Creating a Prerequisite for .NET Windows Desktop Runtime 5.0.14... what am I missing?

[isherman]

I've figured out how to update a prerequisite, and it seems to work when I'm working with the the latest .NET 5 Asp.NET Hosting Bundle, and I'll describe the steps I took for it here. Then I'll show where those steps seem to fail when I try to do the same thing with the same version of the .NET Desktop Runtime.

So the steps which I can verify work are as follows.

1. I create a new prerequisite in the prerequisite editor, copying the installer I'm updating.

2. I download and install manually the package I'm working on.

3. I grab the manual download link, and put it in Files To Include, replacing the existing URL.

4. I do the same with the installer, putting it in the appropriate directory and pointing InstallShield to it.

5. In Application to Run, I set the application to be the one I just pointed to.

6. Having already installed the package in step 2, I inspect the registry, under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\ and manually inspect the directories there to find the GUID used to install the package.

7. I change the "Registry Key Exists" condition to point to the GUID found in the registry.

8. I create a new GUID and replace the one in Properties with it.

9. I strip out the Alternate Location for the PRQ file under the Properties tab.

10. I build and run my installer (a Basic MSI project with a single executable) and the prerequisite installs properly.

This works with the Hosting Bundle, but fails at step 6 with the Desktop Runtime. Is there somewhere else I need to look for the registry GUID?

[isherman · Accepted solution]

Answered my own question.  Just for completeness, I'll finish my question/guide, in the hopes it will help someone here.  The location of the key changed sometime between 5.0.3 and 5.0.14- it no longer looks for a GUID.  Now it looks for the version number in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\dotnet\Setup\InstalledVersions\x64\sharedhost\Version