Windows Installer using usb drive for temp purposes

Windows Installer using usb drive for temp purposes When installing apps that are built around Windows Installer, it would appear that it often uses my external usb hard disk (when it's connected) as the temp location while it expands and installs the application (creates a folder off the root with a guid name). Is there anyway to change this so it always defaults to a specific drive?
Asked by: Guest \| Views: 296

Total answers/comments: 1

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Guest [Entry]

"I believe that the Windows Installer uses the %TMP% environment variable. You may want to check this value and see if it happens to be pointing to your External HD drive letter.

UPDATE

Weird... this does seem to be a ""feature"" of Windows Installer (to use the drive with the most free space). I can't find an option to disable it. I wonder if you can lock the system out by permissions/read-only flag or something similar. It bugs me that Microsoft wouldn't give you an option to turn this off.

2nd UPDATE

Ok -- so I found this article about the ROOTDRIVE property. Of particular note:

If ROOTDRIVE is not set at a command
line or authored into the Property
table, the installer sets this
property. During an administrative
installation the installer sets
ROOTDRIVE to the first connected
network drive it finds that can be
written to. If it is not an
administrative installation, or if the
installer can find no network drives,
the installer sets ROOTDRIVE to the
local drive that can be written to
having the most free space."