The cwd-sync + temp-iss + /O fixes didn't move the needle - ISCC still
prints its full banner (Russell + Laan + Yackimoff) then dies with
"system cannot find the path specified." after 225ms with exit 2.
That rules out cwd, /D, OutputDir-resolution, and DLL-load failures.
Compile a truly minimal .iss (no #defines, no [Code], no [Files],
CreateAppDir=no, Uninstallable=no) right before our real one. If the
minimal compiles cleanly, the problem is in our .iss content and we
can bisect from there. If even the minimal fails, ISCC is broken
under the runner's SYSTEM context regardless of input - then the fix
is to stop building under SYSTEM (run the runner under a regular
user account, or skip ISCC altogether and ship the bare exe + scripts
as a zip).
justin