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I'm using a program called InstallForge to generate installers that will place a batch file into the system32 folder.

When it runs and tries to put it in C:\windows\system32\ it is redirected to C:\windows\sysWOW64\ as the installer is a 32 bit application. When this happened in the past, I knew to use the override path C:\windows\sysnative\, however now when I am attempting to do this it reports "Windows can not find the path "C:\WINDOWS\sysnative".

Why might this 32 bit program not be able to access the sysnative folder? If it is 64 bit, why is system32 being redirected to sysWOW64?

Mark Deven
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  • Why is system32 being redirected? Because that is what happens in 64bit windows when a 32bit application are attempting to get system paths. Installforge would need to call [wow64disablewow64fsredirection()](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/wow64apiset/nf-wow64apiset-) to get this to work differently. Dropping batch files into system32 was my first clue that this is a PoS. I mean no offense, but use WIX or some other approved way of delivering software to a windows machine. whoever wrote this app knows very little about windows architecture – Señor CMasMas Dec 05 '21 at 21:25
  • @SeñorCMasMas thank you for the reply. I was aware as to why it redirects by default, but I wasn't sure why it wasn't letting me override it with sysnative. However, thank you for your suggestion to use WIX, and no offense taken, Installforge seems like it was great when it was first made, but is lacking in a x64 age. – Mark Deven Dec 06 '21 at 20:32

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It looks to be a bug with InstallForge.

Once the installer is built, InstallForge offers to run the installer immediately, and launches the installer if you selected "yes."

However, when InstallForge runs it, as apposed to the user running it, it does not properly handle the sysnative path. This is likely because it is not being run as an administrator, but I am still unsure exactly why InstallForge does this.

With sloppy testing, I initially missed the cause of the issue.

Mark Deven
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