How does WinGet identify packages for applications installed on a system

[Daniel-Tr]

I'm not sure if this is a bug or not, so I'll start with a 'simple' question:

How exactly does the WinGet client identify packages for applications on the system, which have not been installed via WinGet?

Background for this: We have an application installed (TreeSize Professional), simply by runnign the installer. When running 'WinGet list' or 'WinGet upgrade --all', it shows an upgrade to be available for the JAMSoftware.TreeSize.Trial package. So there obviously has to be some sort of mapping in between the package and the installed application. Problem is that they are different (at least for now), so this mapping turns out wrong.

[Trenly]

Winget uses the information in the AppsAndFeaturesEntries to try and match to the metadata in a manifest. This may sound complicated, but really it's just using the information that's in the "Add & Remove Programs" section of control panel. I believe in this case, it is trying to match only on "TreeSize" instead of the full display name, which can likely be fixed by updating the metadata for the Manifest at winget-pkgs

[denelon]

These challenges are largely due to how "installers" report themselves via Windows Apps & Features. If a "stable" version of a package doesn't have a different "displayName" from a "preview" version, then WinGet has no mechanism to determine the difference.

We've been categorizing several issues with the "Area-Matching" label to start addressing some of these issues, but there are still some other subtle challenges with packages that install "Side-by-Side" rather than actually updating the "current" package.

[Daniel-Tr]

Ok, thank you very much for the additional info!

[e-t-l]

due to how "installers" report themselves via Windows Apps & Features

How do installers report themselves? Is this stored in the Registry or queried via some system API?

[denelon]

It's stored in registry keys. Various installer tools handle most of the heavy lifting. MSIX is a bit different from MSI-based and .exe based installers, so it's not really a "one size fits all" kind of thing. When you look in Windows Settings at "Apps" the metadata displayed there is coming from the registry as well as the "uninstall key" that get used by WinGet for List, Uninstall, and Upgrade.

[e-t-l]

Ah ok thank you, I think that answered what I was really interested in: Winget uses the uninstall registry keys to determine what programs are currently installed.