Directory search in registry

[EMostafaAli]

Please provide answers to the following questions to help us narrow down, reproduce, and fix the problem. Fill out one section and delete the others.

Bugs

If this issue is a bug:

• Which version of WiX are you building with?

3.10.2.2516

• Which version of Visual Studio are you building with (if any)?

Visual Studio 2015 V 14.0.25123.00 Update 2

• Which version of .NET are you building with?

4.5

• If the problem occurs when installing your packages built with WiX, what is the version of Windows the package is running on?

Windows 10

• Describe the problem and the steps to reproduce it.

I have a registry entry "C:\Program Files\Computers and Structures\SAP2000 18" and I am writing the following property to get the directory.

<Property Id="SAP2000INSTALLATIONV18_64">
      <RegistrySearch Id="SAP2000Registryv18_64" Root="HKLM" Key="Software\Computers and Structures, Inc.\SAP2000\18" Name="Install path" Type="directory" Win64="yes">
        <DirectorySearch Id="SAP2000Pathv18_64" Path="[SAP2000INSTALLATIONV18_64]"/>
      </RegistrySearch>
    </Property>
    <Condition Message="Path does not exist">
      <![CDATA[SAP2000INSTALLATIONV18_64]]>
    </Condition>

I found the installer can't run unless I change the type to "raw" instead of "directory". For me, it seems a legitimate path.

Please note the same code works for the same path if it is 32 bit.

[barnson]

Works for me:

<Property Id="FOO">
    <RegistrySearch Root="HKLM" Key="HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework" Name="InstallRoot" Win64="yes" Type="directory" Id="NetFrameworkInstallRootSearch">
        <DirectorySearch Id="NetFrameworkInstallRootSearch" />
    </RegistrySearch>
</Property>

And the searches are a built-in functionality of Windows Installer. WiX can't change their behavior, only replace them.

[EMostafaAli]

Actually, It works with me as well for other entries but not this one.

[barnson]

MSI owns the AppSearch process so unless you're finding that WiX isn't building the AppSearch tables correctly, there's nothing WiX can do to change AppSearch behavior.