Persisted variable getting reinitialized

[d-v]

I have a variable, InstallFolder, that I would like to persist with a restart partway through the installation. I have a default value set for the variable and it is only changed if the registry key is present.

<util:RegistrySearch
Id='IsElectronInstalled'
Variable="elInstalled"
Result="exists"
Root="HKCU"
Key="Software$(var.Branding)" />
<util:RegistrySearch Id="installedLocSearch" Root="HKCU"
Key="SOFTWARE$(var.Branding)" Result="value"
Win64="yes" Variable="InstallFolder" Value="install_location"
Condition="elInstalled" After="installedVerSearch"/>

The bootstrapper successfully initializes the variable
[0798:078C][2021-03-31T16:44:32]i000: Initializing string variable 'InstallFolder' to value '[LocalAppDataFolder]'

and the variable that determines whether to run the registry search evaluates to false
[0798:078C][2021-03-31T16:44:33]i000: Setting numeric variable 'elInstalled' to value 0

Then the user changes the value of the variable from the bootstrapper
[0798:0DF0][2021-03-31T16:45:29]i000: Setting string variable 'InstallFolder' to value 'D:'

After the restart completes the bootstrapper resumes installation but says
[237C:2380][2021-03-31T16:48:37]i000: Initializing string variable 'InstallFolder' to value '[LocalAppDataFolder]'
which overwrites the value that was set before the restart :(

Not sure if this is related but there are a bunch of messages before the restart like this

[0798:078C][2021-03-31T16:47:10]e000: Error 0x800700e8: Failed to send BURN_ELEVATION_MESSAGE_TYPE_CLEAN_PACKAGE message to per-machine process.
[0798:092C][2021-03-31T16:47:10]i400: Received system request to shut down the process: critical: Yes, elevated: No, allowed: Yes
[0798:078C][2021-03-31T16:47:10]e000: Error 0x800700e8: Failed to write message type to pipe.
[0798:078C][2021-03-31T16:47:10]e000: Error 0x800700e8: Failed to write send message to pipe.
[0798:078C][2021-03-31T16:47:10]e000: Error 0x800700e8: Failed to send message to per-machine process.
[0798:078C][2021-03-31T16:47:10]e000: Error 0x800700e8: Failed to end session in per-machine process.
[0798:078C][2021-03-31T16:47:10]e000: Error 0x800700e8: Failed to write message type to pipe.
[0798:078C][2021-03-31T16:47:10]e000: Error 0x800700e8: Failed to write send message to pipe.
[0798:078C][2021-03-31T16:47:10]e000: Error 0x800700e8: Failed to send message to per-machine process.

How can I get the burn variable to keep the same value despite the restart?

Here is the log

bootstrapper_20210331172144.log

[rseanhall]

You can see here that the BA overwrote the variable:

[1EF0:22C4][2021-03-31T17:22:58]i000: Setting string variable 'InstallFolder' to value 'C:\Users\Dims\AppData\Local'

Since the engine doesn't log when it sets the variable from the persisted value, it's impossible to tell here what it was before that. If possible, cancel out of the bundle before that happens so that you can see in the variable dump at the end what it was.

For your bundle, this is bad:

[08C0:2718][2021-03-31T17:22:11]i301: Applying execute package: stackMsi, action: Install, path: C:\ProgramData\Package Cache\{E03F8408-75BC-4DA8-9C44-89D7936C1BAD}v1.2.4.0\pixStack.msi, arguments: ' ARPSYSTEMCOMPONENT="1" MSIFASTINSTALL="7" INSTALL_LOC="D:\" KEEP_PROJECTS="No"'
[08C0:06EC][2021-03-31T17:22:11]i400: Received system request to shut down the process: critical: Yes, elevated: Yes, allowed: No
[1AB0:2388][2021-03-31T17:22:11]i400: Received system request to shut down the process: critical: Yes, elevated: No, allowed: Yes
[1AB0:1AB8][2021-03-31T17:22:11]i319: Applied execute package: stackMsi, result: 0x0, restart: None

The MSI should never start the restart itself. If it does then it needs to return the right exit code (ERROR_SUCCESS_REBOOT_INITIATED - 1641). You can see below that the engine had no idea a restart happened so it tried to continue installing.

[d-v]

Ah I see. As for the variable, two lines later in the log it is changed to D:\, so it should still be D:\ once it gets to the later packages. However it still is the default value. :(

[rseanhall]

Yes, but I was referring to when it did it after the restart.

[d-v]

bootstrapper.txt
Per your suggestion I ran the install, allowed it to restart and then cancelled the installation after the restart. I don't see a dump of the variables here, though

[d-v]

Ah, I think I may have found the issue. I see it is being set to Appdata again

[d-v]

Yes I was accidentally clobbering the InstallFolder from the bootstrapper. Thanks for the help in finding the issue!

[d-v]

Bootstrapper was setting the value of the burn variable again (found the issue in my bootstrapper)