Adding Files from Your 64-Bit Source Machine’s 64-Bit System32 Folder
InstallShield 2020 Express Edition
On 64-bit systems, the System32 folder is reserved for 64-bit applications. When you try to view your development machine’s 64-bit System folder from within the Files view in InstallShield, Windows redirects the view to instead display the SysWOW64 folder—the 32-bit version of the folder. Thus, when you are using InstallShield on a 64-bit system and you want to add to your project a system file whose source location is the 64-bit System folder (System32) on your development machine, it is not possible to drag the file from one of the source computer panes at the top of the Files view to the appropriate location in one of the destination computer panes.
To work around the redirection and add a 64-bit System32 file on your development machine to your InstallShield project, you can browse to the Sysnative folder on your machine and then select the appropriate file for your project. The following instructions explain how.
Caution:Note that in many cases, including system files in an installation is not recommended, since the system folder is protected by Windows. In these cases, the preferred way to deliver and update system files is to use a Microsoft redistributable, if one is available for the technology, or to have end users obtain the updates through Windows Update.
To add to your project a file in the 64-bit System32 folder of a development system that has 64-bit Windows:
| 1. | In the View list under Specify Application Data, click Files. |
| 2. | In the Destination computer’s folders pane, click the folder into which you want to place the file. |
| 3. | Right-click in the Destination computer’s folders pane, and then click Add File. The Open dialog box opens. |
| 4. | Specify the following path (but replace the drive letter with the applicable drive letter if appropriate): |
C:\Windows\Sysnative
| 5. | Select the appropriate file that you want to add to your project, and then click the Open button. |
InstallShield adds the file to your project. InstallShield uses the Sysnative folder as part of the path for the source file that you added. WOW64 sees the Sysnative folder as a special alias; the file system does not redirect access away from this folder.
Availability of Sysnative Folder Support on Windows-Based Systems
Use of the Sysnative folder is not supported on 32-bit machines. If you use the Sysnative folder in an InstallShield project on a 64-bit system but then you try to build a release in that InstallShield project on a 32-bit system, InstallShield generates one or more build errors or warnings informing you that it could not find the source file.
See Also
Developing and Building Installations on 32-Bit vs. 64-Bit Systems