PowerLauncher.exe causing issues with some program installers

[bonzibudd]

Microsoft PowerToys version

0.37.2

Running as admin

• Yes

Area(s) with issue?

PowerToys Run

Steps to reproduce

1. Run an MSI installer with PowerToys running (In this case, I am having trouble with the installer for Open-Shell Menu)
2. Occasionally, PowerLauncher.exe will trigger an error in the installer because it is using a file that is part of the installation process.

✔️ Expected Behavior

The installer should proceed normally.

❌ Actual Behavior

The installer may trigger various warnings during installation. In my case, PowerToys was using "Open-Shell Update.lnk" which caused a warning about properties not being able to be set.

Additionally, I have a ProcMon log file that I was using for troubleshooting with the Open-Shell installer earlier. Here it is: Logfile.PML

I was able to verify that the error didn't occur if PowerLauncher.exe wasn't running.

Other Software

Open-Shell Menu (May also affect other program installers)

[bonzibudd]

I suspect this has something to do with the indexing process, so maybe it should release the files sooner so it doesn't cause errors like this.

[crutkas]

This is the file watcher being too aggressive. thought we had backed being as aggressive for this exact reason.

[mykhailopylyp]

@bonzibudd
Right-click on the PowerToys icon in the tray menu and select Report Bug

Drag and drop report into a GitHub comment.

[bonzibudd]

PowerToysReport_2021-06-23-07-38-35.zip

[mykhailopylyp]

Indexing doesn't take a lot of time. So maybe we have leaked resources.

[mykhailopylyp]

@bonzibudd
Can you disalbe the program plugin and verify if you still can reproduce the issue?

[bonzibudd]

@mykhailopylyp I still got the same error when I disabled that. I also tried "Windows Search" with the same results.

[mykhailopylyp]

@bonzibudd
Try to disable it and restart the PowerToys. And then try to reproduce the issue. Sorry, I haven't mentioned it before.

[bonzibudd]

@mykhailopylyp
I still seem to be having the same issue after rebooting. I am still able to confirm that the problem goes away when PowerLauncher.exe isn't running, so it must be related to the process. The file that is affected is a shortcut (.lnk) in the Start menu programs folder, if that helps at all.

[mykhailopylyp]

@bonzibudd
Thank you for following up! It looks like the Program plugin doesn't release resources. We'll have a new build in a few days so I'll ask you to test it again then.

[mykhailopylyp]

@bonzibudd

• Update to 0.41.4
• Disable the program plugin
• Restart PowerToys from the tray menu
• Verify if the issue still persists

[bonzibudd]

@mykhailopylyp
The issue still persists after updating and after several restarts. It's possible that it's not happening as frequently but I am still getting the same error.

[mykhailopylyp]

@bonzibudd
I think I can reproduce it. Do you get the following warning?

[bonzibudd]

@mykhailopylyp

Yep, that is the exact error I am getting.

[mykhailopylyp]

@bonzibudd
Thank you for following up! It's a warning and more importantly, it doesn't fail installation.

[dedavis6797]

What's the impact of that warning message? As it's not causing installations to fail, I'm not sure if this's something we need to prioritize. I may still be missing context though.

[mykhailopylyp]

What's the impact of that warning message?

It doesn't set the System.AppUserModel.ID attribute for the Open Shell shortcut. It doesn't seem to have any impact on the installation or further use of the Open Shell.

Maybe, we should move it to the post stabilization milestone.

[TheJoeFin]

is this still an issue in v0.79? /needinfo

[microsoft-github-policy-service]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has been marked as requiring author feedback but has not had any activity for 5 days. It will be closed if no further activity occurs within 5 days of this comment.