Note about using "App paths" for installers

App paths is recommended (or better say - preferred) way to register application in Windows since Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1). I've got a box with Windows XP Home Edition SP3 and I would like to say that from user/application experience it is a bad recommendation and there are two reasons why App Paths is evil.

• cmd environment doesn't understand App Paths


• App Paths seems to work only if application installed for All Users, i.e. App Paths keys created in HKEY_CURRENT_USER are ignored by the system and only those added to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE work.

I was surprised to see Inkscape.exe and Python.exe entries under HKCU. Python didn't work from Start->Run dialog (Win-R) until I moved it to HKLM. Inkscape had entries in both HKCU App Paths and in HKLM, so it worked right away, but the set of fields in both was different, so I assumed it stores some valuable user-specific information there. Frankly speaking I was even more surprised to find out that Python works under Far Manager even if its App Paths setting located in HKCU, but it is because Far checks this key itself explicitly. I do not know if it is good assuming that system itself doesn't check this key.