Updating Notepad++

Muzaffer Büyükkaragöz

Hi all,
We have 74 different versions (between 5.45 and 7.63) of Notepad++ installed in our environment. I need to update all of them to the latest version and since there are 1000+ users using it, SCCM is our only option. My question is, would installing the latest exe silently simply update all those versions? Or do I need to create a script and manually delete every file, folder and registry and then install the latest one?
Regards.

Ekopalypse

@Muzaffer-Büyükkaragöz

probably not because

there are different versions available 32bit and 64 bit
portable and installer versions
and most important
since 7.6 there are quite a lot of changes, especially the plugin folder structure, which are not
compatible with earlier versions used.

Without having any experience in system management I would try to do something like

get the info how npp has been installed
update two 7.5.9
find out how plugins are used
create a script which does the needed conversions
update to latest version and run the conversion script

More thoughts are welcome.

Meta Chuh

welcome to the notepad++ community, @Muzaffer-Büyükkaragöz

the silent install will update the notepad++ versions correctly.
you will however have to make many manual adaptions to the plugins, as the versions below 7.6.3/7.6.4 have different plugins folder structures.

note:
if you might need this, here is a deploy example for another case, where an admin needed the possibility, that his users can install plugins themselves, without the need of your credentials (%ProgramData% installation mode).

https://notepad-plus-plus.org/community/topic/17232/install-notepad-plugin-without-admin-rights/6

it includes a template deployment script for plugins as well. please adapt it to your needs if it is of use for you, or ask any questions you like about your deployment scenario.

Ekopalypse

@Meta-Chuh

what about the user config files, are those covered?
I remember that there were some reports that after updateing (or maybe there were uninstalling and installing instead) that the user defined configs got lost.

Meta Chuh

@Ekopalypse

the cases i remember, where configs were lost are:

portable zips were deployed, and as they contain a default config.xml the target machine’s config.xml got overwritten.
plugins configurations got lost, when updating 7.5.9 and below, as well as 7.6 to 7.6.2, because of their different folder locations.

all main configs are safe on regular installed versions, as long as the admin does not deploy and overwrite files at the users %AppData%\Notepad++ folder location.

dinkumoil

@Muzaffer-Büyükkaragöz

Additional to the things @Ekopalypse and @Meta-Chuh already wrote: I wrote a script to migrate Notepad++ plugins to the new folder structure required for Npp v7.6.3 and above (portable and installed versions). You can download it here. It is a Windows Batch script expecting user input during execution. To use it in an automated way you would have to add commandline switch capabilities or delete unneeded code parts.

The script not only tries to move the plugin files themselves but additionally a directory with companion files (if there is any) named like the plugin DLL. Also files and/or a directory containing plugin documentation (if there is any) get moved.

However, depending on the naming convention of a certain plugin this may fail (e.g. companion directories/files with not exactly the same name like the plugin DLL).

Moreover, there are plugins out there that haven’t been updated to the new plugin hosting model of Notepad++ v7.6.3 and above and thus break these rules. For example there are plugins that store their companion files under <Notepad++-install-dir>\plugins\<plugin-name> and when searching for these files to load them they use a hard-coded path. That means they will not find their companion files anymore after my script has moved them to the new location.

Finally, as always with scripts provided for free: Use it on your own risk!

Meta Chuh

@dinkumoil

good idea to repost your migration script here, as it is very cool. 👍

i add @Ekopalypse 's plugins auto downloader (pythonscript) as well, in case it’s of interest for admins who prefer to update and deploy their needed plugins automatically.
(also for selfish reasons, because this way i can bookmark this thread and now have access to combined deploying relevant topics at a single place. ;-) )

plugins auto downloader:
(© @Ekopalypse 2019)

features:

all plugins will be automatically downloaded for both x86 and x64 architectures.
all plugins will be automatically extracted to a freely configurable plugins location.
all plugin zips are kept at an extra location. the admin can freely choose whether to deploy from a set of automatically downloaded zip files, or copying the required, automatically extracted plugins directly.
plugins that have already been downloaded, will be skipped and not downloaded again.
an admin can start this script as many times as he wants, without producing elevated internet traffic.
(if all plugins are up to date, it will only take appx 2 seconds for the comparison at a re-run.)

you can find the plugins auto downloader script, a little manual and the original discussion over here:
https://notepad-plus-plus.org/community/topic/17168/update-installed-plugins-via-script-cmd/11

dinkumoil

@Meta-Chuh and all

FYI: If someone needs an “all-plugins-downloader” written in VBScript using native Notepad++ GUP.exe or CURL - I can provide it as well.

Meta Chuh

@dinkumoil

everything you provide can, and most likely will, be an enrichment for the notepad++ community.

additionally: as you are one of the most thorough and cross thinking devs and testers i have encountered at the notepad++ community, it is usually very easy to rely on your work, with limited testing time.

ps: just in case you are still a bit upset due to my thoughtless wording of “if you remember” a few months ago:
my sincere apologies, i didn’t mean to trigger a possible misunderstanding of “remember what you did” but to say “if we both remember what we both have read, without taking much part of it”.
… and the chocolate vanilla ice cream comparison was just triggered by my two kids ;-)

if any of this bothered you, i’m sorry and i hope we are good now, as i have great respect.

dinkumoil

@Meta-Chuh said:

just in case you are still a bit upset …

Don’t worry, everything is fine. But that you think about it speaks in your favour. Much appreciated.

dinkumoil

@Meta-Chuh and all

Have a look at my ScriptCollection repository and check the LoadAllNppPlugins script. Its folder contains the plain sources and a ZIP file as well.