Silent update problem by updater service

[Zsolt Kollarits]

Dear Advanced Installer,

We have analyzed a very weird issue with our automatic client rollout updates: for years we were doing the automatic .exe rollout mechanism in the same way:
- configured the updater project as per you will see in the attached screenshot -> generated a .tuic file
- on our client we passed the .tuic file for the updater service

Now the entire mechanism stopped working, although we did not touch our updater project at all. The only thing we did is that we upgraded to AI 22.8.

The actual problem is that our updater dialog is just hanging after some time. It starts the installation, we can see in task manager that even the prerequisites are being installed, but the entire process is taking too long, at some point the dialog is just gone.

After a quite long investigation we figured out that the problem is caused by this line in our .tuic file:
NoGUICommandLineSwitch = /exenoui /qn
If we remove /exenoui and /qn - important that both of them must be removed - the the updater can install our .exe file.

Do you have any idea why this issues started to be happening and whether AI upgrade 22.8 might be causing it?

In a separate email I will send some attachments for better understanding!

Best regards,
Zsolt

[Catalin]

Hello Zsolt,

First of all, apologies for the quite delayed reply.

Could you please send me the resources again as I didn't manage to grab them in time?

Make sure that the following are included:

- the AIP file for your main project

- the Updater Configuration File

- V1 so I can install it and perform the upgrade via updater after + the .TUIC file (not quite sure what that is)

Additionally, please let me know of the test-case on how to reproduce this on my end as well (if it's just launching the updater manually on my end, then no need for a test-case, but if there is anything special I might need to do, please do let me know).

Regarding the issue, to be quite honest with you, I am not aware of any bugs that might have been introduced in version 22.8. However, a good test case for this would be to download the latest version (e.g. on a VM), rebuild your setup there and retry the test. If this no longer reproduces, then it most likely has been fixed in the meantime.

Best regards,
Catalin

[Catalin]

Hello Zsolt,

I have had a look over the resources you provided, but I'm afraid I couldn't find the culprit - everything seemed to be configured correctly.

If this is still and issue on your end, please provide the v1 of the installer as I previously requested so I can run a test on my end and see if I can reproduce the issue.

- V1 so I can install it and perform the upgrade via updater after + the .TUIC file (not quite sure what that is)

Additionally, please let me know of the test-case on how to reproduce this on my end as well (if it's just launching the updater manually on my end, then no need for a test-case, but if there is anything special I might need to do, please do let me know).

In your case, are you able to reproduce the issue on multiple machines, or is it happening on your main machine only?

Best regards,
Catalin

[Zsolt Kollarits]

Hi Catalin,

I've just sent to email via WeTransfer for you, the v1 and v2 version of our TheClient.exe product. Naturally we are about to install v2 over v1 with your Updater service.
The .tuic file is the one we are generating with your updater project -> we selected .tuic as a format. If you open up the file you will understand its role.

Problem 1:
1. If in the updater project we use the default /exenoui /qn flags which are appearing in your textbox by default, then usually the updater service is not able to install v2. The update start, we click on the Next button, the green-progress-bar dialog is just in progress, and few seconds later we get an error dialog. The dialog does not give a specific error, it is just saying there was a problem with the installation.
As I mentioned we figured out that if we remove the /exenoui /qn and replace it by anything else e.g. /L*Vx log.log (-> you see this in the .tuic now, but please use the exenoui qn flags to be able to reproduce th eproblem), then the installation works.

Problem 2:
We just found out that if some files are in use e.g. by another user, then the updater green-progress-bar dialog is just staying on the screen kind of forever. I will attach a logfile, the installation log is saying, that there is a file in use. We can accept the fact that the installation cannot be completed due to that file, however it's a quite "strange" user experience to leave your dialog on the screen forever. Forever means if we leave our VM there for half an hour and check it afterwards, the installation is still going on. Don't you think you should handle those situations (installation is blocked due to a file) in a different way? E.g. notifying a user about which file is blockin the installation?

Best regards,
Zsolt

[Zsolt Kollarits]

Dear Advanced Installer,

Could you please handle this ticket as extreme important as it is blocking our release.

Thank you!

Best regards,
Zsolt

[Zsolt Kollarits]

Dear Advanced Installer,

Could you please deal with this ticket?

In the meantime we found out some more things, I would split up the issues into 2 parts as I did in my last letter.

Issue 1:
Key to reproduce: you should have "NoGUICommandLineSwitch = /exenoui /qn" this line in the updater files (in our case in the .tuic file)
What happens: it seems some prerequisites, e.g. ODBC cannot be installed, and that is why the updater install dialog is showing an error screen (I attach it).
I also attach the logfile.

Note: we can install our prerequisite manually by double-clicking on the exe or even silently by using the same command line arguments in cmd that we have in the .aip project.

Issue 2:
This issue is the consequence of Issue 1. We figured out that removing the "NoGUICommandLineSwitch = /exenoui /qn" line from our updater (.tuic) file is NOT RESULTING in an error dialog. In this case the installation is going on and there are 2 sub-cases here:

A) No files is blocked by a service our application -> success, our installer installs the newer version of our product

B) 1 or more files are locked by a service or application -> updater service cannot cope with the installation, the installation will be hanging, the updater's green progress bar dialog stays on screen kind of forwere. We never ever get an error.

So we need a solution for Issue 1, and if that is solved, we will put back the original "NoGUICommandLineSwitch = /exenoui /qn" line into the updater files as the entire updater procedure was much more stable by having that line. For example we have never ever seen any hanging install dialog.

Please check the logfile I attached and let us know what the problem is!

We release our product already a day ago, we need a solution asap! I'm also sending our .aips again.

Best regards,
Zsolt