Software Deployment

Hey All,

I hope the below article will help all to understand about the windows 7 64-bit profiles redirection.

64-bit Windows redirects the "System32" folder for 32-bit processes. On Windows 7 the system account's profile folder lives in "..\System32\config\systemprofile". It is also redirected when accessed form a 32-bit process. This has a direct affect on packages that are run under the system account (many software distribution systems), but performs operations on the user profile.

Most corporate administrators have learned the hardway to ensure that installation (MSI or otherwise) are automated to place all profile resources in the %ALLUSERSPROFILE% folders. In windows installer the unwavering use of ALLUSERS=1 ensures this.

However, when an installation is accidentally setup as an MSI per-user based install and runs under the system profile, diagnosis of the problem is hampered by the 32- bit redirection of this folder.

If the registry key for tracking profile locations (HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\S-1-5-18) is examined on a 64-bit system, it shows the System Profile should be under system32. On a defeat install of Windows this is: "C:\Windows\System32\Config\Systemprofile", but a 32-bit process will place resources targeted at this location at "C:\Windows\sysWOW64\config\systemprofile".

For compatibility and simplicity, software distribution systems generally run as 32- bit services on 64-bit Windows. This causes their system profile folder access to be redirected to c:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile.

Thanks,
-MST