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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-06-18T22:00:26+00:00

According to the WiX documentation, EACH file should be wrapped with component tag. What

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According to the WiX documentation, EACH file should be wrapped with component tag.
What is the meaning of it? What if I put under one component multiple files? I don’t find
a clear answer on subject. How does it affects the product upgrade?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Basically it will break the “repair” option in your installer. Imagine the scenario, you have one component with 3 files:

    <Component Id="FilesToInstall">
    <File Id="FileA" Source="[PathToFileA]" KeyPath="yes" />
    <File Id="FileB" Source="[PathToFileB]" />
    <File Id="FileC" Source="[PathToFileB]" />
</Component>

    Notice you have to set one of the files as a KeyPath and you can only set one per component.

    Now if for some reason FileA gets deleted or corrupted after the install, you can do a repair and windows installer will check that file, find it is deleted or corrupted and mark the component for re-installation. This will then replace FileA, FileB and FileC with the correct versions inside the installer.

    However if FileB or FileC are missing or corrupted but FileA is still OK, then windows installer will not replace anything as it will see the Component as valid.

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