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Asked: 2026-05-29T20:25:00+00:00

I’ve created an MSI using WiX. I’m trying to register .NET components for COM

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I’ve created an MSI using WiX. I’m trying to register .NET components for COM interop on x64 Windows Vista. However, after running the MSI install and then firing up the website that uses these components, I see this error message:

Component Execution failed for component[0xC] hr: 0x0 CLSID:
{3C1CEEC0-3B20-46F8-8D4E-5F16E93D8774} Could not create Component .
This may be a component registration issue.

It does not seem to be caused by the usual issues and after a lot of playing around, I have found I can resolve this issue by doing the following:

  1. Export the CLSID\{3C1CEEC0-3B20-46F8-8D4E-5F16E93D8774} registry entry.
  2. Delete the key and all subkeys of CLSID\{3C1CEEC0-3B20-46F8-8D4E-5F16E93D8774}
  3. Re-import the exported .reg from step 1.

After completing these 3 steps, the component is resolved correctly and the web application works fine.

Update: I just exported the entire HKCR registry key after my installer ran and then after performing the 3 steps above. Doing a diff on the two files reveals no differences!

So my question is, what do I need to do to my WiX installer to get this working? I assume I’m doing something wrong, but what?

FYI – I am using the following WiX XML to create the registry keys (I already tried using the WiX Class element but that did not work either). Note: var.CLSID is a variable with the HKCR\CLSID (not the Wow6432Node).

    <RegistryValue Root="HKCR" Key="$(var.CLSID)\{3C1CEEC0-3B20-46F8-8D4E-5F16E93D8774}" Value="Awesome.Component" Type="string" Action="write" />
    <RegistryValue Root="HKCR" Key="$(var.CLSID)\{3C1CEEC0-3B20-46F8-8D4E-5F16E93D8774}\InprocServer32" Value="mscoree.dll" Type="string" Action="write" />
    <RegistryValue Root="HKCR" Key="$(var.CLSID)\{3C1CEEC0-3B20-46F8-8D4E-5F16E93D8774}\InprocServer32" Name="ThreadingModel" Value="Both" Type="string" Action="write" />
    <RegistryValue Root="HKCR" Key="$(var.CLSID)\{3C1CEEC0-3B20-46F8-8D4E-5F16E93D8774}\ProgId" Value="Awesome.Component" Type="string" Action="write" />
    <RegistryValue Root="HKCR" Key="$(var.CLSID)\{3C1CEEC0-3B20-46F8-8D4E-5F16E93D8774}\Implemented Categories\{62C8FE65-4EBB-45e7-B440-6E39B2CDBF29}" Value="" Type="string" Action="write" />
    <RegistryValue Root="HKCR" Key="$(var.CLSID)\{3C1CEEC0-3B20-46F8-8D4E-5F16E93D8774}\InprocServer32\0.9.2.0" Name="Class" Value="Awesome.Component" Type="string" Action="write" />
    <RegistryValue Root="HKCR" Key="$(var.CLSID)\{3C1CEEC0-3B20-46F8-8D4E-5F16E93D8774}\InprocServer32\0.9.2.0" Name="Assembly" Value="AwesomeAssembly, Version=0.9.2.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=8a030859d27c8274" Type="string" Action="write" />
    <RegistryValue Root="HKCR" Key="$(var.CLSID)\{3C1CEEC0-3B20-46F8-8D4E-5F16E93D8774}\InprocServer32\0.9.2.0" Name="RuntimeVersion" Value="v2.0.50727" Type="string" Action="write" />
    <RegistryValue Root="HKCR" Key="$(var.CLSID)\{3C1CEEC0-3B20-46F8-8D4E-5F16E93D8774}\InprocServer32\0.9.2.0" Name="CodeBase" Value="file:///[#fil7B6E8E93E37519B6844149C87BAD9C0B]" Type="string" Action="write" />
    <RegistryValue Root="HKCR" Key="$(var.CLSID)\{3C1CEEC0-3B20-46F8-8D4E-5F16E93D8774}\InprocServer32" Name="Class" Value="Awesome.Component" Type="string" Action="write" />
    <RegistryValue Root="HKCR" Key="$(var.CLSID)\{3C1CEEC0-3B20-46F8-8D4E-5F16E93D8774}\InprocServer32" Name="Assembly" Value="AwesomeAssembly, Version=0.9.2.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=8a030859d27c8274" Type="string" Action="write" />
    <RegistryValue Root="HKCR" Key="$(var.CLSID)\{3C1CEEC0-3B20-46F8-8D4E-5F16E93D8774}\InprocServer32" Name="RuntimeVersion" Value="v2.0.50727" Type="string" Action="write" />
    <RegistryValue Root="HKCR" Key="$(var.CLSID)\{3C1CEEC0-3B20-46F8-8D4E-5F16E93D8774}\InprocServer32" Name="CodeBase" Value="file:///[#fil7B6E8E93E37519B6844149C87BAD9C0B]" Type="string" Action="write" />
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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    The answer (for me) is Registry Permissions!

    After a good nights sleep, I realised that if the registry entry exports did not differ, the answer must lie in a registry difference that does not get exported. Of course, one of the possibilities (possibly the only one?) is registry permissions.

    Armed with better Googling terms, I found the thread Heat and COM registry permissions. This thread explains that if you don’t have the WiX Property ALLUSERS set with a value of 1 (i.e. <Property Id="ALLUSERS" Value="1" />) then by default your installer will run and install registry keys in the per-user hive. Hence, why my web application could not see them (as it is running as a different user) and could not create them.

    Moral of my story: You can’t expect Heat.exe to do all the work. You can’t just dabble with WiX and MSI.

    I wish there was a succinct WiX installer project checklist somewhere…

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