Shimgen not creating shims, with error 'Could not execute CVTRES.EXE.'

[Balfa]

What You Are Seeing?

I am seeing all packages (that otherwise install successfully) not have shims created for them.

What is Expected?

The packages get shims created in C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin so that they can be executed easily from anywhere.

How Did You Get This To Happen? (Steps to Reproduce)

1. I ran this command choco install make -dv
2. The package was downloaded correctly but no shim was created.
3. I can run C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\lib\make\tools\install\bin\make.exe and get correct output: make: *** No targets specified and no makefile found. Stop.
4. But I cannot just run make.exe or make from any location: make.exe: The term 'make.exe' is not recognized as a name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or executable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.

System Details

• OS Build (In PowerShell run [System.Environment]::OSVersion.version.tostring()): 10.0.19045.0
• Windows PowerShell version (Run: $PSVersionTable): 7.2.6
• Chocolatey version (Run choco --version): 1.1.0

Output Log

See https://gist.github.com/Balfa/fc254362476f406b226162d791d23c21

┆Issue is synchronized with this Gitlab issue by Unito
┆Link To Issue: https://gitlab.com/chocolatey/collaborators/shimgen/-/issues/39

[corbob]

It looks like perhaps your .net framework install is corrupted somehow. One of the answers to a similar issue on stackoverflow hinted at a repair tool from Microsoft, or perhaps running sfc /scannow since the framework is built into windows.

[Balfa]

I tried sfc /scannow, I tried the .NET Framework Repair Tool, I tried copying cvtres.exe & cvtres.exe.config from C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319 to C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727, and I tried a Visual Studio Installer Repair. Nothing helped :(

[corbob]

🤔 I'm not sure where else to look with this. I'm seeing no issues on Windows 10 21h2, 22h1, and 22h2 (10.0.19043-19045), nor in Windows 11..

This seems very unlikely, but perhaps it's something to do with 32 vs 64 bit... Could you try launching C:\Windows\SysWOW64\cmd.exe as an administrator and then running C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\tools\shimgen.exe --path="..\\lib\make\tools\install\bin\make.exe" --output="C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin\make.exe" --iconpath="C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\lib\make\tools\install\bin\make.exe" to see it it works? If that works, then try removing the file C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin\make.exe before running the choco install make command again (you may need to uninstall make or force the install with --force).

[Balfa]

No dice :/

# C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\tools\shimgen.exe --path="..\\lib\make\tools\install\bin\make.exe" --output="C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin\make.exe" --iconpath="C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\lib\make\tools\install\bin\make.exe"
[WARN ] Could not extract icon from associated program. Using default. Error:
  Selected Icon is invalid
Microsoft (R) Visual C# Compiler version 4.8.4084.0

for C# 5
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.



This compiler is provided as part of the Microsoft (R) .NET Framework, but only supports language versions up to C# 5, which is no longer the latest version. For compilers that support newer versions of the C# programming language, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=533240

error CS0016: Could not write to output file 'c:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin\make.exe' -- 'Could not execute CVTRES.EXE.'


[ERROR] ShimGen had an issue creating 'C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin\make.exe'. Please check the logs above.

It's a work laptop with some restricted privileges, so I feel like it might be related to that, but I wish I could see even which CVTRES.EXE it was trying to execute, and with what parameters...
When I run C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\cvtres.exe from the same prompt, a blank terminal window appears and disappears in the blink of an eye