Notepad++ 6.5.3 upgrade fails to install

stcain

Back in early December 2013 I started managing the few Notepad++ installs we have around here with Patch Manager. The Notepad++ home site is blocked by our firewall so I manually downloaded the npp.6.5.1.Installer.exe installation package from a DMZ workstation. I successfully published and deployed the v6.5.1 upgrade package to all machines that needed it. Early January I noticed 6.5.2 and 6.5.3 had been released. Once again manually downloaded the npp.6.5.2.Installer.exe and npp.6.5.3.Installer.exe files. Figured I'd just jump right to 6.5.3 so I published and deployed the 6.5.3 upgrade, but it failed to install on all machines. Thinking something could be wrong with my downloaded installer file I tried manually upgrading a machine by running the npp.6.5.3.Installer.exe directly. That worked just fine. Figured it was a long shot but thought maybe it wasn't happy about me skipping versions. So I went back and published and deployed the 6.5.2 upgrade to one of my test VMs and it worked just fine. Once again I tried to deploy 6.5.3 upgrade and it failed again. Here's the entry from WindowsUpdate.log on my Win7 test VM.

Agent   *   Title = Notepad++ v6.5.3 (Upgrade)

2014-01-16 11:42:09:538  876 c60 Agent   *   UpdateId = {0B292304-FB84-4EE9-B47A-DC4F93263A0E}.3

2014-01-16 11:42:12:471  876 e28 Report CWERReporter finishing event handling. (00000000)

2014-01-16 11:42:51:360  876 c60 DnldMgr Preparing update for install, updateId = {0B292304-FB84-4EE9-B47A-DC4F93263A0E}.3.

2014-01-16 11:42:53:232 1172 d2c Misc ===========  Logging initialized (build: 7.6.7600.256, tz: -0500)  ===========

2014-01-16 11:42:53:357 1172 d2c Misc   = Process: C:\Windows\system32\wuauclt.exe

2014-01-16 11:42:53:357 1172 d2c Misc   = Module: C:\Windows\system32\wuaueng.dll

2014-01-16 11:42:53:232 1172 d2c Handler :::::::::::::

2014-01-16 11:42:53:357 1172 d2c Handler :: START ::  Handler: Command Line Install

2014-01-16 11:42:53:357 1172 d2c Handler :::::::::

2014-01-16 11:42:53:357 1172 d2c Handler   : Updates to install = 1

2014-01-16 11:42:58:817 1172 d2c Handler   : WARNING: Command line install completed. Return code = 0x00000002, Result = Failed, Reboot required = false

2014-01-16 11:42:58:817 1172 d2c Handler   : WARNING: Exit code = 0x8024200B

2014-01-16 11:42:58:833 1172 d2c Handler :::::::::

2014-01-16 11:42:58:833 1172 d2c Handler ::  END  ::  Handler: Command Line Install

Like I said, it only fails when I try to deploy with the Patch Manager Notepad++ v6.5.3 (Upgrade) package. A manual upgrade works fine. I did a side by side comparison of all settings in the 6.5.2 (Upgrade) and 6.5.3 (Upgrade) packages and they were identical other than the updated version numbers. We are running Patch Manager 2.0.2146.0. Any ideas why this install is failing via Patch Manager?

LGarvin

2014-01-16 11:42:58:817 1172 d2c Handler   : WARNING: Command line install completed. Return code = 0x00000002 Any ideas why this install is failing via Patch Manager?

The key here is why the installer is returning an Exit Code of 0x2.

First objective would be to obtain a list of Exit Codes for Notepad++. It's a lot more fun flying with an idea of a destination. :-)

Since this occured when upgrading both 6.5.1 and 6.5.2, and I know we tested the 6.5.2->6.5.3 path (and we should have tested the 6.5.1->6.5.2 path), I do have to hesitate before considering it an issue with the package. So, for the moment, my working presumption here is that this is an environmental situation. On the other hand, since you're able to do the upgrade interactively with no issue, and it only fails when using the WUAgent, that could also be relevant.

But also, keep in mind... Patch Manager really has nothing at all to do with this event.  In the end, the sequence of things goes like this:

1. Patch Manager tells the Windows Update Agent to install Notepad++ 6.5.3.

2. The Windows Update Agent launches Notepad++ 6.5.3.

3. Notepad++ 6.5.3 installer runs and either succeeds, or not. But at this point, truly, neither the WUAgent, nor WSUS, nor Patch Manager have any bearing at all on what the installer does.

What MAY be relevant is the environment in which the installer is running. A couple of notable differences between an interactive install and a WUAgent-based install:

• An interactive install is... well... interactive. It has UI. It has a user.
• A WUAgent install is silent, and does not have access to user-based resources.

One other note... the Patch Manager Notepad++ 6.5.3 package uses PackageBoot to ensure that Notepad++ is not running before the installation is launched. If PackageBoot is unable to terminate a running instance of Notepad++ on the target system, the installation of the update WILL fail.