Plugins admin and plugins keep being deleted after auto-update

Jon Y

For the past several months every time notepad++ auto-updates, the plugin manager / admin gets deleted along with all plugins.

What is going on? Is this a long standing bug in the updater?

I’ve attempted to disable auto-updates but seem unable to do so. There used to be an option to disable auto-updates but this was removed from the UI? Why?

Also, when notepad++ decides to auto-update, it seems to automatically shut down the app even while in use, although I can’t be certain that this is a result of code within notepad++ and not something our ops team are doing as a result of group policy.

Reading other forum posts, this seems to be affecting other people too. Is this a known issue with a bug ticket in the works?

Any help or insight appreciated.

Meta Chuh

welcome to the notepad++ community, @Jon-Y

it is impossible, that you got any auto-update to any version above 7.5.9.

the update servers currently serve this as the highest update a user can do from within notepad++, for exactly this reason.
(all plugin locations have been the same up to 7.5.9, anything higher currently requires a manual upgrade and is for power users only, due to the need of following the migration guides)

are you sure, you did not do a manual upgrade by installing a fresh installer (7.6.0 or above) over your existing notepad++ ?

if you want to confirm the auto-update to a max version 7.5.9 yourself, or if you have any doubts on that:

uninstall all notepad++ instances currently installed (or use a test machine)
download and install notepad++ 7.5.8 from >>> here <<<
open notepad++ 7.5.8 and go to ? > update notepad++
it will show 7.5.9 as latest downloadable update, as seen at the screenshot below.

Imgur

now update notepad++ 7.5.8 to this “latest” 7.5.9
open the updated notepad++ 7.5.9 and go to ? > update notepad++ again
you will see that notepad++ tells you, that there is no update available, as seen at the screenshot below (screenshot was taken today)

Imgur

Meta Chuh

@Jon-Y

I’ve attempted to disable auto-updates but seem unable to do so. There used to be an option to disable auto-updates but this was removed from the UI? Why?

the feature to disable auto-update is at the same place as in previous versions.
if you want to disable auto update, go to settings > preferences > misc and uncheck enable notepad++ auto-updater as seen at the screenshot below.

note: auto updater and this option is not available on portable versions older than 7.6.2

Imgur

Jon Y

Hi. Thanks for the detailed insight. This is causing a lot of confusion and frustration within my Dev team.

I’m not sure what is happening but notepad++ is definitely shutting down by itself and upsating and resulting in the plugins admin and plugins to be removed.

I see that 7.6.3 was released on Jan 27th. I have not manually downloaded that release. I’ll have to speak to our ops team again to confirm that they are definitely not pushing out updates, although the last time I asked they said they were not.

I’ll need to attempt a complete uninstall and start from scratch.

Meta Chuh

you are very welcome, @Jon-Y

no known built in feature of any version of notepad++ will shutdown notepad++ automatically.
even the updater will ask for user consent, as seen at the first screenshot above.

this could be a custom scheduled script at your company, that kills notepad++ and removes or restores all plugins folders to a predefined state.
(some admins do that, so that a user can install or modify plugins, or notepad++ settings on their machines, but at the end of the day or restart, or somewhen scheduled at night, it gets reverted to the company’s policy custom default by restoring a backup of some notepad++ folders.)

if such script exists at your company, and it was designed for notepad++ 7.5.9 or lower, it will cause what you’ve experienced on any version above.
also versions 7.6.0 and 7.6.1/7.6.2 and 7.6.3 do not have the same plugins locations, so scripts of this kind will fail.

Jon Y

Hi @Meta-Chuh

I just thought I’m come back to confirm that our ops team are indeed pushing out forced updates. They are using an updates automation tool called ‘Pretty Damn Quick’ which was checking for updates every day and forcing the app to shutdown if an update needed to be applied. They are going to reduce this to a monthly check and see if they can stop the auto-kill.

I believe the plugins being deleted is a result of the recent changes in notepad++ that alters the location of plugins. I hope that the new location has now been settled upon and the next update will have no ill side effects.

Thanks again for you help.

Meta Chuh

hi @Jon-Y

thank you very much for reporting back
i’m glad you found the culprit.

I hope that the new location has now been settled upon and the next update will have no ill side effects.

all of us too Jon-Y, all of us too. 😉