Notepad++ 7.6.1

dinkumoil

I tested in a VM to install Notepad++ as a normal Windows user. I found that it is only possible to update the plugin list when logged in as an administrator. Furthermore the installer does not create the directory %UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Notepad++\plugins\Config which caused crashes of Notepad++ itself when terminating it and also various plugins caused crashes.

What I did

I created a standard user account and installed Notepad++ to %ProgramFiles(x86)% (OS: Windows 7 x64). I copied the plugin list under %ProgramData%\Notepad++\plugins\Config to the desktop. Then I tried to overwrite the file at its original location with this copy. This is equivalent to overwrite the plugin list with an updated version downloaded from the internet. An UAC dialog poped up and required me to input administrator credentials.

When I looked in Windows Explorer to the Security tab of the plugins\Config directory properties it showed access rights for normal Windows users as usual, no write access available. It’s the same with the nppPluginList.dll itself.

Furthermore I was faced with crashes of Notepad++ when terminating it. Also various plugins I installed via Plugin Admin caused a crash. It stops after I have installed the NppFTP plugin. The reason was that this plugin creates the directory %UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Notepad++\plugins\Config which did not exist after installation of Notepad++.

I would say: It’s time for a new release. :-(

Artur Harison

Plugins are not UNinstall from %ProgramData% only manual removal.
Or, when running as Administrator.

dinkumoil

@Artur-Hareson said:

Or, when running as Administrator.

That is the intended behaviour. As normal user you should not be able to install, uninstall or update plugins. And it is indeed not possible to do that using Plugin Admin because it causes to pop up an UAC prompt where you have to provide credentials of an admin user.

Artur Harison

I can use Admin mode. But then i can’t use Drag and Drop in field NP++.
I can’t get rid of it. )))

dinkumoil

@Artur-Hareson said:

I can use Admin mode. But then i can’t use Drag and Drop in field NP++.

I have not meant to run Notepad++ as an admin user. When you try to install, uninstall or update a plugin, a so called Windows User Account Control (UAC) dialog pops up, where you have to provide username and password of an admin user to allow these actions. All these actions can be initiated from within Plugin Admin. No need to manually fiddle around in the plugins directory.

dinkumoil

@donho

I want to add some further information to my posting above.

The reason why the directory %UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Notepad++\plugins\Config didn’t exist was, that I started the installation of Notepad++ under a normal Windows user account without admin rights. Thus I had to confirm an UAC dialog and there I provided username and password of an admin user.

This, in turn, caused that during installation there have not been written any files to the user profile of the normal user. When I started Notepad++ for the first time as the normal user, it created its own config files under %UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Notepad++ but the directories plugins\config were still missing. When plugins tried to read their config files they caused crashes.

A solution for that issue would be that Notepad++ itself checks the existence of plugins\config and creates them if they are missing.

SinghRajenM

@dinkumoil

I don’t agree. I think it is not possible or at least not a good idea to move a plugin DLL file while it is in use.

It is possible and widely used specially for shell extensions. As you know shell extension dlls are locked in explorer.exe. So during uninstall process, those dlls are moved (MoveFile is the api) to somewhere else (mostly %temp%) and handed over to OS to take care of those temp files on reboot. Unfortunately, that is not followed by npp for its shell. That is the reason, NppShell_06.dll is left even after complete uninstall.

I think it’s worth to rethink about the whole concept of the plugin update process.

I second this.

dinkumoil

@SinghRajenM

Thank you for your explanation, I didn’t know that.

But the documentation of MoveFile states:

The one caveat is that the MoveFile function will fail on directory moves when the destination is on a different volume.

Thus it would fail on my system. My system disk is an SSD with a size of 256 GB. I’ve splitted it into 2 partitions, one for Windows 7 and one for a (future) Windows 10 Installation. To prevent exhaustive write access to my SSD and to save some space I relocated the %TEMP% directory (and some others) to drive E: which is an additional conventional hard disk.

So I can say, I like it that Notepad++ doesn’t use this method to deinstall the shell extension, I would only facing errors.

donho

@pnedev said:

Perhaps the APIs sub-folder needs to be located also in %PROGRAMDATA% :
%PROGRAMDATA%\Notepad++\APIs
instead of
%PROGRAMFILES%\Notepad++\plugins\APIs
because of what @dinkumoil just pointed above - some lexer plugins might want to add some files to APIs as well.

Good point. It will be in the next release.

donho

@Ketrel said:

I cannot install any plugins in 7.6.1.
I load plugin admin, select the plugin I want, and choose install.

It tells me the program will need to be restarted.
I select ok, and then it closes, and launches a UAP prompt.
I approve that, and then the updater tells me there’s an updated version of Notepad++

If I say yes, it tries to install 7.5.9.
If I say no, it closes and does nothing further.

Upon manually reopening, the plugin I selected is NOT installed.

Your Gup.exe is the old version. Update it from the installer will remedy your problem.

donho

@dinkumoil said:

I tested in a VM to install Notepad++ as a normal Windows user. I found that it is only possible to update the plugin list when logged in as an administrator.

It’s not been done yet. I’ll modify NTFS folder’s right for %PROGRAMDATA%\Notepad++\plugins\Config\ in order to be able to update nppPluginList.dll in the future release.

Furthermore I was faced with crashes of Notepad++ when terminating it. Also various plugins I installed via Plugin Admin caused a crash. It stops after I have installed the NppFTP plugin. The reason was that this plugin creates the directory %UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Notepad++\plugins\Config which did not exist after installation of Notepad++.

I would say: It’s time for a new release. :-(

That’s for sure. However, any suggestion for the remedy of crash?

dinkumoil

@donho said:

However, any suggestion for the remedy of crash?

As I already wrote:

A solution for that issue would be that Notepad++ itself checks the existence of plugins\config and creates them if they are missing.

A Former User

On Windows XP I’m getting this error when I want to install, or update a plugin with Plugins Admin

link text

Debug info:
Notepad++ v7.6.1 (32-bit)
Build time : Dec 12 2018 - 01:24:22
Path : C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe
Admin mode : OFF
Local Conf mode : OFF
OS : Windows XP (32-bit)
Plugins : DSpellCheck.dll mimeTools.dll NppConverter.dll NppExport.dll

Should I fill out a bug report?

A Former User

Please can somebody tell me how to post an image? I copied the link but the image is not shown, only the link . . .

Thanks.

PeterJones

same syntax, but with a ! before it: ![link text](https://i59.servimg.com/u/f59/19/99/80/82/untitl13.jpg):

A Former User

OK, first of all sorry for the spam. Now I got it all. I will write down my problem again with details and a screenshot.
On Windows XP, Plugins Admin can not be used to install or update a plugin. When I try to install or update a plugin the following error message pops up:

Here is the debug info of my installed Notepad++:

Notepad++ v7.6.1 (32-bit)
Build time : Dec 12 2018 - 01:24:22
Path : C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe
Admin mode : OFF
Local Conf mode : OFF
OS : Windows XP (32-bit)
Plugins : DSpellCheck.dll mimeTools.dll NppConverter.dll NppExport.dll

Should I fill out a bug report for this?

P.S.
Thanks PeterJones I already got it.

dinkumoil

@KantorZsolt

This bug has already been reported, see here.

patrickdrd

does the plugin manager work in 7.6.1?

I’m running v7.6.1 portable and it doesn’t work for me, “No new plugins available”,
I actually deleted it because I thought that it was replaced by the new plugins admin,
what could I do?

Eko palypse

@patrickdrd

I’m running v7.6.1 portable and it doesn’t work for me

correct, currently it is only added to the msi package but you can make it work with the portable version.
Here is what I did

downloaded https://notepad-plus-plus.org/repository/7.x/7.6.1/npp.7.6.1.bin.x64.7z
downloaded https://notepad-plus-plus.org/repository/7.x/7.6.1/npp.7.6.1.Installer.x64.exe
extracted the 7z into folder C:\temp\761
opened the exe with 7zip and

extracted the folder updater into c:\temp\761 as well
extracted nppPluginList.dll to folder C:\temp\761\plugins\Config

Start npp and you should see the plugins Admin… under plugin menu.

Eko

patrickdrd

yes, I had read about this and the plugin admin is working,
I was asking about the previous plugin manager,
should we delete that?