Install-ChocolateyPath updates PATH to REG_SZ, which may break using Windows dir and system32 tools #699

ferventcoder · 2016-04-20T13:33:46Z

The fixes for #303 had an interesting and terrible side effect. When you don't expand the value and then you update using [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable($Name, $Value, $Scope), it has the side effect of overwriting the original registry value type and saves the values as REG_SZ instead of keeping it as REG_EXPAND_SZ. Then all of those tools in WinDir no longer work all of a sudden and it's somewhat perplexing what happened as everything looks appropriate when you inspect the values.

The offending commit is e050c22

You will know you are affected if you open a new command line and type where.exe choco and the system cannot find where.exe.

_UPDATE:_ This would ONLY affect you if you installed the beta versions directly without upgrading to them. Previous versions of Chocolatey would have already expanded the values in PATH and saved it as REG_SZ. The bug that #303 fixes is saving you from this issue.

When you install Chocolatey, it will set itself in the PATH using Install-ChocolateyPath. This is the only time you could be affected by this issue, and only if you installed (not upgraded) an affected version directly. Otherwise the variables would have been expanded and your PATH would continue to work. #303 introduced not expanding the PATH, which causes this issue because you get both not expanding those variables AND switching it to REG_SZ (which it was already doing).

Original

7b0de8f...9b6946a

I haven't found it yet, but it causes Vagrant 1.8.1 to get to the next shell runner and never move forward.

Once I have more details on why I will reach out to the Vagrant folks if necessary.

==> default:
==> default: DEBUG: Add-ChocolateyProfile
==> default: DEBUG: Creating 'C:\Users\Administrator\Documents\WindowsPowerShell'
==> default: DEBUG: Creating
==> default: 'C:\Users\Administrator\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Microsoft.PowerShell_profil
==> default: e.ps1'
==> default: Adding Chocolatey to the profile. This will provide tab completion, refreshenv, etc.
==> default: WARNING: Chocolatey profile installed. Reload your profile - type . $profile
==> default: DEBUG: Install-DotNet4IfMissing called with $forceFxInstall=False
==> default: Chocolatey (choco.exe) is now ready.
==> default: You can call choco from anywhere, command line or powershell by typing choco.
==> default: Run choco /? for a list of functions.
==> default: You may need to shut down and restart powershell and/or consoles
==> default:  first prior to using choco.
==> default: DEBUG: Remove-OldChocolateyInstall
==> default: Ensuring chocolatey commands are on the path
==> default: Ensuring chocolatey.nupkg is in the lib folder
==> default: Chocolatey v0.9.10-beta1-281-gfd2eea1
==> default: autoUninstaller was enabled by default. Explicitly setting value.
==> default: Enabled autoUninstaller
==> default: Chocolatey v0.9.10-beta1-281-gfd2eea1
==> default: Enabled allowGlobalConfirmation
==> default: Chocolatey v0.9.10-beta1-281-gfd2eea1
==> default: Enabled logEnvironmentValues

==> default: Running provisioner: shell...

It finishes the install of Chocolatey, and then when it goes to run the next provisioner, it just sits there. I've confirmed it in several places.

The text was updated successfully, but these errors were encountered:

ferventcoder · 2016-04-20T23:35:52Z

~~If I were to guess, I would say it has something to do with the change over to client profile and the log4net logger in the console (which is now a client profile version).~~

f883846

ferventcoder · 2016-04-20T23:37:07Z

~~It could also be the addition of a second file logging source.~~ 7b0de8f...9b6946a#diff-f5411bbcc87de708e96eb743636e04deR94

ferventcoder · 2016-04-20T23:46:01Z

My plan of attack is to start with the sha of the commit prior to the log4net/client profile change over. That is bfa6c32

Build from that and run the Chocolatey test environment and see if I can reproduce the issue.

ferventcoder · 2016-05-05T12:58:33Z

This only affects the following beta releases

jnm2 · 2016-05-05T13:03:41Z

I have 0.9.10-beta-20160411 currently installed. What do I do to detect and reverse the damage? Nothing obvious has broken for me yet.

ferventcoder · 2016-05-05T13:04:33Z

@jnm2
You will know you are affected if you open a command line and type where.exe choco and it errors.

ferventcoder · 2016-05-05T13:04:41Z

Otherwise you are good to go

ferventcoder · 2016-05-05T13:04:59Z

Just don't install anything else until you install the fix that I'm wrapping up now.

ferventcoder · 2016-05-05T13:20:58Z

_UPDATE:_ This would ONLY affect you if you installed the beta versions directly without upgrading to them. Previous versions of Chocolatey would have already expanded the values in PATH and saved it as REG_SZ. The bug that #303 fixes is saving you from this issue.

jnm2 · 2016-05-05T13:37:42Z

How is it okay to expand the strings and change the type to REG_SZ at all? Doesn't that mean computers with previous versions of chocolatey are set up to fail if a variable path is appended?

ferventcoder · 2016-05-05T13:43:11Z

@jnm2 I'm not saying it is okay, I'm just saying you would not be in a broken state currently.

ferventcoder · 2016-05-05T13:44:34Z

To be clear - broken in this context means "WTF? S--- doesn't work, srsly WTF?!!!", versus, "you changed my PATH variable to REG_SZ, how dare you"

ferventcoder · 2016-05-05T13:45:25Z

And I think you are going to like the fixes I put in, we are addressing ensuring PATH is expand string.

The fixes for GH-303 (e050c22) had an interesting and terrible side effect. When you don't expand the value and then you update using `[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable($Name, $Value, $Scope)`, it has the side effect of overwriting the original registry value type and saves the values as `REG_SZ` instead of keeping it as `REG_EXPAND_SZ`. Then all of the tools in WinDir no longer work all of a sudden and it's somewhat perplexing what happened as everything looks appropriate when you inspect the values. You can verify if you are affected by opening a new command line and typing `where.exe choco` and the system cannot find where.exe, which is at `C:\Windows\System32\where.exe`. You are only affected if you installed (explicitly installed, not upgraded) one of the following beta releases directly: * https://chocolatey.org/packages/chocolatey/0.9.10-beta-20160411 * https://chocolatey.org/packages/chocolatey/0.9.10-beta-20160422 * https://chocolatey.org/packages/chocolatey/0.9.10-beta-20160503 This is fixed by attempting to ask the registry what the value type is for the particular key and falling back to `REG_SZ` when it is not found. Environment variables are always either String or ExpandString. As a further step, if it is the `PATH` variable, it will always be saved as ExpandString (`REG_EXPAND_SZ`). Then set the value using `[Microsoft.Win32.Registry]::SetValue` instead because it allows setting the value type.

ferventcoder · 2016-05-05T13:47:42Z

Doesn't that mean computers with previous versions of chocolatey are set up to fail if a variable path is appended?

Not with the changes I just implemented (provided you have the updated version installed).

c3d4ff3#diff-2769f13bca26557f72bdf713dd85d6e9R40

On updating PATH it will ensure it is expand string type.

jnm2 · 2016-05-05T13:49:36Z

Haha, thanks for clarifying. So by forcing chocolatey to the latest beta for the seven computers I have it on, all potential future problems are resolved?

ferventcoder · 2016-05-05T13:55:06Z

@jnm2 that's the intention. Continually improve. Sometimes you break things along the way. I believe #722 will help reduce regressions.

* stable: (doc) update CHANGELOG/nuspec (GH-699) Fix: PATH may break on Install-ChocolateyPath

ferventcoder · 2016-05-05T14:22:41Z

For others, as a way of understanding this:

So basically Windows has %SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\system32 and a few others in the PATH environment variable. When older versions of Chocolatey install, they will expand those paths out and then save the registry value as REG_SZ.

It does this when you install Chocolatey (as Chocolatey needs to add the bin directory to the PATH).
The behavior of expanding the path and saving it is a bug. That is what #303 was meant to address.
What #303 missed was that the PATH (the registry value) was being saved back as REG_SZ instead of keeping REG_EXPAND_SZ (the original type). That is this issue.

Here's a matrix that may help understand it better.

SystemState	PATH Example	Registry Type	Result
Before Choco	`%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\system32`	`REG_EXPAND_SZ`	No issues!
Installing Older Choco Versions	`C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32;choco;`	`REG_SZ`	Small issue*
Upgrading to affected betas	`C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32;choco;`	`REG_SZ`	Small issue*
Install (first time ever installing Chocolatey) Affected Betas	`%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\system32;choco;`	`REG_SZ`	Big issues!*
Upgrading to 0.9.10+/betas	`C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32;choco;`	`REG_SZ`	Small issue*
`Install-ChocolateyPath` after upgrade to 0.9.10+/betas	`C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32;choco;`	`REG_EXPAND_SZ`	No issues!
Install (first time ever installing Chocolatey) 0.9.10+/betas	`%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\system32;choco;`	`REG_EXPAND_SZ`	No issues!

Small issue* - when you attempt to add a variable value %something% to the PATH after it has been affected, expansion may not work. This is super miniscule. In the 5 years that Chocolatey has been doing this incorrectly, this issue has never come up.
Big Issues!* - None of the variables will expand, thus making everything that is in System32 or Windows directories no longer work.

NOTE: Install for the first time ever means you've never had Chocolatey installed before.

NOTE: choco in the path is shortened due to space. It's actually something like C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin.

Additionally if a package install calls Install-ChocolateyPATH and you have a fixed version, it will fix the PATH back to REG_EXPAND_SZ.

ferventcoder · 2016-05-05T14:27:28Z

Here's the fixed version - https://chocolatey.org/packages/chocolatey/0.9.10-beta-20160505

It should be available within an hour - otherwise if you want to install it directly:

choco upgrade chocolatey --pre --version 0.9.10-beta-20160505

ferventcoder · 2016-05-05T15:08:48Z

If you want to preemptively fix this issue, please take a look at the following (I tested it and it works on my machines, but no warranties).

Fix_PATH_Expand.ps1:

$Name = 'PATH'

Write-Output "Fixing Machine PATH to REG_EXPAND_SZ"
[Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey] $win32RegistryKey = [Microsoft.Win32.Registry]::LocalMachine.OpenSubKey("SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment")
$machineValue =  $win32RegistryKey.GetValue($Name, [string]::Empty, [Microsoft.Win32.RegistryValueOptions]::DoNotExpandEnvironmentNames)
Write-Output "Saving Machine PATH to '.\MachinePath.txt' in case something goes wrong and you need to manually fix."
$machineValue | Out-File MachinePath.txt

Write-Output "Machine PATH is '$machineValue'"
$machineValue = [System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex]::Replace($machineValue, 'C:\\Windows($|(?=[\\/;]))', '%SystemRoot%', [System.Text.RegularExpressions.RegexOptions]::IgnoreCase)
[Microsoft.Win32.Registry]::SetValue("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment", $Name, $machineValue, [Microsoft.Win32.RegistryValueKind]::ExpandString)

Write-Output "Fixing Current User PATH to REG_EXPAND_SZ"
$win32RegistryKey = [Microsoft.Win32.Registry]::CurrentUser.OpenSubKey("Environment")
$userValue = $win32RegistryKey.GetValue($Name, [string]::Empty, [Microsoft.Win32.RegistryValueOptions]::DoNotExpandEnvironmentNames)
Write-Output "Saving Current User PATH to '.\UserPath.txt' in case something goes wrong and you need to manually fix."
$userValue | Out-File UserPath.txt

Write-Output "Current User PATH is '$userValue'"
$userValue = [System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex]::Replace($userValue, 'C:\\Windows($|(?=[\\/;]))', '%SystemRoot%', [System.Text.RegularExpressions.RegexOptions]::IgnoreCase)
[Microsoft.Win32.Registry]::SetValue("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Environment", $Name, $userValue, [Microsoft.Win32.RegistryValueKind]::ExpandString)

Updated with case insensitive fixes from @jnm2 . Thanks!

It appears that earlier from c3d4ff3, we misrepresented the variable for determining the registry type, whether `REG_SZ` or `REG_EXPAND_SZ`. Ensure that is being used properly instead of always failing silently.

ferventcoder self-assigned this Apr 20, 2016

ferventcoder added Bug 2 - Working Priority_HIGH labels Apr 20, 2016

ferventcoder added this to the 0.9.10 milestone Apr 20, 2016

ferventcoder mentioned this issue Apr 24, 2016

HKCU not being tracked during install of Squirrel pkg #705

Closed

ferventcoder mentioned this issue May 5, 2016

Install-ChocolateyPath Expands Variables in PATH, Overwriting Preexisting Variables #303

Closed

ferventcoder changed the title ~~Latest beta stalls vagrant shell runner~~ PATH is updated to REG_SZ, breaking using Windows dir and system32 tools. May 5, 2016

ferventcoder changed the title ~~PATH is updated to REG_SZ, breaking using Windows dir and system32 tools.~~ Install-ChocolateyPath updates PATH to REG_SZ, which may break using Windows dir and system32 tools May 5, 2016

ferventcoder added 4 - Done and removed 2 - Working labels May 5, 2016

ferventcoder added a commit that referenced this issue May 5, 2016

Merge branch 'stable'

bbe400b

* stable: (doc) update CHANGELOG/nuspec (GH-699) Fix: PATH may break on Install-ChocolateyPath

This was referenced May 5, 2016

[Install-ChocolateyPath] Should create user PATH as REG_EXPAND_SZ chocolatey-archive/chocolatey#156

Closed

Chocolatey incorrectly adds things to PATH multiple times chocolatey-archive/chocolatey#591

Closed

ferventcoder closed this as completed May 5, 2016

This was referenced May 5, 2016

msi packages fail install with "Could not find 'msiexec'" #723

Closed

Removing environment variables sets empty environment variables #724

Closed

ferventcoder mentioned this issue May 25, 2016

Choco install doesn't expand envvars, and installation into a custom location fails #748

Open

ferventcoder mentioned this issue Nov 24, 2017

Install-ChocolateyEnvironmentVariable does't create expandable variables properly #1457

Closed

cmconti mentioned this issue Aug 26, 2019

Install-Boxstarter expands variables in PATH and PSModulePath, overwriting preexisting variables chocolatey/boxstarter#403

Open

gep13 added 5 - Released and removed 4 - Done labels Sep 7, 2021

Provide feedback

Saved searches

Use saved searches to filter your results more quickly

Install-ChocolateyPath updates PATH to REG_SZ, which may break using Windows dir and system32 tools #699

Install-ChocolateyPath updates PATH to REG_SZ, which may break using Windows dir and system32 tools #699

ferventcoder commented Apr 20, 2016 •

edited

Loading

ferventcoder commented Apr 20, 2016 •

edited

Loading

ferventcoder commented Apr 20, 2016 •

edited

Loading

ferventcoder commented Apr 20, 2016

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016

jnm2 commented May 5, 2016 •

edited

Loading

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016 •

edited

Loading

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016 •

edited

Loading

jnm2 commented May 5, 2016

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016 •

edited

Loading

jnm2 commented May 5, 2016 •

edited

Loading

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016 •

edited

Loading

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016 •

edited

Loading

Install-ChocolateyPath updates PATH to REG_SZ, which may break using Windows dir and system32 tools #699

Install-ChocolateyPath updates PATH to REG_SZ, which may break using Windows dir and system32 tools #699

Comments

ferventcoder commented Apr 20, 2016 • edited Loading

Original

ferventcoder commented Apr 20, 2016 • edited Loading

ferventcoder commented Apr 20, 2016 • edited Loading

ferventcoder commented Apr 20, 2016

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016

jnm2 commented May 5, 2016 • edited Loading

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016 • edited Loading

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016 • edited Loading

jnm2 commented May 5, 2016

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016 • edited Loading

jnm2 commented May 5, 2016 • edited Loading

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016 • edited Loading

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016 • edited Loading

ferventcoder commented Apr 20, 2016 •

edited

Loading

ferventcoder commented Apr 20, 2016 •

edited

Loading

ferventcoder commented Apr 20, 2016 •

edited

Loading

jnm2 commented May 5, 2016 •

edited

Loading

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016 •

edited

Loading

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016 •

edited

Loading

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016 •

edited

Loading

jnm2 commented May 5, 2016 •

edited

Loading

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016 •

edited

Loading

ferventcoder commented May 5, 2016 •

edited

Loading