Per User Wix Msi Packaging

Context

Use this when a Windows desktop app needs a real .msi artifact, must install without admin elevation, and the repo does not already have an installer project.

Patterns

1. Add a dedicated WiX SDK project to the repo and wire it into the solution so MSI generation is a first-class build path.
2. Keep packaging self-contained in the installer project: build any web assets, publish the desktop project to a staging folder, and harvest that staged payload instead of hand-copying binaries.
3. For WPF/WebView2 apps that ship placeholder web content in WebApp, overwrite the published WebApp folder with the real built dist output before packaging so installed bits do not fall back to placeholder UI.
4. Set the WiX package scope to perUser and install under a user-writable path such as %LocalAppData%\Programs\{Product}.
5. Add only user-scoped shell integration (for example, Start Menu shortcuts backed by HKCU key paths) so the installer stays non-admin.
6. Expect legacy MSI ICE validation noise when harvesting many files into a user-profile root; document and suppress the specific ICEs you intentionally accept rather than moving the install to a machine-wide folder.