Installation behavior changed?

[rconn]

We've been using the following syntax to install Everything (as part of another installer) for the past several years (most recently with build 969).

everything.exe -install-service

In the last couple of Everything builds (just tried again with 1000) some systems will get a popup from Everything (both on new installs and on updates):

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Unable to save settings
Store settings and data in @%APPDATA%\Everything?
-----------------------------------------------------------------

What could be triggering this? Did something change in Everything that requires a change in our installer syntax?

[void]

Thank you for your post.

There has been a few changes to the installer in the last few builds since version 1.4.1.990.

This error message is shown when Everything is unable to write to the user Everything.ini file.
If Store settings and data in %APPDATA%\Everything is enabled, this file is stored in %APPDATA%\Everything.
Otherwise, this file is stored in the same location as Everything.exe.

This error can occur if you use an unknown command line option, eg:
Everything.exe -install-service -abc

This will show the command line options help window, when this window is closed the 'Unable to save settings' dialog is shown.

Using the Task Manager, what is the command line for the Everything process showing this dialog?

• In the Task Manager, click the Details tab.
• From the View menu click Select Columns.
• Check Command Line.
• What is shown for the Command Line for the Everything.exe process(es)? -Maybe there's a space being thrown into the command line somewhere, or Everything is passing the wrong arguments to the elevated process?

[rconn]

I got some feedback from the users who were experiencing the problem.

It appears it was not from the attempted install, but from trying to stop everything.exe before it did the install.

Our installer first tries to stop the Everything service (using SC), then deletes the service. It then tries to quit Everything.exe (in case the user wasn't running it as a service, but was running as an admin). So the command line that is generating the usage popup & the "Unable to save settings" popup is:

"C:\Program Files\JP Software\TCMD27\Everything.exe" -quit

Note that Everything.exe might not have been running before this command was executed (either if it wasn't installed, or if it had been installed as a service & then shut down). And only a minority of users get the popups.

[rconn]

I may have an idea on what might be happening here.

If Everything isn't running, then running:

everything.exe -quit

appears to start Everything, and then try to save the settings to the current directory. But in this case that's C:\Windows\Installer, so I get the error popup.

There doesn't appear to be a startup option to tell Everything not to save the settings. There is one to specify what config file to use, but in this case all I know is that it'll be %APPDATA%\Everything, and that won't be expanded if the installer runs Everything.

[void]

Thank you for your reply.

Everything was starting a new instance when using the -exit command line option.

I have fixed this issue in Everything 1.4.1.1001.

This version will send the exit command to the existing Everything instance (if one exists) and then exit immediately.

[NotNull]

everything.exe -quit

appears to start Everything, and then try to save the settings to the current directory. But in this case that's C:\Windows\Installer, so I get the error popup.

Then your MSI installer is wrong as you added Everything.exe as a Binary instead of as a Component.