Powertoys: Version 0.15 installer crashes explorer.exe upgrading from 0.14.1

[schumatt-msft]

Environment

Windows build number: 10.0.19577.1000
PowerToys version: 0.15.0
PowerToy module for which you are reporting the bug (if applicable): Setup (MSI x64)

Steps to reproduce

• Start with PowerToys 0.14.1 installed.
• Launch x64 MSI installer for version 0.15.
• Toward end of installation, installer attempts to restart explorer.exe.

Expected behavior

• Installation should close explorer.exe and restart it again. (Taskbar will briefly disappear then reappear.)

Actual behavior

• Explorer stopped (taskbar disappeared) but never restarted. I had to open Task Manager and manually start explorer by using File > Run New Task > explorer

Screenshots

Unfortunately, no screenshots or log files are available.

[enricogior]

Hi @schumatt-msft
the MSI installation completed?
Were you able to start PowerToys after manually restarting Explorer?

[schumatt-msft]

@enricogior The install did complete successfully, and I believe PowerToys was actually running once I started Explorer.

[enricogior]

Can you check the event log for Explorer errors?
In case it would be interesting to retry the update.
Since we are releasing 0.15.1 for another issue, let us know if installing 0.15.1 on top of 0.15.0 has the same problem.

[schumatt-msft]

Nothing in App or System logs around the same time, just the MsiInstaller for the completion:

Windows Installer installed the product. Product Name: PowerToys (Preview). Product Version: 0.15.0. Product Language: 1033. Manufacturer: Microsoft. Installation success or error status: 0.

I did try removing, reinstalling 0.14.1, then upgrading again, but that completed as expected. Once 0.15.1 is available, I'll try that on top of 0.15.0 with the logging switches for msiexec.

[enricogior]

OK, thank you.

[BeecherNetworks]

Explorer is killed when uninstalling too, although it does come back, and PowerToys is not uninstalled. Tried it twice. I've never been able to get it to work, always get the WebView error when trying to open Settings.

[stefansjfw]

@BeecherNetworks are you trying to uninstall PT via legacy control panel or Win10 Settings->Apps?

[BeecherNetworks]

I used Start Menu > Power Toys > right-click > Uninstall, which took me to the legacy panel, and I uninstalled from there. Didn't even think of Apps, sorry, try to avoid the new control panels. :) I was eventually able to uninstall by right-clicking on the MSI installer. I'll try a fresh reinstall shortly, the last install was over the previous version.

[enricogior]

@BeecherNetworks
the legacy Control Panel seems to not uninstall PowerToys correctly, while the new Apps uninstaller does work just fine.

[yuyoyuppe]

We're currently relying on a registry key Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\AutoRestartShell for explorer.exe to be restarted, which is 1(true) by default. Could you folks please check if it's set to 0 on your machine? @BeecherNetworks @schumatt-msft

If that's the case, as far as I know, there's no way to toggle this flag from Control Panel UI, so it must be set by some third-party, and we could solve the issue by detecting from wix if that registry flag is unset and restart explorer manually.

[BeecherNetworks]

That's set to 1 on my PC.

[schumatt-msft]

@yuyoyuppe The registry value is set to 1 on my PC. Also wanted to mention that the upgrade from 0.15 to 0.15.1 on my PC worked as expected. Explorer did close during the setup, but it restarted on its own as expected. The problem during the 0.14.1 to 0.15.0 upgrade may have been an isolated incident in my case.

Please let me know if there's any other testing or checks you'd like me to do.

[BeecherNetworks]

Is there any way of using FancyZones without being able to access settings? I'm currently using AquaSnap but I'd love to try FZ.

[crutkas]

@beecherNetworks, WinKey + ` will trigger the editor where your mouse is

[crutkas]

is this still happening? if so, please open reopen it.