microsoft / microsoft/winget-cli

Winget.exe reparse links in %appdatalocal%\Microsoft\WindowsApps point to inconsistent and incorrect targets

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Description

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The first of these paths doesn't exist - presumably it has been superceded.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

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reproducing the failure after Add-AppxPackage -RegisterByFamilyName -MainPackage Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe, then inspect both WindowsApps reparse links with fsutil reparsepoint query. Compare their targets with the installed Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller version; done means the PATH-resolved winget.exe points to a valid target and runs normally.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Domain
cli, operating-systems
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
30/100

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