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WhyKnot edited this page Apr 27, 2026 · 5 revisions

Update and Uninstall

Both flows ship as standalone single-file exes that live next to WKVRCProxy.exe. Each can run when WKVRCProxy itself isn't, so they don't share its IPC; they load what they need from WKVRCProxy.Core directly.

Sources:

Update poll (AppUpdateChecker)

In-process, runs alongside the engine.

  1. Reads local version from version.txt.
  2. GETs https://api.github.com/repos/RealWhyKnot/WKVRCProxy/releases/latest.
  3. Parses the tag (tag_name), strips the leading v, parses as System.Version.
  4. If remote > local, fires OnStatusChanged(UpdateStatus.UpdateAvailable, releaseUrl).
  5. The UI shows a banner + modal in App.vue; Settings → Maintenance has a manual Check now button.

AppUpdateChecker does not download or apply. It only signals.

Update apply (updater.exe)

Triggered by the user clicking Update now in the UI. The UI sends a LAUNCH_UPDATER IPC, the bridge spawns updater.exe, and the UI begins shutdown.

  1. Updater verifies WKVRCProxy.exe exists in its install dir.
  2. Reads current version from version.txt.
  3. Fetches the latest release JSON.
  4. If versions match, relaunches and exits (nothing to do).
  5. Otherwise polls the single-instance mutex Local\WKVRCProxy.UI.SingleInstance for up to 30 s, waiting for the UI to fully exit.
  6. Downloads WKVRCProxy-<version>.zip to a temp directory.
  7. Optionally verifies SHA256 against SHA256: <hex> parsed from the release notes (skipped if missing — non-fatal).
  8. Extracts to a staging temp dir. If the zip has a single top-level folder (likely), unwraps it.
  9. Renames the existing install dir aside as <install>-old-<timestamp>.
  10. Moves the staged payload into place.
  11. Schedules the old dir for delete via cmd.exe /c timeout 3 && rmdir /s /q "<old>".
  12. Relaunches WKVRCProxy.exe from the new install dir, exits.

The atomic-swap means a failed move (locked file, AV interference) leaves the old install in place and recoverable. The updater logs to updater.log in the install dir.

Uninstall (uninstall.exe)

Triggered from Settings → Maintenance → Uninstall WKVRCProxy (with confirm dialog). The UI sends LAUNCH_UNINSTALLER, spawns uninstall.exe, and exits.

  1. Native confirm dialog (WinForms): explains exactly what gets deleted.
  2. Closes WKVRCProxy gracefully (CloseMainWindow then force-kill after 5 s).
  3. Polls the single-instance mutex (10 s timeout).
  4. Reads customVrcPath from settings.json if present and valid; else uses VrcPathLocator.Find(null).
  5. Calls PatcherService.RestoreYtDlpInTools() to revert VRChat's yt-dlp.exe from yt-dlp-og.exe.
  6. Deletes %LOCALAPPDATA%\WKVRCProxy\.
  7. Schedules install dir delete via cmd.exe /c timeout 2 && rmdir /s /q "<install>" (delayed so uninstall.exe itself isn't holding any of those files).
  8. Shows a success dialog, exits.

What it does not touch:

  • The hosts file entry 127.0.0.1 localhost.youtube.com. Idle and harmless; users can remove it by hand.
  • app_config.json and strategy_memory.json — they live next to the exe and go with the install dir delete.

Failure modes worth knowing

  • Hardcoded GitHub URL: both AppUpdateChecker and the updater hit api.github.com/repos/RealWhyKnot/WKVRCProxy. If the repo moves, all installs need a manual update.
  • Protected install location: if WKVRCProxy is installed in Program Files, the deferred cmd.exe rmdir runs without elevation and may silently fail. Document install-anywhere usage in the README.
  • No SHA256 in release notes: the updater logs a warning and skips verification. Always include SHA256: <hex> in release notes — release.yml does this automatically.
  • Updater + UI version mismatch: the updater binary lives next to the UI, so they bump together. If a user manually replaces updater.exe from a different release, behaviour is undefined.

Start here

For users

Reference

For maintainers

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