284539 - Unable to start Firefox after attempted update to version 1.0.1.

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Firefox :: Installer, defect)

Description

[Jon]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1)
Build Identifier: 

On two separate PCs, while trying to install the FireFox 1.0.1 update to 
Firefox 1.0, both installations ended with the following error message when 
attempting to restart Firefox: "The program must close to allow a previous 
isntallation attempt to complete. Please restart".  The first PC has now had 
Firefox completely removed (using uninstall) and relies now on IE.  The 
uninstall for 1.0.1 left the uninstall icon for 1.0.  I reinstalled 1.0 to see 
if it would recover - it didn't (same error as above), but this new install 
allowed me to remove the 1.0 uninstall icon when I uninstalled 1.0.  On the 
second PC, I attempted the update to check some info gleaned from these bug 
reports (i.e. that the update must be installed in a new directory).  There are 
no prompts that tell you that (that I saw or noticed), so I ended the install 
prior to it actually replacing bits.  When the install ended (aborted), I 
attempted to restart Firefox, and I got the above error message.  Both PCs were 
rebooted to eliminate any potential stealth processes running.  No difference.  
Both PCs are now Firefox-less.  This install process needs to be fixed - I 
rarely, if ever have this much trouble with a Microsoft install.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. download 1.0.1 update
2. run update (and either let it finish or abort it)
3. attempt to start Firefox

Actual Results:  
Firefox would no longer start.  I continually receive the message "The program 
must close to allow a previous isntallation attempt to complete. Please 
restart".  This message continues even after a reboot.

Expected Results:  
Firefox should have started and should have been sucessfully updated to version 
1.0.1

Comment 1

[Tomasz Poradowski]

Updating from 1.0.1 to 1.0.2 (as well as 1.0 -> 1.0.1) produces the same 
behaviour. I chose the update icon, Firefox 1.0.2 was downloaded and then it 
warned me about closing a running instance of Firefox and started to copy files, 
etc. After that I get only "The program must close to allow a previous 
installation attempt to complete.  Please restart." and nothing helps - even 
uninstall and profile directory removal (must try a reboot now).

System: Windows XP SP2
(In reply to comment #0)
> User-Agent:       Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1)
> Build Identifier: 
> 
> On two separate PCs, while trying to install the FireFox 1.0.1 update to 
> Firefox 1.0, both installations ended with the following error message when 
> attempting to restart Firefox: "The program must close to allow a previous 
> isntallation attempt to complete. Please restart".  The first PC has now had 
> Firefox completely removed (using uninstall) and relies now on IE.  The 
> uninstall for 1.0.1 left the uninstall icon for 1.0.  I reinstalled 1.0 to see 
> if it would recover - it didn't (same error as above), but this new install 
> allowed me to remove the 1.0 uninstall icon when I uninstalled 1.0.  On the 
> second PC, I attempted the update to check some info gleaned from these bug 
> reports (i.e. that the update must be installed in a new directory).  There 
are 
> no prompts that tell you that (that I saw or noticed), so I ended the install 
> prior to it actually replacing bits.  When the install ended (aborted), I 
> attempted to restart Firefox, and I got the above error message.  Both PCs 
were 
> rebooted to eliminate any potential stealth processes running.  No difference. 
 
> Both PCs are now Firefox-less.  This install process needs to be fixed - I 
> rarely, if ever have this much trouble with a Microsoft install.
> 
> Reproducible: Always
> 
> Steps to Reproduce:
> 1. download 1.0.1 update
> 2. run update (and either let it finish or abort it)
> 3. attempt to start Firefox
> 
> Actual Results:  
> Firefox would no longer start.  I continually receive the message "The program 
> must close to allow a previous isntallation attempt to complete. Please 
> restart".  This message continues even after a reboot.
> 
> Expected Results:  
> Firefox should have started and should have been sucessfully updated to 
version 
> 1.0.1

Comment 2

[Jasper Lieber]

I'm having the same problem after trying to install the "security update" 1.0.2
from 1.0.1.  All I did was click yes to install the update - now I can't get
Firefox to install or run.  Very frustrating.

Comment 3

[Jasper Lieber]

Well, the only way I could get Firefox restored to my machine was by using the
the 1.0.1 zip files at the ftp site, and manually installing them.  The
setup.exe files for both 1.0.1 and 1.0.2 only go perform an "extracting files"
progress window and then nothing happens and Fx is not installed.

Anyone have any ideas what could be wrong for the setup.exe files to not work
for me?  And am I alone in this problem???

Comment 4

[Jasper Lieber]

Addition to previous post:  here's my about Fx info:
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.7.6) Gecko/20050225 Firefox/1.0.1

Comment 5

[Tim Lesher]

I saw this from 1.0.1 to 1.0.2 on Windows XP Home edition.  Uninstalling, then 
reinstalling the new version "fixed" the problem.

I'm seeing this again upgrading from 1.0.2 to 1.0.3.  I'll keep the (broken) 
installation around for a few days in case you need any information to help 
diagnose it.

Comment 6

[Dean Anderson]

This bug is also present in the installer for 1.0.2, 1.0.3 and 1.0.4

Deleting "xpicleanup.dat" in the Firefox directory seems to fix the problem.

The bug is avoided by uninstalling firefox before attempting to update.  It
would be nice if the auto-update program did this.

Comment 7

[marc bayerkohler]

This happened while going 1.0.6 to 1.0.7 in windows XP while using the software
update check for updates.  It found the new update and tried to install.

I run ff w/o admin rights, by using a script that drops the rights.  (
http://msdn.microsoft.com/security/securecode/columns/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dncode/html/secure11152004.asp
)

After the install said it could not proceed, i said to cancel.  But now any
attempt to start ff gives the error:

"The program must close to allow a previos installation to complete.  
Please restart."

and i must use IE to download and reinstall ff to fix it.

Comment 8

[Andreas Morawietz]

Attachment: this file stays in memory after installation!

But If kill that process after installation and start firefox, it doesn't work, too.

Comment 9

[Andreas Morawietz]

Attachment: this message appears if starting firefox....

If I click okay and close firefox and open firefox again,
a new process xpicleanup.exe appears in taskmanager.

This happens for every attempt to open firefox after installation!
e.g. if I try this 5 times, I have got 5 xpicleanup.exe processes in taskmanager... and they don't disappear! they stay in memory all the time :(

BTW: I don't need to restart my computer to use firefox again, I only must logoff in windows and login again.

Comment 10

[Gregori Smith]

I'm using VISTA and get exactly the same problem - I get prompted that firefox must shut down to allow previous installation to complete.  However, no previous installation is running.  Based on the dialog I'm reading in this thread, this seems to be an ongoing issue.  I'd certainly like to get any sugg's here - do I need to remove all registry keys that I can find? -greg

Comment 11

[Robert Strong (they/them - no direct email)]

First run issues are an XPInstall Installer and not a Firefox installer bug. This bug is also filed for 1.0.x which is not supported anymore and is misfiled as installer so I am resolving it as WFM.

Also, Bug 369221 just landed on the trunk which will first verify that xpicleanup.exe can be deleted prior to installation so the system won't end up in a bad state.