When does the installer decides that it needs to restart Windows?

[Ranganath Gunawardane]

Hi all,

I am installing a program using Inno Setup silently (using /VERYSILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES). 

After installing, the installer sometimes (around 15% of the time) decides that a restart is required and restarts the whole machine. Which is not desirable.

Do you know what makes the installer decide that a restart is required?

I use the [Files] section to copy the DLL like this.

Source: x32\*.dll; DestDir: {sys}; Flags: 32bit restartreplace uninsneveruninstall

Here are two log excerpts from each case highlighting the main differences.

1. When a restart happens.

 2024-05-07 13:21:53.018   -- File entry --

2024-05-07 13:21:53.018   Dest filename: C:\Windows\system32\<somefile>.dll
2024-05-07 13:21:53.018   Time stamp of our file: 2023-10-24 11:26:24.000
2024-05-07 13:21:53.018   Dest file exists.
2024-05-07 13:21:53.018   Time stamp of existing file: 2023-10-24 11:26:24.000
2024-05-07 13:21:53.018   Version of our file: 111.0.1.7575
2024-05-07 13:21:53.019   Version of existing file: 111.0.1.7575
2024-05-07 13:21:53.019   Same version. Skipping.

      :

2024-05-07 13:21:57.577   Need to restart Windows? Yes

2. When a restart does not happen.

2024-04-29 12:13:35.131   -- File entry --
2024-04-29 12:13:35.131   Dest filename: C:\Windows\system32\<somefile>.dll
2024-04-29 12:13:35.132   Time stamp of our file: 2023-10-24 11:26:24.000
2024-04-29 12:13:35.132   Installing the file.
2024-04-29 12:13:35.133   Successfully installed the file.

      :

2024-04-29 12:13:44.107   Need to restart Windows? No

Thanks.

Ranga

[Eivind Bakkestuen]

Typically, a restart is required if files are in use

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[Ranganath Gunawardane]

Thanks, Eivind.

In this case, though, the only difference is that in the instance that it restarted, the files were skipped.

[Eivind Bakkestuen]

Well, nobody here knows what code might be inside the installer, so you need to check with whomever created it if there are special conditions triggering it.

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[Ranganath Gunawardane]

It is my installer, and it does nothing special concerning that DLL copy other than what I posted earlier. 

> Source: x32\*.dll; DestDir: {sys}; Flags: 32bit restartreplace uninsneveruninstall

[Gavin Lambert]

On Thursday, May 23, 2024 at 6:05:11 PM UTC+12 Ranganath Gunawardane wrote:

I am installing a program using Inno Setup silently (using /VERYSILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES). 

After installing, the installer sometimes (around 15% of the time) decides that a restart is required and restarts the whole machine. Which is not desirable.

If you want to suppress the automatic restart, then pass /NORESTART as well, optionally with a /RESTARTEXITCODE=n to specify what exit code to return when a restart is required.  Note that the app may not run correctly until the restart actually occurs, but this allows you to defer the restart until the end of a larger installation operation.

If you run non-silently then the user will be asked if they want to restart.

[Gavin Lambert]

On Thursday, May 23, 2024 at 8:56:13 PM UTC+12 Ranganath Gunawardane wrote:

It is my installer, and it does nothing special concerning that DLL copy other than what I posted earlier. 

> Source: x32\*.dll; DestDir: {sys}; Flags: 32bit restartreplace uninsneveruninstall

 Note that these days it is considered poor practice to install things to {sys}; there are usually better places to put most things.  You may also want to consider using sharedfile rather than uninsneveruninstall, which is also generally a poor practice. 

[Ranganath Gunawardane]

Thank you, Gavin, for the information about alternative approaches. I'll read more about sharedfile and a better system folder.  

Until then, as a workaround, I'll let the users pass /NORESTART.

I tried to figure out why a restart was required by comparing the log and the Inno Setup source, but I couldn't find anything conclusive (mostly due to my lack of Pascal knowledge, I'm sure). I'll keep looking out of curiosity. I'd like to understand why it required a restart.

Ranga