[electron-updater] [Windows] [NSIS] Updater leaves app in unrecoverable state if update is performed during sign out or shut down

[popod]

• Electron-Builder Version: 24.4.0

• Node Version: v18

• Electron Version: 19.x.x
• Electron Type (current, beta, nightly): stable

• Target: win

This problem seem to exists from a while on Windows with NSIS update on app quit ! This works fine with macOS, only Windows does not works !

If the NSIS Windows updater is running during a shutdown or log-off, the app will become in an unrecoverable state (the executable will be removed from the AppData folder, etc.) ! This leads to the app being unusable !

It is common for users to quit an app (and trigger an update) before shutting down or logging off the computer so this seems like this could be quite a common issue. We had multiple reports of this from customers and I was able to reproduce it myself also.

This are similar issues : https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder/issues/3798, https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder/issues/7294, https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder/issues/3362, ...

We're experiencing a proper error condition when using auto-updater: Our application is run by our customers from boot to shutdown (I'd even say "from dawn to dusk" :p). This means that the auto-updater finds an update and marks it for installation on exit - fine.

Now, the user's work day ends, they want to run home. They shut down the app (the update installer starts), and immediately shut down windows.

Now, windows at some point kills the update installer NSIS process, leaving behind an incompletely installed app! 💥

So, is there any mechanism to make the NSIS auto update works on windows when the update is trigged on application quit ?

To resolve this, a workaround is to set autoInstallOnAppQuit=false. But in this case, the application can only be updated with autoUpdater.quitAndInstall() which is not really user friendly and does not resolve the problem..

I think that possibles solutions are:

• (better) prevent auto update to be killed by Windows shut down when an update is in progress
  • I think that (https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder/issues/7294#issuecomment-1362172858) could be a solution, but it is not documented and should be implemented directly in electron-updater
• add an option to not silent the update on application quit, which will make (https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder/pull/7251) to works
• allows to update the application on next launch (if the updater is already downoladed on app start, trigg the update) in place of when the application is closed
• ...

Thanks your for reply and for providing a real solution for this big issue !

[github-actions[bot]]

This issue is stale because it has been open 60 days with no activity. Remove stale label or comment or this will be closed in 30 days.

[popod]

Not stale.. Any reply or solution would be welcome :)

[github-actions[bot]]

This issue is stale because it has been open 60 days with no activity. Remove stale label or comment or this will be closed in 30 days.

[popod]

Still not stale..

[github-actions[bot]]

This issue is stale because it has been open 60 days with no activity. Remove stale label or comment or this will be closed in 30 days.

[ivanggq]

Also having this issue occasionally.