaudeCode) share the exact same executable name (claude.exe) and have similar display names, winget's tracking mechanism or registry writing process seems to conflict. It either merges them, overwrites the entry, or fails to record the portable package in its local SQLite database entirely.

Environment

> winget --info
Windows 程序包管理器 v1.28.240
版权所有 (C) Microsoft Corporation。保留所有权利。

Windows: Windows.Desktop v10.0.26200.8117
系统体系结构: X64
软件包: Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller v1.28.240.0

Winget 目录
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
日志                   %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\DiagOutputDir
用户设置               %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\settings.json
可移植链接目录(用户)   %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WinGet\Links
可移植链接目录(计算机) C:\Program Files\WinGet\Links
可移植包根目录(用户)   %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WinGet\Packages
可移植包根目录         C:\Program Files\WinGet\Packages
可移植包根目录 (x86)   C:\Program Files (x86)\WinGet\Packages
安装程序下载           %USERPROFILE%\Downloads
配置模块               %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WinGet\Configuration\Modules

链接
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
隐私声明             https://aka.ms/winget-privacy
许可协议             https://aka.ms/winget-license
第三方声明           https://aka.ms/winget-3rdPartyNotice
主页                 https://aka.ms/winget
Windows 应用商店条款 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/storedocs/terms-of-sale

管理员设置                                状态
------------------------------------------------
LocalManifestFiles                        已禁用
BypassCertificatePinningForMicrosoftStore 已禁用
InstallerHashOverride                     已禁用
LocalArchiveMalwareScanOverride           已禁用
ProxyCommandLineOptions                   已禁用
DefaultProxy                              已禁用
40294@antlrv D:\tempFiles

[denelon]

I performed an analysis of the manifests for both packages to evaluate the root cause theory.

Anthropic.Claude (Desktop) uses:

• InstallerType: msix with PackageFamilyName: Claude_pzs8sxrjxfjjc
• InstallerType: exe with ProductCode: AnthropicClaude

Anthropic.ClaudeCode (CLI) uses:

• InstallerType: portable — tracked via a registry key derived from the PackageIdentifier (Anthropic.ClaudeCode_Microsoft.Winget.Source_8wekyb3d8bbwe), not the executable name

These are completely separate ARP registry entries. The shared claude.exe executable name does not factor into how WinGet tracks portable packages — the registry key is based on the PackageIdentifier, not the binary name. There is no collision path between these two packages' tracking entries.

One area where the shared name does matter is the symlink in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WinGet\Links\claude.exe — both packages register the claude command, so there would be a PATH resolution conflict. However, that's separate from the tracking/list issue described here.

If ClaudeCode genuinely doesn't appear in winget list after installation, it would more likely be a portable package tracking bug unrelated to Anthropic.Claude being installed. A useful diagnostic step would be to test whether the issue reproduces when Anthropic.Claude is not installed — if the behavior is the same, the naming collision theory can be ruled out.

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This analysis was performed by Copilot on behalf of @denelon.