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Fix Windows installer logs path#4359

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sharder996 merged 1 commit intomainfrom
docs/fix-windows-install-logs-path
Sep 12, 2025
Merged

Fix Windows installer logs path#4359
sharder996 merged 1 commit intomainfrom
docs/fix-windows-install-logs-path

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@Sploder12
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@Sploder12 Sploder12 commented Sep 11, 2025

Previously the documentation had the path of the install logs as %APPDATA%\Local\Temp, this by default resolves to C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Local\Temp which is not the correct path. This PR uses %TEMP% which by default resolves to C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Temp which is where the logs are stored*.

Thanks to @holta for pointing out this issue in #4209

*as pointed out by @xmkg, logs may not always be in the %TEMP% folder

On Windows, the Event system is used and Event Viewer lets you access them. Our logs are currently under "Windows Logs/Application", where you can filter by "Multipass" Event source. You can then export the selected events to a file.

Logs from the installation and uninstall process can be found under `%APPDATA%\Local\Temp`. Sort the contents of the directory by "Date Modified" to bring the newest files to the top. The name of the file containing the logs follows the pattern `MSI[0-9a-z].LOG`.
Logs from the installation and uninstall process can be found under `%LOCALAPPDATA%\Temp`. Sort the contents of the directory by "Date Modified" to bring the newest files to the top. The name of the file containing the logs follows the pattern `MSI[0-9a-z].LOG`.
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So... This one is tricky because the log path actually depends on the system configuration, the installation mode (system vs. user), and the explicit log path override. Our Windows installer explicitly enables the MSI logging by setting the MsiLogging property:

 <Property Id="MsiLogging" Value="vx!" />

vx! denotes verbose, extra debugging info, and force flush per line, respectively.

MsiLogFileLocation is the read-only property where the actual logs are stored. The best way to solve this would be to display the log path when installation has failed or been cancelled. A lesser good way to do it would be replacing the %LOCALAPPDATA%\Temp with simply %TEMP%. I think we can use %TEMP% for now. @Sploder12 opinions?

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Well that makes things complicated... %TEMP% should work for now. Displaying a message would be nice but that's harder to represent in the docs I feel, it'd be nice to have it in a consistent location. Maybe move/copy it into %TEMP% if it isn't already there? Honestly not sure what the best solution is for this.

@Sploder12 Sploder12 force-pushed the docs/fix-windows-install-logs-path branch from 288a4f8 to a8d2530 Compare September 12, 2025 09:11
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Something up with the Documentation Check. Clearly not related to changes here so merging manually.

@sharder996 sharder996 merged commit ed19150 into main Sep 12, 2025
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@sharder996 sharder996 deleted the docs/fix-windows-install-logs-path branch September 12, 2025 14:44
geoffreynyaga pushed a commit that referenced this pull request Jan 21, 2026
Previously the documentation had the path of the install logs as
`%APPDATA%\Local\Temp`, this by default resolves to
`C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Local\Temp` which is not the correct
path. This PR uses `%TEMP%` which by default resolves to
`C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Temp` which is where the logs are
stored*.

Thanks to @holta for pointing out this issue in #4209

*as pointed out by @xmkg, logs may not always be in the `%TEMP%` folder
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