755423 - If you install into a protected directory which is not Program Files, updates fail

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 572162

(Toolkit :: Application Update, defect)

Description

[Vladan Djeric (:vladan)]

Attachment: Error console log

I have two different 32-bit Nightlies installed on my Windows system, one in C:\Program Files\Nightly\ and the other in C:\Program Files (x86)\Nightly. The one in C:\Program Files\Nightly\ fails to update with the Help->About dialog instructing me to download the newer version manually: "Updates available at http://nightly.mozilla.org/"

When app.update.log is set to true, the error console shows the updater got "permission denied" while trying to create C:\Program Files\Nightly\update.test (see attachment)

Comment 1

[Brian R. Bondy [:bbondy]]

Are you running as an admin? Did the same user account initiate both installs?

Comment 2

[Vladan Djeric (:vladan)]

(In reply to Brian R. Bondy [:bbondy] from comment #1)
> Are you running as an admin? Did the same user account initiate both
> installs?

I'm running with a user account that has admin privileges. I used the same account for everything.

Comment 3

[Brian R. Bondy [:bbondy]]

I can reproduce when installing a 32-bit build into Nightly.  I'm not sure this is a supported config but we should probably look into it because it's pretty strange. 
Maybe something related to filesystem redirection.

Comment 4

[Brian R. Bondy [:bbondy]]

> I can reproduce when installing a 32-bit build into Nightly

I mean into: 
C:\Program Files\Nightly\

Comment 5

[Brian R. Bondy [:bbondy]]

gCanApplyUpdates usually tests for apply access to:
C:\users\user\appdata\local\Mozilla\Firefox\Nightly\update.test

But when Firefox is installed into a C:\Program Files\ directory it tries here:
C:\Program Files\AltInstallDir\udpate.test

The problem is just that if we aren't installed into Program Files, we use the install dir as the udpate dir. This causes a problem if you install into a location that requires elevated permissions to write to which is not the program files (Program Files (x86) on x64 systems) directory.

I think the code has always been this way.

Comment 6

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

Should be covered by bug 572162.

Comment 7

[Brian R. Bondy [:bbondy]]

Ya that work can cover this work, thanks for linking it up.