[BUMP] Previous installation not detected?
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(I found this locked, un-replied-to two year old post describing exactly the problem I’m having, and it makes me wonder: Is there nobody else out there that considers this to be a problem?)
@Tekin-Sal said in Previous installation not detected?:
I’m using 64-bit Npp on Windows 8.1 x64, installed at a location different from default folder.
Every time I download a new version and run its installer, previous install location is not detected and it tries to install to default location (C:\Program Files\Notepad++). I think it used to detect the previous installation before and tried to upgrade instead. Is this a bug or new behaviour? Should I uninstall the previous one first, or just edit the default folder location to previous one? I just don’t want to mess things up by trial and error, that’s why I’m asking… thanks.
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@TBugReporter said in [BUMP] Previous installation not detected?:
Is there nobody else out there that considers this to be a problem?
That is very likely the case.
Or, that specific thing is happening for exactly 2 users. -
Wow. I find that hard to believe - that out of the billions of people in the world, and the thousands that use Notepad++, only two of us dislike the default install location enough to change it.
(FYI, IMO, programs are supposed to be installed along paths like
C:\Program Files\My Company\My Program, not
C:\Program Files\My Programor
C:\Program Files\My Company's Program.
Even Microsoft frequently fails to follow this standard that they themselves set, so it’s not surprising that many programs also don’t follow this standard - but most programs allow the user to change this, and adapt to that change when a user makes it.) -
Plenty of people change the installation directory. Maybe there’s just two for whom the bug appears, or only two who have bothered asking about it in this Community Forum.
but most programs allow the user to change this, and adapt to that change when a user makes it
It would make sense to adapt to that change.
I am just not sure that two anecdotal questions in the last two years, with no data on exact circumstances to reproduce the problem, are enough to prove that it’s a problem on the Notepad++ updater’s end.
if you could give an exact series of instructions, which someone here with the time and ability to do a fresh install could test out, we can give corroboration that “yes, we see it”, or “no, we don’t; it works for us”. With some back-and-forth, we might either be able to help you with your problem, or confirm there is a bug in the updater.
Once you feel you have sufficient evidence to give the exact use-case where it doesn’t work, and you’d like it to work, bug reports and feature requests are explained in this faq. But until you have a repeatable (for you) and reproducible (for others) set of instructions, an issue request probably won’t get much traction.
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Personal opinion follows:FYI, IMO, programs are supposed to be installed along paths like
Wow. That’s one of my most disliked installation methods. When I have two unrelated apps Quizglop and Floper, why should I have to remember that they both happened to be made by Compatublo to be able to find their executables?
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I had some time when I was in a location with a fresh Win10 VM (because I am not messing up my ultra-customized actual-use PCs)
Procedure:
- fresh(reset) Win10-64b virtual machine
- install v7.7.1-64b from installer, to
c:\Program Files\DonHo\Notepad++(matching your implied naming convention) - when it runs, it immediately asks to update
- I say yes, and it downloads 7.8.4-64b installer
- It prompts me to install in
c:\Program Files\Notepad++(default location) - I type the extra
\DonHofolder, and everything works as expected.
You were right; the installer doesn’t recognize the existing installation location.
My guess, since only two have mentioned this in the last two years, is that either it doesn’t bother most users that don’t do default installs that they have to type the new location, or that it doesn’t bother them enough to go to the effort of creating an account here to ask about it.
If you wanted to follow the FAQ and create an issue on the GitHub, you could. No guarantees it will be fixed soon (or at all), but at least there it can be tracked. (You can even just copy/paste my procedure into the ticket, if you want.)
If you do submit an issue, please link it back in this thread, so others will be able to easily find it.
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@PeterJones said in [BUMP] Previous installation not detected?:
No guarantees it will be fixed soon (or at all),
Yea, it really seems like a small thing to me.
The user should just remember to alter the path.
Devs should spend time fixing real issues and extending real functionality.
Remember, devs are unpaid and donating their time to maintaining a no-cost product for the end user. -
@PeterJones said:
Wow. That’s one of my most disliked installation methods. When I have two unrelated apps Quizglop and Floper, why should I have to remember that they both happened to be made by Compatublo to be able to find their executables?
Yea, absolutely! Does ANYBODY like this type of scheme? Except for the person at M$ that came up with it originally, I’d say very few!
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@PeterJones said in [BUMP] Previous installation not detected?:
@TBugReporter said in [BUMP] Previous installation not detected?:
FYI, IMO, programs are supposed to be installed along paths like
Wow. That’s one of my most disliked installation methods. When I have two unrelated apps Quizglop and Floper, why should I have to remember that they both happened to be made by Compatublo to be able to find their executables?
OTOH, if I use fifteen programs by Compatublo, eight by DidgeryDot, and twelve from NaNsoft, why should I want my Program Files folder cluttered with 35 subfolders (or possibly more, because nine of Compatublo’s apps share code)?
If you do submit an issue, please link it back in this thread, so others will be able to easily find it.
Will do.
@Alan-Kilborn said in [BUMP] Previous installation not detected?:
Yea, it really seems like a small thing to me.
The user should just remember to alter the path.OK, admittedly it’s a small inconvenience, but it’s still an inconvenience.
Devs should spend time fixing real issues and extending real functionality.
Remember, devs are unpaid and donating their time to maintaining a no-cost product for the end user.And devs should also be allowed to decide for themselves what issues are or aren’t worth their time - especially when the fix might only require a three line code change.
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If you do submit an issue, please link it back in this thread, so others will be able to easily find it.
Will do.
Done. https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/issues/7946
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if I use fifteen programs by Compatublo, eight by DidgeryDot, and twelve from NaNsoft…
I’ll bet that you don’t. :-)
when the fix might only require a three line code change
People that make these kinds of statements, and we seem to see them a lot here, just show they don’t know what they are talking about.
create an issue on the GitHub…done
And well done at that.
devs should also be allowed to decide for themselves
They surely do. Those people are golden, and in general, underappreciated. Three cheers.
