What is wrong with the new "Check for Updates" tool

[Sonicmojo]

Running NT Lite on my WIndows 2019 Server - today I did a "check for Updates" and was presented with the new tool.



I click Update for the Stable channel and NTLite completely disappears with no visible activity - I was expecting to see some sort of update dialog etc.

I wait a minute or two and then go back into NTLite and immediately get this message:



I then make note of the filename and directory and close NTLite.

I then go to the directory above and execute the Temp installer as above - which finally installs the update. Or so I thought

Now everytime I come back into NTLite - I see the error above. AND even worse - my image history has been wiped:



This new update tool is very poorly implemented and I would like to know how to:

A) Shut off this annoyiong message about the Temp Installer being busy or access denied
B) Have NT Lite update itself correctly without any hassle
C) Somehow get my Image history back.

Appreciate an update on this ASAP.

Thanks

Sonic.

 

[nuhi]

Hi Sonic,

thanks for the report.

I'm presuming the screenshot is after the update to the latest 2.0.0.7640, otherwise the update button should be disabled as newer version is not released yet and I'm now trying, update button is not enabled.
Let me know what was the starting version.

The updating process is being improved with user feedback, current version should be better in this regard, but it's not visible until then next version.
Of course once the issue is replicated on my part, it's easy to fix such a simple file handling situation.

Try deleting %temp%\NTLiteTempInstaller.exe before starting the tool.
If it's then busy, Explorer will show which process is holding it, end that in Task Manager and then delete - usually NTLite Installer.

Run NTLite after the file was removed, go to File - Check updates, and if the same happens, try downloading latest version manually from ntlite.com/download and repeat the above.

If still the same, then I must send you a special version with more logging to see why would you get offered the same version to update with.

As for image history, if it's gone then readd the folder to the source page, no other way unless NTLite installed on another location, then copy settings.xml from the old one.

 

[Sonicmojo]

Nuhi

1. Yes - screenshot is after the latest. Cannot remember what version was on before but this was the first time I saw the new dialog and I did update manually a few weeks ago.

2. Regarding the file lock - On Server 2019 - there is no sign of any NT Lite process within Explorer or Task Manager. I needed to use Process Explorer to shut the "NTLiteTempInstaller.exe" process down. After emptying the TEMP directory - the "files locked" dialog did not appear at next launch

3. I was able to restore an older "settings.xml" and now have my image history back.

Look forward to further improvements on the update process - but I think you need to carefully look into permissions as they relate to running this on Windows Server - it is clear from my failures here that Admin (elevated) rights are required if you are going to try to copy and run anything from the AppData\Temp directory on a Server. The system drive is locked down by default and I should see a standard User Account Control prompt when running anything from C:\ - that did not appear during the update phase - which makes me nervous. Even more strange is that I am running with Admin rights and the update still died saying Access was denied etc. There is something strange holding this back on Server vs running it on standard Windows 10 build running as a standard user (with no elevated rights).

Cheers

Sonic.

 

[nuhi]

OK, thanks for the feedback Sonic.
Please update manually to the build 7656, just posted, it has the improvements necessary for your situation.
Then if you see any autoupdate problems in the future going from the 7656+, please let me know.