Writing to the registry

To write to the registry, you'll use the RegistryValue element by itself or paired with a RegistryKey element. By itself, RegistryValue can perform simple writes. Writing multiple things to the same place is easier when you use RegistryKey. We'll discuss both of these in the next sections. Writing occurs during the deferred stage of the Execute sequence during an action called WriteRegistryValues.

Writing a single value

Writing to the registry is sort of like installing something on the end user's computer. So, you'll have to place your RegistryValue element inside a Component element. This is actually a good thing as it gives you the opportunity to set component-level conditions to enable or disable the writing. You could use this to only record to the registry if a certain condition is met. Refer back to Chapter 4, Improving Control with Launch Conditions and Installed States, for a discussion on component-level conditions.

Just like when you're installing a file,...