alco
Posts: 79
Joined: Thu Nov 18, 2010 5:02 pm

Installer forces a reboot w/o prompt

Thu Nov 24, 2022 11:24 am

The installer is set to "Prompt for Reboot when required"
Image
Restart Manager also successfully closes apps that have files in use.

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(SERVER)     MSI (s) (A8:C8) [21:39:07:920]: RESTART MANAGER: Will attempt to shut down and restart applications in no UI modes.
(SERVER)     MSI (s) (A8:C8) [21:39:07:920]: RESTART MANAGER: Detected that application with id 18208, friendly name 'XSplit VCam', of type RmUnknownApp and status 1 holds file[s] in use.
(SERVER)     MSI (s) (A8:C8) [21:39:07:920]: RESTART MANAGER: Detected that application with id 19832, friendly name 'CefCOM3 Process', of type RmUnknownApp and status 1 holds file[s] in use.
(SERVER)     MSI (s) (A8:C8) [21:39:07:920]: RESTART MANAGER: Detected that application with id 20284, friendly name 'CefCOM3 Process', of type RmUnknownApp and status 1 holds file[s] in use.
(CLIENT)     MSI (c) (B4:CC) [21:39:07:926]: RESTART MANAGER: Session opened.
(SERVER)     MSI (s) (A8:C8) [21:39:08:399]: RESTART MANAGER: Successfully shut down all applications in the service's session that held files in use.
(CLIENT)     MSI (c) (B4:CC) [21:39:08:414]: RESTART MANAGER: Successfully shut down all applications that held files in use.
But the installation process still required the restart according to the ff. log entries.

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(SERVER)     MSI (s) (A8:38) [21:39:25:504]: Propagated Reboot to the client/parent install.
(SERVER)     MSI (s) (A8:38) [21:39:25:504]: Value of RebootAction property is
(SERVER)     MSI (s) (A8:38) [21:39:25:504]: Windows Installer requires a system restart. Product Name: XSplit VCam. Product Version: 4.1.2210.2601. Product Language: 1033. Manufacturer: XSplit. Type of System Restart: 1. Reason for Restart: 1.
Worse, the restart is done abruptly and w/o warning.
Why does this happen? What does "Reason for Restart: 1" mean? Is there a bug or misconfiguration w/c causes the Restart Manager to require restart despite successfully closing apps w/ files in use and for the restart prompt to not appear?

Catalin
Posts: 6537
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 7:49 am

Re: Installer forces a reboot w/o prompt

Fri Nov 25, 2022 5:27 pm

Hello,

Are you installing the MSI silently?

If so, that might be the reason why the restart happens without a prompt.

If not, could you please check the log file for the REBOOTPROMPT property and see whether it is somehwere set to "Suppress"?

If that's the case, then this might be the reason why the reboot happens without a prompt.

Best regards,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
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alco
Posts: 79
Joined: Thu Nov 18, 2010 5:02 pm

Re: Installer forces a reboot w/o prompt

Sat Nov 26, 2022 3:55 am

Come to think of it, the installation was done via the updater w/c was launched w/ the ff. command line, according to the log.

Code: Select all

... AI_SETUPEXEPATH=C:\ProgramData\***VCam\updates\Update\***VCam_4.1.2211.2202.exe SETUPEXEDIR=C:\ProgramData\***VCam\updates\Update\ EXE_CMD_LINE=/exenoui  /exenoupdates  /forcecleanup  /wintime 1669210586 /L*VX "C:\ProgramData\xvc_updater.log" RUNVCAM=1 *** /qn  CLIENTPROCESSID=23000 CHAINERUIPROCESSID=23000Chainer ALLUSERS=1 AI_UNINSTALLER=C:\ProgramData\Caphyon\Advanced Installer\***VCam_4.1.2211.2202.exe CURRENTDIRECTORY=C:\ProgramData\***VCam\updates\Update CLIENTUILEVEL=3 CLIENTPROCESSID=16564 
Still, why would the restart be done if the Restart Manager was able to close all apps that have files in use?
What does "Reason for Restart: 1" mean? Are there other reasons aside from "1" that we need to watch out for, what are those, and what do they mean?

Is there some way that a restart can be avoided if not necessary or at least delayed if, say, a custom parameter is specified, in w/c case a restart message can instead be pushed to the Windows Notification panel? The reason for this is that the update is being done by the user in the ff. way and it would be unexpected if the system is restarted w/o warning the user.
  1. App is launched
  2. App detects an update and prompts the users
  3. User clicks a button to update the app
  4. App launches the updater w/ parameters
  5. Updater/installer closes the app as part of the process/flow and proceeds w/ the update
    1. If the app was open, a system restart is done at the end of the update - this is not desirable unless there's a restart warning that the user can confirm or delay
    2. If the app was not open, the update completes w/o system restart. Updater launches the app after the update.
Last edited by alco on Thu Dec 15, 2022 2:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Catalin
Posts: 6537
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 7:49 am

Re: Installer forces a reboot w/o prompt

Tue Nov 29, 2022 2:20 pm

Hello Albert,
What does "Reason for Restart: 1" mean? Are there other reasons aside from "1" that we need to watch out for, what are those, and what do they mean?
To be fully honest with, I am not quite sure what this means. I have tried to have a look over the Microsoft's documentation regarding this, but I'm afraid I did not find much.

Now, the reason why the restart is done automatically without a prompt is the unattended machines where MSIs can be installed. On a machine that is running 24/7, unattended, if some installations need to be done and the prompt appears, it will block the entire workflow because nobody is there to click on the prompt.

This is, I'm afraid, not something that Advanced Installer can control.

What you can try here, is making sure that there aren't any other applications keeping your files in use. The easiest way to do so is running with full UI.

If you want to dive in a little bit more on this subject, please have a look over the following article I've written some time ago:

How to detect the process that keeps a file in use & how to detect which file is in use

Hope this helps!

Best regards,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
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