Detecting Debugger Install Folder

[jcote1321]

I would like to know if there is a simple way to programmatically detect
the folder where Debugging Tools is installed. Our current method is to read
an entry from the registry. With previous releases we could read get this
from "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\DebuggingTools", but with the most
recent release 6.9.3.113 we have to read the location below, and I am
concerned that this location is going to change with each release. Can you
recommend another location or a completely different method of locating the
debugger install path?

Registry entry found with release 6.9.3.113:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Components\07122A47C329FE84292B5CAA4B8053C0

[pat styles [microsoft]]

Im sorry. There is no consistent way to detect the installation of the
debugging tools using registration keys. The key you are seeing is set
by the MSI installation technology and is subject to change.

.pat styles [microsoft]

[jcote1321]

I'm not sure whether this is the appropriate place to request this, but
since this feature existed in the older release (in the HCU location as
mentioned in my original post) it would be really nice if this key could be
used again in future releases.

I'm sure this would be useful to other people, for example RichK's post
(link below) is pretty much asking the same thing from another direction. His
approach is to be able to hard-code the install folder so no detection is
required, my approach is to have a reliable method to detect the install
folder so it does not need to be hard coded.

RichK's question WinDbg install directory:
http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.windbg&tid=31a3685e-90df-4226-b181-1dfd5492e43f&cat=en_US_7FA645B6-5CF6-F4E4-BC6B-5138BCD79F16&lang=en&cr=US&sloc=en-us&m=1&p=1

"pat styles [microsoft]" wrote:

> Im sorry. There is no consistent way to detect the installation of the
> debugging tools using registration keys. The key you are seeing is set
> by the MSI installation technology and is subject to change.
>

> ..pat styles [microsoft]

[pat styles [microsoft]]

Hello.

While I cannot assure you that such a feature will never happen, I can
say that it is probably not likely. The reg key stuff has always been a
side effect of the installation process itself, and never consistent
with the intent of the actual debugging tools product. At this time,
the idea is that the debugger should be something that can be installed
with a simple xcopy command or something that runs from a usb memory
key. People that want to know the installation point are encouraged to
install to a known location and wrap the installer command with a script
that stores this location in the registry. You can do this as so...

msiexec.exe /i dbg_amd64_6.9.3.113.msi INSTDIR=c:\whereever

For installation, with a minimum of prompts, try...

msi.exe /passive /i dbg_amd64_6.9.3.113.msi INSTDIR=c:\whereever

.pat styles [microsoft]

[pat styles [microsoft]]

There was a typo in my last email...

msiexec.exe /i dbg_amd64_6.9.3.113.msi INSTDIR=c:\whereever

For installation, with a minimum of prompts, try...

msiexec.exe /passive /i dbg_amd64_6.9.3.113.msi INSTDIR=c:\whereever

.pat styles [microsoft]