[Installer] explorer.exe closed and not restarted upon install of v0.17.0

[Aragorn450]

Environment

Windows build number: 10.0.18363.815
PowerToys version: 0.17.0
PowerToy module for which you are reporting the bug (if applicable): N/A

Steps to reproduce

Install v0.17.0, may need to have a previous install (v0.16.1 was my initial install) first.

Expected behavior

Upon install, explorer.exe should be restarted to show the user their desktop.

Actual behavior

My desktop was closed during the install and I had solid backgrounds with no task bar because explorer.exe was closed. When the install was complete and PowerToys was started, it stayed this way. I had to CTRL + ALT + DEL to open Task Manager and then ran explorer.exe manually after verifying it was no longer in the running tasks.

This could certainly be something unique to my configuration. I will do whatever I can to help provide more details as needed.

[enricogior]

Hi @Aragorn450
could you check if it is a persistent problem on your machine, uninstalling 0.17, installing 0.16.1 and then installing 0.17 again?
Thanks.

[Aragorn450]

I have not been able to replicate it, which is not too surprising. I'm assuming it was a fluke, but figured I should report it anyway in case someone else also says they had the same issue in which case, it'd be less likely to be a fluke.

[enricogior]

@Aragorn450
thank you for reporting it and thank you for verifying it was a fluke.
Killing explorer during updates is not ideal, but at present is the only way to update the shell extensions.

[hexxellor]

@enricogior Can I suggest at least warning people before you kill explorer? Especially if the new version is going to allow auto-updates, I'd be pretty upset if in v0.18 or some future release it suddenly auto-updated in the background and decided to kill explorer without notice.

Note: I did a search but if I somehow missed this already being part of a future update I apologize. :)

[enricogior]

@hexxellor
the auto update downloads the installer in the background and when ready to be installed it notifies the user, it doesn't start the installer unless the user gives confirmation.
For 0.19 we will try to find alternative way to avoid killing explorer #2730

[hexxellor]

@enricogior Excellent! I did notice #2730 but wasn't sure from the status if that solution worked or not, etc. Thanks for the clarification. I really appreciate it. 👍

[crutkas]

tracking in #2730