Newbie problem: can't update Notepad or Plugins

[J Moulding]

Hi Folks,

been using NP++ for years (because it’s brilliant) on an old Windows 7 laptop. Got new Windows 10 laptop, installed NP++. Now it won’t update.

Error message: “Protocol https not supported or disabled in libcurl”. Means nothing to me.

Also can’t install the XML tools plugin, and can’t update Plugin Manager - both return the message “Update … failed”.

All constructive ideas gratefully received.

Cheers

John M.

[PeterJones]

@j-moulding ,

That error message means that one of the libraries that Notepad++ hooked into is not defined correctly – that it allows for HTTP but not HTTPS… The updater’s libcurl.dll should be right next to the updater executable inside the Notepad++ executable directory, and it should use that version.

Where did you download Notepad++ (exact URL)?

Could you please supply your ?-menu’s Debug Info?

Thinking about it, maybe you’ve got a libcurl.dll somewhere else (like in one of your SYSTEM folders) which is somehow taking precedence over the updater’s local libcurl.dll. I wouldn’t expect that to happen, but maybe. If you open a command window (cmd.exe), what does it show if you run the following commands

where libcurl.dll
cd "c:\Program Files\Notepad++\updater"
where libcurl.dll

(this assumes Notepad++ is in that directory; if not, update the path accordingly)

[PeterJones]

@J-Moulding ,

Alternately, you can also just go to https://notepad-plus-plus.org/downloads/ and download the installer yourself, rather than using Notepad++ > ? > Update Notepad++ – in the end, they both do the same thing. (And maybe getting the most recent Notepad++ will fix your libcurl issue anyway.)

But I’d really like the results of the where experiment – I’d like to know if having another libcurl.dll in your path can interfere with the Notepad++ updater (because if so, the developer can probably do some magic to prefer the one in the updater directory over one in the path… but we need confirmation before submitting an official bug report)

[J Moulding]

@peterjones

Hi Peter,

thank you for such a prompt reply: the ‘where’ command didn’t return any copies of the dll; I checked the NP++ directory - none there either; but it was an old version, installed from an ancient download. My bad!

So I read your second suggestion, uninstalled the old version, and installed 8.2.

Now it’s running like a dream, and I couldn’t be more grateful!

Best regards, and have a great weekend.

Cheers

John