winget upgrade uses EXE installer when doing the actual upgrade but shows the MSI checksum when told to show the package upgrade info

[R-Adrian]

Relevant area(s)

WinGet CLI

Relevant command(s)

winget upgrade, winget show

Brief description of your issue

winget upgrade shows there is an available upgrade for a package but when i use the winget show command it shows the checksum and info for the MSI installer instead of the EXE installer that is needed for the actual upgrade.

Steps to reproduce

1. install an older version of Notepad++ using the EXE installer, install it for all users (scope: machine)
2. run winget upgrade without additional parameters and verify it detects an available upgrade
3. run winget show Notepad++.Notepad++ and look at what installer checksum it shows that it wants to use
4. run winget upgrade Notepad++.Notepad++ --scope machine and check what it actually uses

Expected behavior

expected: winget show Notepad++.Notepad++ should show the actual applicable upgrade (the EXE installer), not the generic MSI installer

Actual behavior

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> winget upgrade
Name                   Id                  Version Available Source
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Notepad++ (64-bit x64) Notepad++.Notepad++ 8.9.8   8.9.8.1   winget

(removed some lines here)

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> winget show  Notepad++.Notepad++
Found Notepad++ [Notepad++.Notepad++]
Version: 8.9.8.1
Publisher: Notepad++ Team
Publisher Url: https://notepad-plus-plus.org/
Publisher Support Url: https://notepad-plus-plus.org/online-help
Author: Don Ho
Moniker: notepad++
Description:
  Notepad++ is a free (as in “free speech” and also as in “free beer”) source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several languages.
  Running in the MS Windows environment, its use is governed by GNU General Public License.
Homepage: https://notepad-plus-plus.org/
License: GPL-3.0-or-later
License Url: https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/blob/HEAD/LICENSE
Copyright: Copyright (C)2026 Don HO <don.h@free.fr>.
Copyright Url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/master/LICENSE
Release Notes Url: https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/releases/tag/v8.9.8.1
Documentation:
  Wiki: https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/wiki
Tags:
  development
  editor
  foss
  notepad
  open-source
  text
  text-editor
Installer:
  Installer Type: wix
  Installer Url: https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/releases/download/v8.9.8.1/npp.8.9.8.1.Installer.x64.msi
  Installer SHA256: 0c4f4fe82babd7688f5c1431b1357392491563af6ffedf4e37f5de0bd71babb4
  Release Date: 2026-09-24
  Offline Distribution Supported: true
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32>
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> winget upgrade Notepad++.Notepad++  --scope machine
Found Notepad++ [Notepad++.Notepad++] Version 8.9.8.1
This application is licensed to you by its owner.
Microsoft is not responsible for, nor does it grant any licenses to, third-party packages.
Downloading https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/releases/download/v8.9.8.1/npp.8.9.8.1.Installer.x64.exe
  ██████████████████████████████  6.64 MB / 6.64 MB
Successfully verified installer hash
Starting package install...
Successfully installed
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32>

Environment

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> winget --info
Windows Package Manager v1.29.380
© 2026 Microsoft. All rights reserved.

Windows: Windows.Desktop v10.0.26200.9550
System Architecture: X64
Package: Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller v1.29.380.0

WinGet Directories
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Logs                               %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\DiagOutputDir
User Settings                      %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\settings.json
Portable Links Directory (User)    %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WinGet\Links
Portable Links Directory (Machine) C:\Program Files\WinGet\Links
Portable Package Root (User)       %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WinGet\Packages
Portable Package Root              C:\Program Files\WinGet\Packages
Portable Package Root (x86)        C:\Program Files (x86)\WinGet\Packages
Installer Downloads                %USERPROFILE%\Downloads
Configuration Modules              %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WinGet\Configuration\Modules

Links
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Privacy Statement   https://aka.ms/winget-privacy
License Agreement   https://aka.ms/winget-license
Third Party Notices https://aka.ms/winget-3rdPartyNotice
Homepage            https://aka.ms/winget
Windows Store Terms https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/storedocs/terms-of-sale

Admin Setting                             State
--------------------------------------------------
LocalManifestFiles                        Disabled
BypassCertificatePinningForMicrosoftStore Disabled
InstallerHashOverride                     Disabled
LocalArchiveMalwareScanOverride           Disabled
ProxyCommandLineOptions                   Disabled
ConfigurationProcessorPath                Disabled
DefaultProxy                              Disabled

[R-Adrian]

note: i know there's an --installer-type parameter for the show verb, but it should be auto-detected when the package is already installed.. is it not?