I had a quick reread and the MSDN docs do seem somewhat contradictory. + is Wix's "create"
"+ The key is to be created, if absent, when the component is installed. * The key is to be created, if absent, when the component is installed. Additionally, the key is to be deleted, if present, with all of its values and subkeys, when the component is uninstalled." By implication + doesn't remove it on uninstall. That matches observed behaviour but doesn't quite match up with a later paragraph: "Note that the installer removes a registry key after removing the last value or subkey under the key. To prevent an empty registry key from being removed when uninstalling, write a dummy value under the key you need to keep and enter + in the Name column." The Wix docs say: "create Creates the key, if absent, when the parent component is installed." which is right. So it would seem it's expected according to the Wix docs and the MSDN is confusing. -----Original Message----- From: Mark E. Scott Jr. [mailto:msc...@scott-usa.com] Sent: 15 December 2011 19:56 To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Removing Registry Keys Revisited Thanks, but I actually had been reading that post before making mine. The problem I have seems to occur when you add an empty key, that it does not follow those rules. In the case of an empty key, the "create" action is not removing the key on uninstall, even if there were no subkeys or values added. Other than this case, it seems to function exactly as Daniel wrote. Mark E. Scott Jr. msc...@scott-usa.com -----Original Message----- From: Peter Shirtcliffe [mailto:pshirtcli...@sdl.com] Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2011 3:54 AM To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Removing Registry Keys Revisited Daniel wrote a nice summary here http://windows-installer-xml-wix-toolset.687559.n2.nabble.com/Removing-Regist ry-Value-tp6557782p6562164.html -----Original Message----- From: Mark E. Scott Jr. [mailto:msc...@scott-usa.com] Sent: 14 December 2011 18:48 To: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: [WiX-users] Removing Registry Keys Revisited Is my understanding of the RegistryKey's action parameters incorrect? Recently, we moved from having the keys with the Action parameter set to 'createAndRemoveOnUninstall', to 'create'. We were clobbering keys between applications with this setting. When rereading the documentation, it is unclear to me if it is going to also remove the key value even if another application placed one correctly through Windows Installer. Regardless, we started having orphaned registry keys on the system after making this change. And after reviewing them, they all were Registry keys that did not yet have any children. For instance, we had '<RegistryKey Key="ActiveTasks" Action="create" />'. This key needed to be present for an application to function, and after the service has been configured, it will place some registry values. However, I have noticed that having this statement, Windows Installer leaves the key, even if our application has not yet placed any values. I would have expected Windows Installer to remove it based on documentation. However, other places in our code do not exhibit this behavior, but all the rest of the locations specifically call out a RegistryValue child for them, as in: <RegistryKey Root="HKLM" Key="MyParentKey" Action="create"> <RegistryValue Name="MyValue" Type="string" Value="test" KeyPath="yes" /> </RegistryKey> After uninstalling, the above key was successfully removed, while the ActiveTasks key remained, with no attached registry values. Setting the Action to 'createAndRemoveOnUninstall' on the first registry key does correctly remove the whole key, but it certainly seems that it shouldn't be a requirement. Our intention is to specifically begin calling out registry values that should be removed in the future, but we aren't there yet, but at that time it will be a moot point I think. So, to summarize my question, is it expected behavior that if I declare a RegistryKey, with the Action set to Create, with no children, and my application does not create children or values, that Windows Installer will not remove the key on full product uninstall (WiX 3.5)? Thanks! Mark E. Scott Jr. msc...@scott-usa.com<mailto:msc...@scott-usa.com> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Cloud Computing - Latest Buzzword or a Glimpse of the Future? This paper surveys cloud computing today: What are the benefits? Why are businesses embracing it? 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