WiX 3 driving me crazy - trying to create desktop shortcut - wix

Question

I have an app that is being installed with WiX 3 - most of the install works fine by now, but trying to get the desktop shortcut to work seems to cost me my mind...
I have my app being installed and I already have a shortcut on the Start Menu folder - works just fine. But how do I get the desktop shortcut up and running?
<Product Id="*" Name="....." UpgradeCode="MY-GUID">
<Package Id="*" InstallerVersion="200" Compressed="yes" />
<Media Id="1" Cabinet="foobar.cab" EmbedCab="yes" />
<Property Id="ALLUSERS">1</Property>
<Directory Id="TARGETDIR" Name="SourceDir">
<Directory Id="ProgramMenuFolder">
<Directory Id="ApplicationProgramsFolder" Name="FooBar"/>
</Directory>
<Directory Id="DesktopFolder" SourceName="Desktop"/>
<Directory Id="ProgramFilesFolder">
<Directory Id="FoobarDir" Name="FOOBAR">
<Directory Id="INSTALLLOCATION" Name="FooApp">
<Component Id="MainFiles" Guid=".....">
<File Id="FooMainApp" Source="FooMainApp.exe" />
</Component>
</Directory>
</Directory>
</Directory>
</Directory>
....
<!-- this shortcut here works just fine ... -->
<DirectoryRef Id="ApplicationProgramsFolder">
<Component Id="AppShortcut" Guid="...">
<Shortcut Id="ApplicationStartMenuShortcut"
Name="FooBarApp" Description="..."
Target="[INSTALLLOCATION]FooMainApp.exe"
WorkingDirectory="INSTALLLOCATION"/>
</Component>
</DirectoryRef>
<!-- but this shortcut here never seems to work .. ... -->
<DirectoryRef Id="DesktopFolder">
<Component Id="DesktopShortcut" Guid="....." >
<Shortcut Id="DesktopAppShortcut"
Advertise="no"
Name="FooBarApp" Description="...."
Target="[INSTALLLOCATION]FooMainApp.exe"
WorkingDirectory="INSTALLLOCATION"/>
</Component>
</DirectoryRef>
The errors I keep getting are:
ICE18: KeyPath for Component:
'DesktopShortcut' is Directory:
'DesktopFolder'. The
Directory/Component pair must be
listed in the CreateFolders table.
ICE38: Component DesktopShortcut
installs to user profile. It must use
a registry key under HKCU as its
KeyPath, not a file.
ICE43: Component
DesktopShortcut has non-advertised
shortcuts. It should use a registry
key under HKCU as its KeyPath, not a
file.
I do not understand what on earth WiX 3 / Windows Installer is trying to tell me here.... anyone??
Both components, AppShortcut and DesktopShortcut, are in fact part of the "main" feature - I don't see any issue there. I can't figure out what on earth could be wrong here....
Update: ok, so I added some registry key stuff to my desktop shortcut
<Component Id="DesktopShortcut" Guid="BF3587B4-F52E-411E-8814-CFCBF8201C0D">
<RegistryKey Root="HKCU" Key="Software\Foo Inc\FooBarApp\Installed"
Action="createAndRemoveOnUninstall">
<RegistryValue Name="DTSC" Value="1" Type="integer" KeyPath="yes"/>
</RegistryKey>
<Shortcut Id="DesktopShortcut" Directory="DesktopFolder"
Name="FooBar" WorkingDirectory="INSTALLLOCATION"
Icon="foobar.ico"
Target="[INSTALLOCATION]FooMainApp.exe"/>
</Component>
now the ICE messages are gone, but when I try to install the app, I get Error 1909 - the target folder doesn't exist, or you do not have permission to write to it (or something like that)
Update 2: the above sample code provided does work on Win XP, but it keeps failing on Win Server 2003 :-( Any further ideas??

Answer 1

Here's a working example from our live production code...
<Fragment>
<Component Id="DesktopShortcut" Directory="APPLICATIONFOLDER" Guid="*">
<RegistryValue Id="RegShortcutDesktop" Root="HKCU"
Key="SOFTWARE\ACME\settings" Name="DesktopSC" Value="1"
Type="integer" KeyPath="yes" />
<Shortcut Id="desktopSC" Target="[APPLICATIONFOLDER]MyApp.exe"
Directory="DesktopFolder" Name="My Application"
Icon="$(var.product).ico" IconIndex="0"
WorkingDirectory="APPLICATIONFOLDER" Advertise="no"/>
</Component>
</Fragment>

Answer 2

This is based on #saschabeaumont's answer, but hopefully with some extra helpful hints for us WiX beginners (is it a nightmare for everybody to learn???).
First, create a fragment that contains the shortcut details itself:
<Fragment>
<Component Id="DesktopShortcut" Directory="INSTALLFOLDER" Guid="*">
<RegistryValue Id="RegShortcutDesktop"
Root="HKCU"
Key="Software\Company\ApplicationName"
Name="DesktopSC"
Value="1"
Type="integer"
KeyPath="yes" />
<Shortcut Id="desktopSC"
Target="[INSTALLFOLDER]ApplicationName.exe"
WorkingDirectory="INSTALLFOLDER"
Icon="icon.ico"
Directory="DesktopFolder"
Name="ApplicationName"
Advertise="no"/>
</Component>
</Fragment>
Next, note that this fragment will need including in the Product element, like this:
<Feature Id="ProductFeature" Title="Your Application Title" Level="1">
...
<ComponentRef Id="DesktopShortcut" />
</Feature>
The ProductFeature will likely contain other fragments, such as files, and the program menu shortcut fragment.
Also, the DesktopFolder will need a reference in the TARGETDIR directory element (which will very likely contain other folders, such as ProgramMenuFolder as you require), like this:
<Directory Id="TARGETDIR" Name="SourceDir">
...
<Directory Id="DesktopFolder" Name="Desktop"/>
</Directory>

Answer 3

Each of these ICE messages is basically complaining about the same thing: a component installing a shortcut should have a registry entry as its keypath. To fix this, add something like this to the component:
<RegistryValue Root="HKCU" Key="Software\MyCompany\MyApplicationName"
Name="desktopShortcut" Type="integer" Value="1" KeyPath="yes"/>
The same goes for the component installing the start menu shortcut. Take a look at the related wix documentation sample about creating a shortcut.

Answer 4

My purpose is to create an internet shortcut link and put to desktop. Here is the code that works for me:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Wix xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/2006/wi" xmlns:util="http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/UtilExtension">
<Product Id="09F1B63D-FB03-43FD-A326-FD49F93D00C8" Name="TestProduct" Language="1033" Version="0.0.0.1" Manufacturer="WixEdit" UpgradeCode="6B2F9AB4-73A6-45CB-9EC4-590D1AAA6779">
<Package Description="Test file in a Product" Comments="Simple test" InstallerVersion="200" Compressed="yes" />
<Media Id="1" Cabinet="simple.cab" EmbedCab="yes" />
<Directory Id="TARGETDIR" Name="SourceDir">
<Directory Id="ProgramFilesFolder" Name="PFiles">
<Directory Name="AAAA" Id="AAABBB">
<Component Id="AAAA">
<File Id="AAAA.EXE" Name="AAAA.exe" Source="U:\web\bin\x86\Release\AAAA.exe" />
</Component>
</Directory>
</Directory>
<Directory Id="DesktopFolder">
<Component Id="StartMenuShortcuts" Guid="E8EDD7BC-9762-4C3D-8341-FAEC983D318A">
<RemoveFolder Id="ProgramMenuDir" On="uninstall" />
<RegistryValue Root="HKCU" Key="Software\[Manufacturer]\[ProductName]" Type="string" Value="" />
<util:InternetShortcut Id="WebsiteShortcut" Name="AAAA Website" Target="http://www.AAAA.com" />
</Component>
</Directory>
</Directory>
<Feature Id="DefaultFeature" Title="Main Feature" Level="1">
<ComponentRef Id="StartMenuShortcuts" />
<ComponentRef Id="AAAA" />
</Feature>
<UI />
</Product>
</Wix>
NOTE: you need to add the following to your candle and light command lines: -ext WiXUtilExtension

Answer 5

Not sure if this was available back in 2010, but this is how I do it in WiX 3.7:
<Directory Id="TARGETDIR" Name="SourceDir">
<Directory Id="DesktopFolder" SourceName="Desktop" />
<Directory Id="MergeRedirectFolder">
<Component Id="MyExeComponent" Guid="{PUT-GUID-HERE}">
<File Id="MyExeFile" Source="$(var.ExeSourcePath)" KeyPath="yes">
<Shortcut
Id="DesktopShortcut"
Directory="DesktopFolder"
Name="$(var.ShortcutName)"
WorkingDirectory="MergeRedirectFolder" />
</File>
</Component>
</Directory>
</Directory>