microsoft
Winget.exe reparse links in %appdatalocal%\Microsoft\WindowsApps point to inconsistent and incorrect targets
Brief description of your issue
winget.exe reparse links in %appdatalocal%\Microsoft\WindowsApps point to inconsistent and incorrect targets.
Steps to reproduce
I've been using winrs to remote shell onto an assortment of remote Windows 10/11 Pro PCs. Some had winget already installed. Those that didn't, I installed with Add-AppxPackage -RegisterByFamilyName -MainPackage Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe Returning at a later time to use winget to install another program and winget fails to run
Expected behavior
Winget to run as normal
Actual behavior
Powershell:
Program 'winget.exe' failed to run: The system cannot find the path specifiedAt line:1 char:1
CMD:
The system cannot find the file %localappdata%\Microsoft\WindowsApps\winget.exe.
It appears that there are two copies of winget.exe as zero byte reparse links:
%localappdata%\Microsoft\WindowsApps\winget.exe
%localappdata%\Microsoft\WindowsApps\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe\winget.exe
The first of these is in the 'path' environment variable and is what is returned by (get-command winget).path
Querying the target of these reparse points using
fsutil reparsepoint query "%localappdata%\Microsoft\WindowsApps\winget.exe"
reveals that the first points to
c:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_1.24.25199.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\winget.exe
and the second to
c:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_1.25.339.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\winget.exe
The first of these paths doesn't exist - presumably it has been superceded.
Specifying to run
%localappdata%\Microsoft\WindowsApps\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe\winget.exe
works fine, it appears to be just the reparse point that it pointing to the wrong location. It doesn't seem to be possible to just copy one in place of the other.
Could you please advise how to resolve the issue with incorrectly targeted reparse points and also whether there is a known cause or something to avoid that may have caused this issue.
Many thanks, Gareth
Environment
Windows Package Manager v1.10.340
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Windows: Windows.Desktop v10.0.22631.4890
System Architecture: X64
Package: Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller v1.25.339.0
Winget Directories
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Logs %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\Diag
User Settings %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\sett
Portable Links Directory (User) %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WinGet\Links
Portable Links Directory (Machine) C:\Program Files\WinGet\Links
Portable Package Root (User) %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WinGet\Packages
Portable Package Root C:\Program Files\WinGet\Packages
Portable Package Root (x86) C:\Program Files (x86)\WinGet\Packages
Installer Downloads %USERPROFILE%\Downloads
Configuration Modules %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WinGet\Configuration\Modules
Links
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Privacy Statement https://aka.ms/winget-privacy
License Agreement https://aka.ms/winget-license
Third Party Notices https://aka.ms/winget-3rdPartyNotice
Homepage https://aka.ms/winget
Windows Store Terms https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/storedocs/terms-of-sale
Admin Setting State
--------------------------------------------------
LocalManifestFiles Disabled
BypassCertificatePinningForMicrosoftStore Disabled
InstallerHashOverride Disabled
LocalArchiveMalwareScanOverride Disabled
ProxyCommandLineOptions Disabled
DefaultProxy Disabled
This looks like it's related to:
- https://github.com/microsoft/winget-cli/issues/256
@denelon This issue is fixed now.
- https://github.com/microsoft/WindowsAppSDK/issues/5258#issuecomment-2757847935.
