Gaming Services 38.117.27001.0 unnecessarily launches GameInput MSI at startup due to a ProductCode mismatch

Feedback Hub report:
https://aka.ms/AA13s6tb

I am reporting an apparent defect in Microsoft Gaming Services 38.117.27001.0.

The issue appears to be an internal inconsistency between the GameInput detection logic in gamingservices.dll and the gameinputredist.msi shipped inside the same Gaming Services package.

Summary

The gamingservices.dll included in Gaming Services 38.117.27001.0 contains logic that queries Windows Installer for the following GameInput ProductCode:

{45B61AD4-7D73-48B9-B9B4-724C9F0828E6}

The property queried is:

VersionString

However, the gameinputredist.msi shipped inside the same Gaming Services package installs Microsoft GameInput using a different ProductCode:

{C7B6BB76-07B4-48D4-B257-4511AB9E002A}

The bundled MSI reports:

ProductName: Microsoft GameInput ProductVersion: 3.5.270.0 UpgradeCode: {37042BD3-CED5-451B-818A-3E9454BDF060}

The legacy ProductCode queried by gamingservices.dll is not registered when the current GameInput product is installed under {C7B6BB76-07B4-48D4-B257-4511AB9E002A}.

As a result, Gaming Services appears to treat the GameInput detection as unsuccessful and launches the bundled gameinputredist.msi during Gaming Services startup even though the current GameInput product is already installed.

Package verification

The Microsoft Store package is:

Microsoft.GamingServices 38.117.27001.0

Store product ID:

9MWPM2CQNLHN

The downloaded Microsoft Store AppxBundle is:

Microsoft.GamingServices_38.117.27001.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe.AppxBundle

The SHA-1 reported by the Microsoft Store package download metadata is:

F421E56E3C44905B347D54FC7256E1656BA6C243

The locally saved AppxBundle has the same SHA-1.

The bundle contains an x64 Microsoft.GamingServices package with version 38.117.27001.0.

Installed Gaming Services binaries

The gamingservices.exe extracted from the Store package and the installed gamingservices.exe are byte-for-byte identical.

SHA-256:

A0991577DAE8638A00A3C1FC2684E2B22E87957D79C1DCB2E365B15D4E55096F

The gamingservices.dll extracted from the Store package and the installed gamingservices.dll are also byte-for-byte identical.

SHA-256:

3E7650BF1E6D09EC64413B59B5677EB73DBFDBF5A6A6E62C724210D83F288655

Therefore, the behavior is not explained by a modified or corrupted local copy of Gaming Services.

Bundled GameInput MSI

The gameinputredist.msi extracted from the Microsoft Store Gaming Services package is byte-for-byte identical to the MSI in the installed Gaming Services directory.

SHA-256:

081557994B51947D0759FB1991760C4CD9A8DE349F9CF0FC72881ACC98B2C64A

Its MSI properties are:

ProductName: Microsoft GameInput ProductCode: {C7B6BB76-07B4-48D4-B257-4511AB9E002A} ProductVersion: 3.5.270.0 UpgradeCode: {37042BD3-CED5-451B-818A-3E9454BDF060}

The installed Windows Installer registration is consistent with this MSI:

ProductCode: {C7B6BB76-07B4-48D4-B257-4511AB9E002A} ProductState: 5 Version: 3.5.270.0

In contrast, the ProductCode queried by gamingservices.dll has:

ProductCode: {45B61AD4-7D73-48B9-B9B4-724C9F0828E6} ProductState: -1 VersionString: unavailable

Static analysis

Static analysis of gamingservices.dll shows imports and use of Windows Installer APIs including:

MsiGetProductInfoW MsiOpenDatabaseW MsiDatabaseOpenViewW MsiViewExecute MsiViewFetch MsiRecordGetStringW MsiCloseHandle

The relevant logic appears to:

1. Query MsiGetProductInfoW for ProductCode {45B61AD4-7D73-48B9-B9B4-724C9F0828E6}.
2. Request VersionString.
3. Open the bundled gameinputredist.msi.
4. Read its ProductVersion.
5. Compare the detected installed version with the MSI version.
6. Proceed to the MSI launch path when the legacy ProductCode lookup fails.
7. Launch msiexec.exe directly.

The command line observed during startup is:

msiexec.exe /i "...gameinputredist.msi" /quiet /l*v "...gameinputredist.log"

Runtime consequence

The boot trace shows the following sequence:

GamingServices.exe | v msiexec.exe /i gameinputredist.msi | v Microsoft GameInput enters MSI maintenance/configuration mode | v CA_StopInboxService | v net stop GameInputSvc

In the observed trace, the net stop GameInputSvc operation takes approximately 137.6 seconds.

The MSI subsequently completes successfully and the GameInput service is started again.

Thus, the MSI invocation appears to be unnecessary maintenance triggered by incorrect GameInput detection, and it can introduce a substantial startup delay.

Expected behavior

Gaming Services should correctly detect the GameInput redistributable corresponding to the gameinputredist.msi shipped with the same Gaming Services release.

When the current GameInput product is already installed and valid, Gaming Services should not launch and reconfigure the GameInput MSI unnecessarily during every startup.

Suspected defect

The evidence indicates that Gaming Services 38.117.27001.0 uses a GameInput ProductCode that is inconsistent with the ProductCode of the GameInput MSI bundled with that same release.

ProductCode queried by gamingservices.dll: {45B61AD4-7D73-48B9-B9B4-724C9F0828E6}

versus:

ProductCode of the bundled GameInput MSI: {C7B6BB76-07B4-48D4-B257-4511AB9E002A}

This appears to cause a false negative during GameInput detection.

The likely result is that Gaming Services follows its MSI installation/configuration path even when the current GameInput product is already installed.

Requested investigation

Please verify whether Gaming Services 38.117.27001.0 contains an obsolete or incorrect hard-coded GameInput ProductCode and whether its GameInput detection logic should instead identify and validate the ProductCode/version of the gameinputredist.msi bundled with the corresponding Gaming Services release.

I would also appreciate confirmation from other users who have Gaming Services 38.117.27001.0 installed.

In particular, it would be useful to know whether others observe:

GamingServices.exe -> msiexec.exe /i gameinputredist.msi -> net stop GameInputSvc

during Gaming Services startup.

The original report with the detailed evidence has already been submitted through Windows Feedback Hub:

https://aka.ms/AA13s6tb

Additional logs, MSI metadata, SHA-256 verification results, ETL data, and further static-analysis details can be provided if needed.