Warning 1946 message when you install a Windows Installer package in Windows 7

This article introduces a problem in which you receive a Warning 1946 message when you install a Windows Installer package in Windows 7.

Original product version:   Windows 7
Original KB number:   2745126

Symptoms

When you install a Windows Installer (.msi) package on a computer that is running Windows 7, you receive a warning message that resembles the following:

Warning 1946. Property 'System.AppUserModel.NoPin' for shortcut 'Shortcut name.lnk' could not be set.

However, the installation process is successful.

This issue occurs when one of the following shortcut properties is set in the MsiShortCutProperty table of the .msi package.

  • System.AppUserModel.NoPinToStartOnInstall
  • System.AppUserModel.IsDualMode
  • System.ItemNameSortOverride

Cause

This issue occurs because Windows Installer cannot set a shortcut property that is specified in the MsiShortcutProperty table.

The following properties are introduced in Windows 8. These properties do not exist in Windows 7 or in earlier versions of Windows.

  • System.AppUserModel.NoPinToStartOnInstall
  • System.AppUserModel.IsDualMode
  • System.ItemNameSortOverride

Therefore, Windows Installer displays a warning dialog when it tries to apply these properties to a shortcut in Windows 7.

Status

This behavior is by design. You can safely ignore this warning message.

More information for developers

When you create a .msi package to run both in Windows 8 and in Windows 7, do not specify the shortcut properties by using their names. Instead, specify the properties by using their GUID. The properties can be set in the PropertyKey column of the MsiShortcutProperty table. The following table contains the GUID of each property.

GUID Property name
{9F4C2855-9F79-4B39-A8D0-E1D42DE1D5F3}, 12 System.AppUserModel.NoPin
{9F4C2855-9F79-4B39-A8D0-E1D42DE1D5F3}, 11 System.AppUserModel.IsDualMode
{B725F130-47EF-101A-A5F1-02608C9EEBAC}, 23 System.ItemNameSortOverride

References

Applies to

  • Windows 7 Enterprise
  • Windows 7 Home Basic
  • Windows 7 Home Premium
  • Windows 7 Professional
  • Windows 7 Starter
  • Windows 7 Ultimate