Installed apps
Every program Windows installs has an entry in its list of installed programs. Besides the name, version, publisher and site from Description, that entry can say where help and updates are, whom to call or write to, and where the readme is. This section fills in those values.
What the entry is
When your installer finishes, it writes a key for the product into the registry, under Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall — in HKEY_CURRENT_USER for an install for the current user, in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE for one for everyone. That key is what Windows lists as an installed program: its name, publisher, version, size and date, and the command that removes it.
The values from this section go into the same key. You don't need any of them for the product to install, run or be removed. They are there for the person who looks the product up later — a user who needs help, or an admin who looks after many computers.
Where people see them
| Value | Where it shows |
|---|---|
| Name, publisher, version | Settings → Apps → Installed apps in Windows 11 and 10, and Programs and Features in Control Panel |
| Help link, support link | Programs and Features: the bar at the bottom when the product is selected, and Support information |
| Telephone, contact, readme, updates link, comment | Programs and Features → Support information |
| All of them | Admins' tools that read installed software: Intune and Configuration Manager inventories, PowerShell, scripts |
Settings in Windows 11 show only the name, publisher, version, size and date. The other values are seen in Control Panel (appwiz.cpl) and by tools that read the registry. Fill them in when your product has a support page, a help site or an update page: it costs nothing, and it is the first place an admin looks.
The page's preview, under the fields, shows the entry as Support information shows it: only the values you filled in, in Windows' own order.
Each value
| Field | Registry value | In an MSI | What to put there |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name in the list | DisplayName | ProductName | Only when the list should say something else than the product's name: Cobalt Photo (x64). Empty — the product's name. |
| Help | HelpLink | ARPHELPLINK | A link to the product's help or documentation. |
| Updates | URLUpdateInfo | ARPURLUPDATEINFO | A link to the page with new versions or release notes. |
| Telephone | HelpTelephone | ARPHELPTELEPHONE | The support line, as people should dial it: +1 555 0100. |
| Contact | Contact | ARPCONTACT | Whom to write to: an address or a name. |
| Comment | Comments | ARPCOMMENTS | One short line about the product. |
| Readme | Readme | ARPREADME | A link, or a file among those the installer puts in place: Docs\README.md. |
The support link is the Site from Description (URLInfoAbout, ARPURLINFOABOUT): one address for both.
Links begin with https://, http:// or mailto:. Anything else is not a link, and the section says so under the field and in the problems.
A readme given as a file is written with its full path on the computer it was installed on — C:\Program Files\Cobaltsmith\Cobalt Photo\Docs\README.md — so it opens wherever the user chose to install. The section checks that the file is among the files you install.
Empty fields are not written at all: the entry has only what you filled in.
Name in the list
Leave it empty in most cases. Give a name of its own when one product is installed in several kinds side by side, or when the list should tell them apart: Cobalt Photo (x64) and Cobalt Photo (ARM64), Cobalt Photo Beta.
Tools that update apps by themselves, such as winget, find a product in the list by its name and publisher. Once the product is out, change its name in the list only together with a new version, and never back and forth.
Hide from the list
Hide from the list of installed apps writes SystemComponent = 1. The product is installed as usual, its entry is in the registry, but Windows does not list it: neither Settings nor Control Panel show it, and the user can't remove it from there.
Use it only for a part of a bigger product that installs and removes that part itself — a runtime, a driver, a plugin the main program takes away with it. A product people install on their own should always be in the list.
What is set for you
The installer writes the rest of the entry by itself, from the other sections:
DisplayVersion— the version from Description, or the main program's own.PublisherandURLInfoAbout— the publisher and the site from Description.DisplayIcon— the main program's icon, or the installer's when there is no main program.InstallLocation,InstallDate,EstimatedSize— where it went, when, and how much room it takes.UninstallStringandQuietUninstallString— the uninstaller, and the same without windows (/S) for admins.NoModifyandNoRepair— set, so the list shows Uninstall only; repair is done by running the installer again.
Check what was written
After a test install (or in Sandbox test), PowerShell shows the entry as Windows has it:
Get-ItemProperty HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*,
HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* |
Where-Object DisplayName -like "Cobalt Photo*" |
Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion, Publisher, HelpLink, URLUpdateInfo, HelpTelephone, Contact, Comments, Readme