SFS Update fails to install

L

Linwood

Well-known member
Started PI (1.8.8-11) and got a prompt for an update to SFS, said OK, restarted, it loaded, script ran at the beginning of PI restart and:

: C:/Program Files/PixInsight/bin/SubframeSelector-pxm.dll

[2021-12-07 14:19:02] End updater1: ERROR
Code: 
[2021-12-07 14:18:59] Begin updater1
[2021-12-07 14:18:59] *******************************************************************************
[2021-12-07 14:18:59] This is PixInsight Updater stage one program version 01.00.13
[2021-12-07 14:18:59] Core application PID         : 42928
[2021-12-07 14:18:59] Target application directory : C:/Program Files/PixInsight
[2021-12-07 14:18:59] Source update directory      : C:/Users/ferguson/AppData/Local/Temp/PixInsight64-update/contents
[2021-12-07 14:18:59] *******************************************************************************
[2021-12-07 14:18:59] Waiting for the PixInsight Core application to terminate...
[2021-12-07 14:19:00] PixInsight Core application terminated.
[2021-12-07 14:19:00] Waiting for things to stabilize...
[2021-12-07 14:19:02] Begin update process.
[2021-12-07 14:19:02] Source updates database loaded: C:/Users/ferguson/AppData/Local/Temp/PixInsight64-update/contents/updates.xri
[2021-12-07 14:19:02] File removed: C:/Users/ferguson/AppData/Local/Temp/PixInsight64-update/contents/updates.xri
[2021-12-07 14:19:02] Begin file transfer process.
[2021-12-07 14:19:02] *** Error: Unable to move or rename file: Win32 error (183): Cannot create a file when that file already exists.
: C:/Program Files/PixInsight/bin/SubframeSelector-pxm.dll
[2021-12-07 14:19:02] End updater1: ERROR

Ran it again from the beginning, same error.

When I look now, there are two:

SubframeSelector-pxm.dll size 5577kb signed 11/28/2021 3:46:06pm
SubframeSelector-pxm.dll.updating size 5576kb signed 11/25/2021 11:09:29am

My guess is I need to delete one or both and rerun, but ... well, I hate guessing with this sort of stuff.

Next steps?
 
Something very strange is happening here. This cannot happen on a healthy system, and of course cannot be reproduced. Nothing like this has been reported before.

The problem here is that the updater program cannot remove an existing file (SubframeSelector-pxm.dll) on your "C:\Program Files\PixInsight\bin" folder, and hence it cannot rename the new one (SubframeSelector-pxm.dll.updating). This should not happen because the updater program runs with elevated privileges (that's why Windows shows you a User Account Control dialog asking for permission when the update process starts).

You can delete the SubframeSelector-pxm.dll file and rename SubframeSelector-pxm.dll.updating to SubframeSelector-pxm.dll manually. This is what the updater program wanted to do automatically, and this is what happens tens of thousands of times each time we release an update.

I would check user and file/directory permissions. The user who installed PixInsight and runs its update system must have administrative privileges (through UAC elevation). Also check your antivirus/firewall application.
 
Well, you got my curiosity up. Now that I know which one is right, I deleted the "updating" one, so restored things to where they should be prior to the update. I then reran the update, and it worked and replaced the DLL.

I had done (for unrelated reasons) a reboot between the initial error and the success.

This is a pretty vanilla W10x64 pro system, UAC is on (i.e. prompts) and my account for install is always the same and is in the administrator group.

My GUESS is that the file was in use. Something took longer to run down than it should maybe when Pixinsight exited? Or was out there hung?

Not sure... but problem solved, and if you never hear it happening again forget it, and if you do now you have one additional data point.

Thank you for the quick response.
 
I actually am getting the same error. What I noticed was the first time I tried to run the updater, it timed out. Now every time I run it, I am getting the "cannot create, file already exists" error.

After following the previous messages, I also deleted the "updating" file and reran the updater with success.

Rod
 
Last edited:
Linwood said:
Two data points may not make a trend, but it does make me feel better. ;)
Click to expand...

It shouldn't. As noted above, check your antivirus application if you are using one. Also check any application or utility software running as a background process that could be tampering with your files, such as disk management and backup utilities, and thoroughly scan your machine for malware.

My GUESS is that the file was in use.
Click to expand...

Possibly, but not by PixInsight.

Something took longer to run down than it should maybe when Pixinsight exited? Or was out there hung?
Click to expand...

This is not possible under normal working conditions. The updater program waits until the operating system reports that the core PixInsight application is not running (and it times out if that doesn't happen after a prudent time). At any rate, the file being installed cannot be in use by PixInsight or any of its components.

Sorry but our update system is remarkably robust and foolproof on all supported platforms. It is being used continuously tens of thousands of times. Of course there is always room for bugs, but the problem reported here does not happen under normal working conditions.
 
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