Specify the registry uninstall key location/hive via [Code]

Question

Inno Setup by default looks at the PrivilegesRequired setup variable, if this is set to admin or poweruser, the installer installs the

Answer 1

Inno Setup 6 has a built-in support for selecting between "Install for all users" and "Install for me only".

Basically, you can simply set PrivilegesRequiredOverridesAllowed:

[Setup]
PrivilegesRequiredOverridesAllowed=commandline dialog

---

For Inno Setup 5: As you found yourself, the logic is hard-coded. You cannot really control that.

The closest you can get is by using the undocumented (deprecated) PrivilegesRequired=none.

With this value (and with a help of installer-autodetection in Windows):

• When you start the installer with an un-privileged account, it starts without prompting you for elevation. If you decide you need to elevate during the installation, you can restart the installer elevated.
• When you start the installer with a privileged account, it always prompts you for elevation and won't start, if you reject that. So the installer always runs elevated. Again, you would have to restart the installer, if you decide you to proceed un-elevated. See How to Start a Process Unelevated or maybe Run un-elevated command from an elevated prompt?.

It's not exactly, what you want, but I do not think you can get any closer.

---

You can of course copy (move) the registry key between the HKCU and HKLM yourself by a code:

function MoveHKCUUninstallKeyToHKLM: Boolean;
var
  UninstallKey: string;
  AppId: string;
  I: Integer;
  ValueNames: TArrayOfString;
  ValueName: string;
  ValueStr: string;
  ValueDWord: Cardinal;
begin
  if '{#emit SetupSetting("AppId")}' <> '' then
  begin
    AppId := '{#emit SetupSetting("AppId")}';
  end
    else
  begin
    AppId := '{#emit SetupSetting("AppName")}';
  end;

  Result := False;
  if AppId = '' then
  begin
    Log('Cannot identify AppId');
  end
    else
  begin
    UninstallKey :=
      'Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\' + AppId + '_is1';
    Log(Format(
      'AppId identified as "%s", using uninstall key "%s"', [AppId, UninstallKey]));
    if not RegKeyExists(HKCU, UninstallKey) then
    begin
      Log('HKCU uninstall key not found');
    end
      else
    if RegKeyExists(HKLM, UninstallKey) then
    begin
      Log('HKLM uninstall key exists already');
    end
      else
    begin
      Log('HKCU uninstall key found and HKLM key not exists yet');

      if not RegGetValueNames(HKCU, UninstallKey, ValueNames) then
      begin
        Log('Cannot list uninstall key values');
      end
        else
      begin
        I := 0;
        Result := True;
        while (I < GetArrayLength(ValueNames)) and Result do
        begin
          ValueName := ValueNames[I];
          if RegQueryStringValue(HKCU, UninstallKey, ValueName, ValueStr) then
          begin
            if not RegWriteStringValue(HKLM, UninstallKey, ValueName, ValueStr) then
            begin
              Log(Format('Error moving "%s" string value', [ValueName]));
              Result := False;
            end
              else
            begin
              Log(Format('Moved "%s" string value', [ValueName]));
            end;
          end
            else
          if RegQueryDWordValue(HKCU, UninstallKey, ValueName, ValueDWord) then
          begin
            if not RegWriteDWordValue(HKLM, UninstallKey, ValueName, ValueDWord) then
            begin
              Log(Format('Error moving "%s" dword value', [ValueName]));
              Result := False;
            end
              else
            begin
              Log(Format('Moved "%s" dword value', [ValueName]));
            end;
          end
            else
          begin
            { All uninstall values written by Inno Setup are either string or dword }
            Log(Format('Value "%s" is neither string nor dword', [ValueName]));
            Result := False;
          end;
          Inc(I);
        end;

        if Result then
        begin
          if not RegDeleteKeyIncludingSubkeys(HKCU, UninstallKey) then
          begin
            Log('Error removing HKCU uninstall key');
            Result := False;
          end
            else
          begin
            Log('Removed HKCU uninstall key');
          end;
        end;

        if not Result then
        begin
          if not RegDeleteKeyIncludingSubkeys(HKCU, UninstallKey) then
          begin
            Log('Failed to move uninstall key to HKLM, ' +
                'and also failed to rollback the changes');
          end
            else
          begin
            Log('Failed to move uninstall key to HKLM, rolled back the changes');
          end;
        end;
      end;
    end;
  end;
end;

procedure CurStepChanged(CurStep: TSetupStep);
begin
  if CurStep = ssPostInstall then
  begin
    Log('Post install');
    MoveHKCUUninstallKeyToHKLM;
  end;
end;