Creating an empty folder

Ordinarily, Windows Installer won't let you create empty folders. However, there is a way: Use the CreateFolder element inside an otherwise empty Component element. First, you'll define the name of your empty directory with a Directory element. Follow this example:

<Directory Id="TARGETDIR"
           Name="SourceDir">
  <Directory Id="ProgramFilesFolder">
    <Directory Id="MyProgramDir"
               Name="Awesome Software">
      <Directory Id="MyEmptyDir"
                 Name="Empty Directory" />
    </Directory>
  </Directory>
</Directory>

Here, we've added a new Directory element named Empty Directory inside our main application folder. The next step is to add a component to this directory by using a DirectoryRef element. Notice that we've set the KeyPath attribute on the component to yes, as there will be no file to serve this purpose.

<DirectoryRef Id="MyEmptyDir">
  <Component Id="CMP_MyEmptyDir" 
     ...