wix heat not generating registry output

Question

I am new to WIX (moved because VS2013 no longer supports my setup projects).

I am using: Windows Installer XML Toolset Toolset Harvester version 3.8.1128.0

I would like to generate a WIX fragment from a .reg file but when do:

heat reg MyApp.reg -v -o MyApp.wxs

The contents of MyApp.wxs are simply:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Wix xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/2006/wi" />

The contents of registry file MyApp.reg are:

REGEDIT
; This .REG file may be used by your SETUP program.
;   If a SETUP program is not available, the entries below will be
;   registered in your InitInstance automatically with a call to
;   CWinApp::RegisterShellFileTypes and COleObjectFactory::UpdateRegistryAll.

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.ad = MyApp.Document
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MyApp.Document\shell\open\command = MYAPP.EXE %1
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MyApp.Document\shell\open\ddeexec = [open("%1")]
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MyApp.Document\shell\open\ddeexec\application = AXSYS
    ; note: the application is optional
    ;  (it defaults to the app name in "command")

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MyApp.Document = MyApp Document
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MyApp.Document\CLSID = {405890C4-E3AA-11D2-AE41-0040053793DD}

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{405890C4-E3AA-11D2-AE41-0040053793DD} = MyApp Document
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{405890C4-E3AA-11D2-AE41-0040053793DD}\ProgId = MyApp.Document
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{405890C4-E3AA-11D2-AE41-0040053793DD}\LocalServer32 = MYAPP.EXE

Thank you.

The output generate by the program in this post http://stackoverflow.com/questions/269423/how-to-generate-wix-xml-from-a-reg-file matches that of the heat application but the reg file works (as does running MyApp with administrative privileges). — Ellipsisware, Apr 14 '14 at 20:59

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 15 '14 at 12:50

I've never seen a registry file like the one in your post. Using the default export formats from regedit, heat works flawlessly. E.g. here is a export from regedit:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Event Viewer]
"MicrosoftRedirectionProgram"=hex(2):00,00
"MicrosoftRedirectionProgramCommandLineParameters"=""
"MicrosoftRedirectionURL"="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp"

And here one using the Win9x/WinNT-format:

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Event Viewer]
"MicrosoftRedirectionProgram"=hex(2):00
"MicrosoftRedirectionProgramCommandLineParameters"=""
"MicrosoftRedirectionURL"="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp"

The easiest solution for you would probably be to run regedit on a system with the keys already in place, then export these keys (by right clicking the registry hive and select Export from the context menu) and then use the resulting .reg-file as source for your heat-run.

wix heat not generating registry output

1 Answers1