Forum Discussion
Appdata roaming and local in package
The application installer adds folders and files to the following folders:
- the user's AppData\Local
- AppData\Roaming
- Common AppData (i.e. c:\ProgramData)
These files are seen in the MSIX package created by the MSIX Packaging Tool (by cracking open the zip compression) as expected under the folders:
- VFS\Local%20AppData
- VFS\AppData
- VFS\Common%20AppData
The Win32 application code uses code such as:
SHGetFolderPath(NULL, CSIDL_LOCAL_APPDATA, NULL, 0, wstr)
to obtain the location on the target system so as to retrieve the data in a file. This is done using a CSIDL for each of the mentioned folders. The application displays the retrieved string for the file location so that we can verify what that is and then attempts to read and open the file using CreateFile with Generic_Read access.
Under MSIX, the displayed folder paths returned and displayed match the locations for a native install:
- C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local
- C:\Users[username]\AppData\Remote
C:\ProgramData
But the file reads fail for the first two cases but not the third. This is behavior that I would expect to work in all three cases "out of the box" without the need for PSF shimming.
A Procmon trace shows the system only looking in:
- C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Packages\[pggref]\LocalCache\Local
- C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Packages\[pggref]\LocalCache\Roaming
- C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\[pkgfldr]\VFS\Common AppData
9 Replies
Does the problem still exist in MSIX Packaging Tool version 1.2019.1220.0?
The issue appears to be in the "runtime" of the MSIX and not in how the package was captured. I have been using changes I made to the PSF FileRedirectionFixup to detect and correct the issue at runtime. I am just starting to work with 1220 this week, but while there are other interesting things in it, I haven't detected any changes to how it captures these files.
It may be possible that certain versions of the runtime (at least 1909 but possibly needs November monthly fixes) might now work for a subset of the reported deficiencies. There appears to be no documentation I can find on a change, but I noticed it in December. For now I'm sticking with the Psf/FRF for apps with these issues.
In addition to the PSF/FRF, a solution using the PsfLauncher and a PowerShell script set to "run once" could be used to copy files out the first time the user runs the app. It would seem more natural to those used to the WIn32 runtime, but has all of the bad properties of a custom action, which MSIX is trying to get away from.
with your PsfTooling I managed to do it, you did a great job!!
Hi Tim,
We (the Advanced Installer team) noticed this too, we actually tested only the Local and Roaming appdata folders.
To solve this and make the converted apps work we've updated Advanced Installer to automatically copy, when the user first launches the app, the files from the appdata VFS folders to the corresponding "Packages" folders.
You can try this feature if you are using AI version 15.1 or higher.
To easily test it I think you can also import the MSIX package you already have, just rename it to appx first, as we haven't yet updated our import wizards. (Import -> Desktop Bridge Package).
P.S. this auto-fix/shim is included in our free Express edition too. In the linked MSDN article Matteo explains in detail how Advanced Installer applies the fix.
