Repeated download of old update file despite v8.8.5 installed
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Hi,
My team are seeing repeated attempts by Notepad v8.8.5 to download an update despite it being on the latest version. The file is npp.8.5.Installer.x64.exe
Anyone else seeing this?Notepad++ v8.8.5 (64-bit)
Build time: Aug 14 2025 - 00:32:39
Scintilla/Lexilla included: 5.5.7/5.4.5
Boost Regex included: 1_85
Path: C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe
Command Line:
Admin mode: OFF
Local Conf mode: OFF
Cloud Config: OFF
Periodic Backup: ON
Placeholders: OFF
Scintilla Rendering Mode: SC_TECHNOLOGY_DEFAULT (0)
Multi-instance Mode: monoInst
asNotepad: OFF
File Status Auto-Detection: cdEnabledNew (for current file/tab only)
Dark Mode: OFF
Display Info:
primary monitor: 3840x2160, scaling 125%
visible monitors count: 1
installed Display Class adapters:
0000: Description - Intel® Arc™ 130V GPU (8GB)
0000: DriverVersion - 32.0.101.6299
OS Name: Windows 11 Enterprise (64-bit)
OS Version: 24H2
OS Build: 26100.4946
Current ANSI codepage: 1252
Plugins:
mimeTools (3.1)
NppConverter (4.6)
NppExport (0.4) -
@Adam-Fradley How can I tell?
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@Adam-Fradley ,
Considering 8.8.5 isn’t an official release yet, and as far as I know, the Update hasn’t been triggered yet for that release, I don’t see how they could be getting update notices.Where did you get this version 8.8.5 from? That may be part of the problem. I know we have it on the site for direct download, but those versions sometimes show late bugs/changes that stop the version from being auto triggered. I have been checking for the new version via the
?->Update Notepad++menu option and keep getting the not triggered message. I usually release check with a portable version, until the new version is triggered for update and then I update my system install version…and I haven’t gotten that update trigger yet. -
We use Qualys to handle application patches.
It seems they pull from the latest release on Github.I’m not sure how the ?->Update Notepad++ functionality works, but it feels like there is not any logic to stop downloading the ‘latest published version’ (8.5) if the ‘installed version’ (8.8.5) is a later one.
As the download is silent, this may be happening with all 8.8.5 users without them knowing, it’s only because we’re super paranoid and alert on any executables being downloaded that we spotted it.
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@Lycan-Thrope said in Repeated download of old update file despite v8.8.5 installed:
Considering 8.8.5 isn’t an official release yet
Why is that? The announcement page https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/category/1/announcements does not label it as a Release Candidate
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@Lycan-Thrope said in Repeated download of old update file despite v8.8.5 installed:
Considering 8.8.5 isn’t an official release yet, and … the Update hasn’t been triggered yet for that release,
The first is not true. The second is. There’s “official release”, which has happened; then there’s triggering for auto-update, which has not.
I’m not sure how the ?->Update Notepad++ functionality works, but it feels like there is not any logic to stop downloading the ‘latest published version’ (8.5) if the ‘installed version’ (8.8.5) is a later one.
I cannot replicate that. In v8.8.5, if I do ? > Upate Notepad++, I get the dialog telling me there is no updated available:
Further, the really-old v8.5 (from 2023!) is not the most recent for auto-update: v8.8.3 is. There is no way that a recent
...Notepad++\updater\gup.exewould try to download v8.5 when starting from a newer version of Notepad++The update check DOES have logic that prevents it. When Notepad++ checks for updates, whether triggered by the auto-update or by a manual ? > Upate Notepad++, it actually sends the current version as a query parameter in a URL where it asks the server if there’s a newer version that has been triggered for auto-update. The answer it should be getting from v8.8.5 is “no”.
If I take my v8.8.5 and edit
config.xmlusing a separate program, so that I change the nextUpdateDate to be eons ago, like<GUIConfig name="noUpdate" intervalDays="15" nextUpdateDate="20050919" autoUpdateMode="1">no</GUIConfig>– then when I start Notepad++, it checks for an update, and sees that v8.8.3 on the server is older than v8.8.5, and does not ask me to upgrade. Similarly, the same date value butautoUpdateMode="2", it won’t check when I start Notepad++, but when I exit Notepad++, it will wait to do the update check but it still finds no newer version, and properly does not update.There is nothing that I can do to convince my v8.8.5 to try to “update” to v8.5 from 2023, whether triggering a manual update check or forcing it to check on app start or forcing it to check on app exit.
I think either your “Qualys” is doing something weird, and it’s Qualys that is trying to download the wrong version, or the ones that are downloading aren’t starting from the version you think they are (and/or the download file isn’t named like you think it is).
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Further, if I start from an 8.8.2 portable, with the
config.xmlmodified per my previous explanation, it does see the new version, and says,
But it DOES NOT start downloading unless you tell it to.
If you are not getting that dialog, then it’s not Notepad++'s gup.exe updater that is trying to do the download, and you need to look for your culprit elsewhere.
