Wix Installer start menu shortcut not appearing

Question

I am trying to create an installer project for a windows application using WiX v3.7 (as VS2012 does not include setup and deployment projects any more) for learning purposes. Wix toolset is entegrated to VS and I am creating a new WiX single installer setup project. The installer is always compiled succesfully (except for warnings in icon extension), it runs perfect and places desktop shortcuts as they should be, but fails to put proper start menu shortcuts on Windows 7 Professional x64 Service Pack 1. I searched the web and tried almost anything I see, but so far no success. The product.wxs file is as follows and "my_guid" strings are replaced by proper GUIDS in the project. Clearly I am missing a point but cannot see where. The registry key is not created as well, so the last fragment is possibly not executed for a reason. How could this be solved?

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Wix xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/2006/wi">
    <Product Id="my_guid" Name="WixSingleSetupExample" Language="1055" Version="1.0.0.0" Manufacturer="Can Yucel" UpgradeCode="my_guid">
        <Package InstallerVersion="200" Compressed="yes" InstallScope="perMachine" />

        <MajorUpgrade DowngradeErrorMessage="A newer version of [ProductName] is already installed." />
        <MediaTemplate />

        <Feature Id="ProductFeature" Title="WixSingleSetupExample" Level="1">
            <ComponentGroupRef Id="ProductComponents" />
            <ComponentRef Id="ApplicationShortcut" />
        </Feature>
    </Product>

    <Fragment>
        <Directory Id="TARGETDIR" Name="SourceDir">
            <Directory Id="DesktopFolder" Name="Desktop" />
            <Directory Id="ProgramMenuFolder">
                <Directory Id="ApplicationProgramsFolder" Name="WixSingleSetup"/>
            </Directory>
            <Directory Id="ProgramFilesFolder">
                <Directory Id="INSTALLFOLDER" Name="WixSingleSetupExample" />
            </Directory>
        </Directory>
    </Fragment>

    <Fragment>
        <ComponentGroup Id="ProductComponents" Directory="INSTALLFOLDER">
          <!-- TODO: Remove the comments around this Component element and the ComponentRef below in order to add resources to this installer. -->
          <Component Id="ProductTextFile">
              <File Source="blankText.txt" KeyPath="yes">
                  <Shortcut Id="desktopShortcut" Advertise="yes" Directory="DesktopFolder" Name="WixSingleSetup Help" WorkingDirectory="INSTALLFOLDER" Icon="icon1.txt" IconIndex="0">
                      <Icon Id="icon1.txt" SourceFile="blankText.txt"/>
                  </Shortcut>
              </File>      
          </Component>
        </ComponentGroup>
    </Fragment>

  <Fragment>
    <DirectoryRef Id="ApplicationProgramsFolder">
      <Component Id="ApplicationShortcut" Guid="my_guid">
        <Shortcut Id="ApplicationStartMenuShortcut"
                  Name="WixSingleSetup Help"
                  Description="Setup Example"
                  Target="blankText.txt"
                  WorkingDirectory="INSTALLFOLDER"
                  Icon="icon2.txt"
                  IconIndex="0">
          <Icon Id="icon2.txt" SourceFile="blankText.txt"/>
        </Shortcut>
        <RemoveFolder Id="ApplicationProgramsFolder" On="uninstall"/>
        <RegistryValue Root="HKCU" Key="Software/Microsoft/WixSingleSetup" Name="installed" Type="integer" Value="1" KeyPath="yes" />
      </Component>
    </DirectoryRef>
  </Fragment>
</Wix>

Answer 1

I am adding the code that works as intended for future reference and an exact answer to the question:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Wix xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/2006/wi">
  <Product Id="guid_here" Name="WixSingleSetupExample" Language="1055"
           Version="1.0.0.0" Manufacturer="Can Yucel" UpgradeCode="guid_here">
    <Package InstallerVersion="200" Compressed="yes" InstallScope="perMachine" />

    <MajorUpgrade DowngradeErrorMessage="A newer version of [ProductName] is already installed." />
    <MediaTemplate />

    <Feature Id="ProductFeature" Title="WixSingleSetupExample" Level="1">
      <ComponentGroupRef Id="ProductComponents" />
      <ComponentRef Id="ProgramMenuDir"/>
    </Feature>
  </Product>

  <Fragment>
    <Directory Id="TARGETDIR" Name="SourceDir">

      <Directory Id="DesktopFolder" Name="Desktop" />

      <Directory Id="ProgramMenuFolder" Name="Programs">
        <Directory Id="ApplicationProgramsFolder" Name="WixSingleSetup">
          <Component Id="ProgramMenuDir" Guid="guid_here">
            <RemoveFolder Id="ProgramMenuDir" On="uninstall"/>
            <RegistryValue Root="HKCU" Key="Software\[Manufacturer]\WixSetup"
                           Type="integer" Value="1" Name="installed" KeyPath="yes" />
          </Component>
        </Directory>
      </Directory>


      <Directory Id="ProgramFilesFolder">
        <Directory Id="INSTALLFOLDER" Name="WixSingleSetupExample" />
      </Directory>
    </Directory>
  </Fragment>

  <Fragment>
    <ComponentGroup Id="ProductComponents" Directory="INSTALLFOLDER">
      <!-- TODO: Remove the comments around this Component element and the
           ComponentRef below in order to add resources to this installer. -->
      <Component Id="ProductTextFile">
        <File Source="blankText.txt" KeyPath="yes">
          <Shortcut Id="desktopShortcut" Advertise="yes" Directory="DesktopFolder"
                    Name="WixSingleSetup Help" WorkingDirectory="INSTALLFOLDER"
                    Icon="icon1.txt" IconIndex="0">
            <Icon Id="icon1.txt" SourceFile="blankText.txt" />
          </Shortcut>
          <Shortcut Id="startMenuShotcut" Directory="ApplicationProgramsFolder"
                    Name="WiXSingleSetup Help" WorkingDirectory="INSTALLFOLDER"
                    Icon="icon2.txt" IconIndex="0" Advertise="yes">
            <Icon Id="icon2.txt" SourceFile="blankText.txt"/>
          </Shortcut>
        </File>      
      </Component>
    </ComponentGroup>
  </Fragment>
</Wix>

Answer 2

I've started using Wix recently and I've got stuck with the problem you describe for weeks.

I found another way to add start menu shortcuts without adding extra components (to remove menu folders) and without creating hot-keys on the target machine registry.

This can be done by moving the <RemoveFolder ... /> definition into <Component Id="ProductTextFile" ...> element. Hereafter the modified working script:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Wix xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/2006/wi">
  <Product Id="{GUID HERE}" Name="WixSingleSetupExample" Language="1055"
           Version="1.0.0.0" Manufacturer="Can Yucel" UpgradeCode="{GUID HERE}">
    <Package InstallerVersion="200" Compressed="yes" InstallScope="perMachine" />

    <MajorUpgrade DowngradeErrorMessage="A newer version of [ProductName] is already installed." />
    <MediaTemplate />

    <Icon Id="ICON1.ICO" SourceFile="icon1.ico" />
    <Icon Id="ICON2.ICO" SourceFile="icon2.ico" />

    <Feature Id="ProductFeature" Title="WixSingleSetupExample" Level="1">
      <ComponentRef Id="ProductTextFile" />
    </Feature>
  </Product>

  <Fragment>
    <Directory Id="TARGETDIR" Name="SourceDir">
      <Directory Id="DesktopFolder" Name="Desktop" />

      <Directory Id="ProgramMenuFolder" Name="Programs">
        <Directory Id="ApplicationProgramsFolder" Name="WixSingleSetup" />
      </Directory>

      <Directory Id="ProgramFilesFolder">
        <Directory Id="INSTALLFOLDER" Name="WixSingleSetupExample" />
      </Directory>
    </Directory>
  </Fragment>

  <Fragment>
      <Component Id="ProductTextFile" Directory="INSTALLFOLDER" Guid="{GUID HERE}">
        <File Source="blankText.txt" KeyPath="yes">
          <Shortcut Id="desktopShortcut" Advertise="yes" Directory="DesktopFolder"
                    Name="WixSingleSetup Help" WorkingDirectory="INSTALLFOLDER"
                    Icon="ICON1.ICO" IconIndex="0" />

          <Shortcut Id="startMenuShotcut" Directory="ApplicationProgramsFolder"
                    Name="WiXSingleSetup Help" WorkingDirectory="INSTALLFOLDER"
                    Icon="ICON2.ICO" IconIndex="0" Advertise="yes" />
        </File>

        <RemoveFolder Id="ProgramMenuDir" Directory="ApplicationProgramsFolder" On="uninstall"/>
      </Component>
  </Fragment>
</Wix>