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Description of MSI registry entries


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MainSoft

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Posted 29 January 2004 - 15:03

Hi,

I'm wondering whether a full description of the various registry entries relative to MSI can be found somewhere. I didn't find anything about this in Stefan's book (or did I miss it?).

I'm especially interested in two things:

1. I'm convinced that the Installer/Folders entry contains a lot of useless entries (at least on my system). Some have a usecount (?) set to 1, manyothers don't have their DWORD value set. Moreover, there are folder listed here that correspond to applications that were uninstalled and these folders no longer exist. What is this entry for? I have thousands of values under that key and I'd like to eliminate what's surperfluous.

2. Having a good understanding of the registry organization regarding the Windows Installer would enable me to write a tool that would check the consistency of the MSI registry entries. This tool is really missing and the Cleanup utility doesn't help for this purpose.

Thanks in advance.

--Patrick Philippot
Microsoft MVP [.Net]
Consulting Services
www.mainsoft.fr

PS: Ich kann auch deutsch. Nur, wenn es sich um technische Angelegenheiten handelt, ziehe ich es vor, die englische Sprache zu benutzen. Sie können aber freilich auf deutsch meine Frage beantworten.
--Patrick Philippot
Microsoft MVP [.Net]
Consulting Services
www.mainsoft.fr

Stefan Krueger

Stefan Krueger

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Posted 29 January 2004 - 18:13

These entries are not officially documented, and their format may change in a newer version of MSI.
Howwever there is some inofficial information here on InstallSite and in some of the books from Bob Baker.

MainSoft

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Posted 29 January 2004 - 18:21

QUOTE (MainSoft @ 2004-01-29 15:03)
Some have a usecount (?) set to 1, manyothers don't have their DWORD value set.

My mistake: not a DWORD, but a REG_SZ value.

--Patrick Philippot
Microsoft MVP [.Net]
Consulting Services
www.mainsoft.fr
--Patrick Philippot
Microsoft MVP [.Net]
Consulting Services
www.mainsoft.fr

MainSoft

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Posted 29 January 2004 - 18:22

QUOTE (Stefan Krueger @ 2004-01-29 18:13)
However there is some inofficial information here on InstallSite and in some of the books from Bob Baker.

Thanks Stefan,

I'll try to find it.

--Patrick Philippot
Microsoft MVP [.Net]
Consulting Services
www.mainsoft.fr
--Patrick Philippot
Microsoft MVP [.Net]
Consulting Services
www.mainsoft.fr

luke_s

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Posted 30 January 2004 - 05:10

From my experience, the Folder area doesnt really do anything. Has anyone else seen found anything different?




Stefan Krueger

Stefan Krueger

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Posted 30 January 2004 - 08:14

Sorry for my short reply yesterday. here are some pointers:

Windows Installer Directory Cleaner
http://www.installsi....htm#MsiCleaner

Darwin Transform and Its Application in Windows Installer Custom Actions
http://www.installsi...tureConfigCheck
(explains how the installer guids are coded in registry)