"perUserOrMachine" package won't create system-wide start menu shortcuts

[ubeF]

Question

I'm trying to create a dual-purpose package that can be installed either in the per-user or the per-machine context. To achieve that i set the Scope of the Package to "perUserOrMachine". This sets ALLUSERS=2 and MSINSTALLPERUSER=1, which is in line with the Single Package Authoring recommendations by Microsoft https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/msi/single-package-authoring. To the GUI i added a checkbox that can be unchecked to unset MSINSTALLPERUSER.

This works perfectly fine to control my INSTALLDIR which is defined in the following way:

<StandardDirectory Id="ProgramFiles6432Folder">
  <Directory Id="INSTALLDIR" Name="...">
</StandardDirectory>

When the checkbox is checked (MSINSTALLPERUSER=1) the INSTALLDIR resolves to a subdirectory of C:\Program Files\ and installs my app there. When it's unchecked (MSINSTALLPERUSER=) INSTALLDIR resolves to a subdirectory of C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local and my files are installed there.

But for some reason the same logic does not apply when i try to create shortcuts in the program menu:

<StandardDirectory Id="ProgramMenuFolder">
  <Directory Id="SHORTCUTS" Name="...">
</StandardDirectory>

No matter if the checkbox is checked or not my shortcuts are always created in a subdirectory of C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs. According to my understanding, when MSINSTALLPERUSER is unset, the shortcuts should be created in a subdirectory of C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\, as they would if ALLUSERS was set to 1

At first i thought something went wrong in resolving the StandardDirectory, but even when i don't use it and manually set SHORTCUTS="C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\... my shortcuts seem to be redirected and are still created in C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\... (silently, without throwing any errors)

Is this behavior intentional? Why should a multi-purpose package not be allowed to create system-wide shortcuts?

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[robmen]

That's Windows Installer behavior, which means it is outside of the control of the WiX Toolset. You'd need to follow up with Microsoft.