In one use case the published image, with Windows 11 OS, was missing the value, HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mailto\(Default). The Windows 10 images were ok.
The registry data was placed in the hive, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
The image publishing process will not save data located in either of the hives, HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT or HKEY_CURRENT_USER, from any layer