release: Installation on Windows x64 in C:\Program Files\Go redirects to C:\Program Files (x86)\Go\

[lkarlslund]

Please answer these questions before submitting your issue. Thanks!

What version of Go are you using (go version)?

Tested with Go 1.6.x and Go 1.7.x

What operating system and processor architecture are you using (go env)?

Windows 10 64-bit

What did you do?

Download latest install .MSI from Golang site. Double click to install. Override default C:\Go\ path to C:\Program Files\Go\ path. Installer redirects to C:\Program Files (x86)\Go\

What did you expect to see?

The installer should install to the path asked, not the 32-bit variant.

What did you see instead?

Installer redirected to 32-bit variant path of C:\Program Files\

[rakyll]

/cc @broady @adg

[bradfitz]

I don't think anybody on the Go team knows how our MSI installer thing works, and this isn't a regression from Go 1.7, so kicking down the road to Go 1.9. Sorry.

Any help on this would be great.

[kardianos]

If I had to guess, the installer executable is a 32-bit program so part of windows magic redirects it to use the 32-bit program files folder. I again would guess that the fix would be to make the installer 64-bit for 64-bit installs.

[bradfitz]

How do we get a 64-bit installer? We don't compile the installer.

[kardianos]

I'm looking into it now. I can confirm this happens with the go1.8beta1 msi.

[bradfitz]

Okay, all yours. This is still tagged Go 1.9, but if you have a fix, we can try it out earlier.

[kardianos]

In golang.org/x/build/cmd/release/releaselet.go Line 545

<Package
    Id='*' 
    Keywords='Installer'
    Description="The Go Programming Language Installer"
    Comments="The Go programming language is an open source project to make programmers more productive."
    InstallerVersion="300"
    Compressed="yes"
    InstallScope="perMachine"
    Languages="1033" />
    <!--    Platform="x86 or x64" -->

Currently we don't specify in the wxs file if the platform is 32-bit or 64-bit. The msiexec will assume it is 32-bit if not specified. The fix will be to set the attribute. I'll send a CL later, though probably not in time for the beta2.

[bradfitz]

Ah, great.

/cc @broady

[gopherbot]

CL https://golang.org/cl/34502 mentions this issue.