1593720 - Update from 60.9.0 to 68.2.1 (32 bit) "applying update" forever

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Thunderbird :: General, defect)

Description

[JWexler]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:70.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/70.0

Steps to reproduce:

Running 64bit win10 Pro v1903
Automatic update hung up
Rebooted everything - same issue
Nothing else is accessing the profile when this happens

Actual results:

...AppData/Roaming/Thunderbird/Profile.ini before -->
[General]
StartWithLastProfile=1

[Profile0]
Name=default
IsRelative=0
Path=\Familyroom\F\TbirdDad

...installs.ini created --->
[8216C80C92C4E828]
Default=\Familyroom\F\TbirdDad

..../profile.ini updated --->
[Install8216C80C92C4E828]
Default=\Familyroom\F\TbirdDad

[Profile0]
Name=default
IsRelative=0
Path=\Familyroom\F\TbirdDad
Default=1

[General]
StartWithLastProfile=1
Version=2

Comment 1

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

I've seen all sorts of update issues, but "hung" doesn't ring a bell. Take a look at bug 1586699 and delete:
C:\Users\your-username\AppData\Local\Thunderbird\updates
C:\ProgramData\Mozilla\updates

Comment 2

[JWexler]

Deleted those two folders
Message in "About Thunderbird" changed from "applying update" to "up to date", but

File/Get New Message For ______ - does a pop-up with new messages, but no display of old or new messages. Those new messagse do make it into the message store (I have another machine which can access the profile and I have disabled updates on that machine)

No window opens/ nothing happens for any of the other menu bar actions, including
Help/Troubleshooting Info
Tools/Options
Tools/Account Settings

Comment 3

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

No window opens/ nothing happens for any of the other menu bar actions

That sounds pretty corrupt. Maybe you should reinstall. Are you using any add-ons?

Comment 4

[JWexler]

I am still planning on reinstalling 60.0.9 if the support case ends without a fix.

But "extensions" has an interesting (and lengthy) history.

I installed a gContactSync somewhere between 3 and 8 years ago.

Q: Did it work for you?
A: I decided it was worse than nothing and stopped using it about when I installed it.

Q: Did you uninstall it?
A: I thought I had, since at one point years ago, some Thunderbird update complained about it, but may not have uninstalled since
i) .../extensions had an .xpi file with a 2018 modification date (I found this in a storage backup, but after the 68.2.1 upgrade, that file has a November 2019 modification date)
ii) ../gcontactsync has subfolders with backup copies of text files with 2016 modification dates
iii) ../prefs.js had a line: user_pref("extensions.gContactSync.statusBarText", "Please login to begin sychronizing");

Q: Did you notice a gContactSync item on the 68.2.1 menu bat?
A: Yes I did, but I thought nothing of it, since the "What's new" for 68.2.1 made a reference to it.

Comment 5

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to JWexler from comment #2)

Deleted those two folders
Message in "About Thunderbird" changed from "applying update" to "up to date", but

And at that time, was Thunderbird in fact up to date to the version that it should be?

No window opens/ nothing happens for any of the other menu bar actions, including
Help/Troubleshooting Info
Tools/Options
Tools/Account Settings

Seems to me we've seen that before

Comment 6

[JWexler]

Best of recollection (this was 7 months ago), after reviewing the above:

I was running 60.9.0, and tried to let it update - got stuck with "applying update", and the UI was pretty much dead and cannot tell you how far the update had progressed in terms of updating the executable.

Deleted the two folders you suggested, and "About Thunderbird" displayed "up to date", and - as above - the UI was pretty much dead and cannot tell you how far the update had progressed in terms of updating the executable.

Uninstalling 60.9.0 and installing 68.2.1 still left me with a dead UI.

In the end, I decided that the configuration information in the profile (which had no doubt been modified by updates dozens of times over 15+ years) was just incompatible with with 68.2.1.
And if I remember correctly did the following to get back on the release channel:
a) reinstalled 60.9.0
b) installed an message import-export tool compatible with 60.9.0
c) created a new 60.9.0 profile
d) use the tool to move messages from the existing profile (about 15GB) to the new profile
e) moved address books and edited prefs.js
f) let 60.9.0 update itself to 68.2.1 - and it worked
g) moved the revised profile back to where I needed it to be.

Jonathan

Comment 7

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

JWexler, Does this still reproduce for you?

Comment 8

[JWexler]

I have other issues, but I have not seen this one in years