Incoming Updater Permissions Changes

[redeyesofnight]

Greetings!

There will be new Installers/Updater going out soon for Windows and PC. I'll link them here when available, but I needed the post created to finalize the build :)
Edit
https://fantasygrounds.com/filelibrary/FGUWebInstall.exe [PC]
https://fantasygrounds.com/filelibrary/FGUWebInstall.pkg [MAC]


Recently, we've had some reports of difficulties running Fantasy Grounds in a multi-user environment, particularly on Windows.
After some investigation, we came to the conclusion that running the Update software as Administrator (as we've been doing up to this point), can cause unexpected issues for some users.\

The main type of user this may affect is anyone running on a non-administrator account.
In short, if you have two accounts on your computer:
adminUser
nonAdminUser

If you were logged into nonAdminUser and wanted to set up Fantasy Grounds for that user: running the program as administrator will effectively get settings associated with adminUser.
If you're using the default data directory, it will be associated with adminUser.

Unfortunately, the fix to correct this and use the settings locations (in the registry, HKCU) we originally intended to use, will mean that anyone who is using Fantasy Grounds on a non-administrator account will have their settings cleared by this new system. None of your campaigns or data will be relocated or deleted in this change, but you will have to log in with your username again and enter your license key once more.

Where are my campaigns?

If you are one of the users that has been using Fantasy Grounds to build campaigns on a non-administrator account, you will need to locate or relocate your campaign data. If you used the default data directory, your data is likely stored at
C:\Users\[adminUsername]\AppData\Roaming\SmiteWorks\Fantasy Grounds

The recommended course of action would be to copy (likely from the administrator account) your original data folder and relocate it to a central location (another drive or folder on the same drive), or to the new default location for your non-administrator user:
C:\Users\[nonAdminUsername]\AppData\Roaming\SmiteWorks\Fantasy Grounds


Updater/Installer Walkthrough/Tutorial

As part of the process for fixing this particular issue, we needed to move some functionality out of the Installer and into the updater itself. In this spirit, there is now a "first time user" walkthrough.
Users will be presented with a multi-stage walkthrough of setting up the updater. This includes Setting up the data directory and making sure it's accessible, logging in, license key, and desktop/start menu shortcuts.
There is still a stage in the process (Fixing Folder Permissions) that will prompt for administrator access, but it is a child process that makes a folder accessible to the user and then dies.

In part, this will ensure that new users have a more seamless flow into the game, and also cleans up many of the permissions issues reported over the last few months.

Please feel free to comment on this thread if the information was insufficient to solve any issues you are encountering.

OSX Updates

The OSX Updater has also been updated to include the new walkthrough system, though the shortcut page has been omitted.
We have not fundamentally changed the permissions structure on OSX, so this is largely cosmetic here (though there is slightly refined warnings for permissions issues).

Cheers,
--Ryan--

[LordEntrails]

I think this is going to help cut down a great deal of confusion and support requests. Nicely done.

One suggestion would be to add a bit more clarification to the instructions on demo users entering their license keys. Specifically;
"If you are a demo user, you may continue."
to
"If you are a demo user, you may continue without entering a license key."

[Larsenex]

Would it be easier for me to uninstall and reinstall unity? I keep Classic on me 'E' drive SSD and Unity on a separate G SSD.

[redeyesofnight]

Would it be easier for me to uninstall and reinstall unity? I keep Classic on me 'E' drive SSD and Unity on a separate G SSD.

This is my next round of updates, coming soon!

[redeyesofnight]

Would it be easier for me to uninstall and reinstall unity? I keep Classic on me 'E' drive SSD and Unity on a separate G SSD.
Totally misread this first time around, apologies.
You should be able to install over your original, I wouldn’t expect application folder to matter much.
The crux of this is that if you’ve been playing on a non admin user account, you will have to sign in again and locate your original data folder.
Perhaps it would be best to locate and back up your campaign or whole data folder before you update, then copy them to the new location.

It really depends where you keep your data folder rather than application folder.

[Arjan]

Hi, I experience now an issue when updating.
First, as allways I get the message from UAC that Fanrasy grounds wants to update, I select yes.
Then, fantasy ground updater reports that it does not have write access, and also asks for access. Selecting yes does not make this messgae go away. But behind this message from fantasy grounds updater, I see that fantasy grounds is updating all the modules.

How can I not have this message anymore?

[hoopalong]

Same issue here.

[Kelrugem]

Hi, I experience now an issue when updating.
First, as allways I get the message from UAC that Fanrasy grounds wants to update, I select yes.
Then, fantasy ground updater reports that it does not have write access, and also asks for access. Selecting yes does not make this messgae go away. But behind this message from fantasy grounds updater, I see that fantasy grounds is updating all the modules.

How can I not have this message anymore?

I also have this issue :) Update seemingly works, but FGU always asks there that it needs permission, although I already clicked "Fix Permissions" etc. :D


https://i.imgur.com/KeCpPRe.png


(one can see below that the update is doing something, and my update button does not get red anymore, so seemingly update worked, but the window about permission is stuck (so, seemingly just a visual bug?) :) )

[Weissrolf]

Same here.

[Kelrugem]

oh, it seems that is indeed stops updating; as far as I have seen, the most recent version is the 23. of April, I am stuck on the 22. of April. Thence, probably not just a visual bug (speaking about the version of the launcher, not the updater)

[redeyesofnight]

oh, it seems that is indeed stops updating; as far as I have seen, the most recent version is the 23. of April, I am stuck on the 22. of April. Thence, probably not just a visual bug (speaking about the version of the launcher, not the updater)

Are you for sure on the Live channel? I didn't think I even had a build from 4-22 on the Live channel at any point though I could be wrong.

Also, I found a bug with the popup you all are seeing, and I'm working on sending out a fix on the patch system soon, with a new installer coming later.

Keep your eyes out for the update and hopefully this should fix the problem. I'm adding a dismiss button as well, just in case.

[Kelrugem]

Are you for sure on the Live channel? I didn't think I even had a build from 4-22 on the Live channel at any point though I could be wrong.

Also, I found a bug with the popup you all are seeing, and I'm working on sending out a fix on the patch system soon, with a new installer coming later.

Keep your eyes out for the update and hopefully this should fix the problem. I'm adding a dismiss button as well, just in case.

Thank you :)

Yes, I am sure about that I am on the Live server; but I can't check at the moment due to the stuck popup there ;)

[redeyesofnight]

Thank you :)

Yes, I am sure about that I am on the Live server; but I can't check at the moment due to the stuck popup there ;)

I just pushed those changes, so hopefully with this next update that popup should go away for you.

[pollux]

Is the "permissions fix" to add full control for "Everyone" to both the data folder and the program folder (which is by default in a system location)? That seems... not great.

Separate from the wisdom of hardcoding full control for the "Everyone" group... I experienced something strange when updating:


I ran the updater, which did an updater update.
The new updater restarted (2020-04-23) and complained that I didn't have permissions to update. That struck me as strange, since I had been updating fine previously.
I closed the new updater without proceeding so I could manually investigate my starting permissions.
After noting the permissions, I tried to restart the updater. Nothing happened. Whether started via the start menu, or by opening a command-prompt and running FantasyGroundsUpdater.exe from the install dir. No window ever opened.
As an experiment, I tried running the updater with admin privilege. My user-account is always an admin-level account, but I right-clicked the icon and "ran it as administrator" to escalate privileges. It now started.
I allowed the privilege escalated updater to muck with permissions, and it finished updating.
I can now run the updater without privilege escalation again.
I now see "everyone" full permissions on both the program dir and the data dir.


I'm still not sure why I was unable to run the updater without privilege escalation at first. I'm now inferring that the updater is NOT checking whether it has write permissions to the two directories (it did to both when it started), it's checking for the hard-coded EVERYONE permission and claiming (falsely in my case) that it lacks write permissions unless it finds that specific permission set... without regard to whether it actually has the permissions it needs.

[zuilin]

On Mac version the primary user account on my computer (where I first installed FGU) works fine. On a secondary Admin account I cannot run the updater. It flashes a window and disappears.

macOS Catalina 10.15.4
FGU Updated on April 25 to 04-23-2020 version using primary computer account

OP says no changes to macOS version permission structure. I think there needs to be. Just sayin'.

[Weissrolf]

Is the "permissions fix" to add full control for "Everyone" to both the data folder and the program folder (which is by default in a system location)? That seems... not great.
A big no-no! Fortunately this does not happen here, instead the permission fix window never goes away, regardless of whether I start the updater as administrator (windows popup) or not (updater does not start at all).

Albeit still not perfect, a better approach would then be to install FG into the "Program Data" folder instead of "Program Files". In any case, other software is able to handle these things without messing with system folder permissions, so I expect the same from FG.

[Valatar]

I updated to it with no issues, however I was already running in a non-program files directory, and I had already copied the admin account HKCU Fantasy Grounds settings to the non-admin account HKCU, since I've been on this rodeo before. But I very much support setting things up to run for non-admin, there's zero cause for FG to require admin privileges.

[Kelrugem]

I just pushed those changes, so hopefully with this next update that popup should go away for you.

It still does not work for me, the popup is still there and my version is still the 22. of April; shall I maybe simply reinstall? :) (the updater is at the 23. of April) I have the feeling that I can't get any update anymore, so a new install might help :)

[pablomaz]

Same thing here. Just tested.

[Weissrolf]

I was sure that I posted this already, so here we go again:

Updater should (only) use administrator rights to install software (Program Files) and then use user rights for all content (either user directory or ProgramData). This is has been the standard for many years with Windows and other software usually handles these things accordingly and successfully.

[Speculi]

To be honest: I'm very disappointed the fix for permissions is just to allow everyone read/write access to the FG program folder. That's not a fix, that's a workaround and a bad one. There are reasons why installers ask for permissions to write to those folders.

That's like taken straight from the book of "shitty admin advice" to run 'chmod 777' to fix permissions and afterwards wondering how your system got compromised. When I received the popup I was wondering what the hell is going on, since I never had any issue with running FGC/FGU and the updater. And since there is also no "nope don't want to move forward without knowing whats going on" in that popup I checked the install folder afterwards and was pretty SURPRISED to see those write permissions.

Now the updater is not even starting anymore if I remove those permissions... great. And during the initial permission fix process for some reason I ended up after the "fix" with TWO FGU instances running and the updater complaining that it can't update because of the other instance.

Edit: Sorry I went a bit on a rant here, still think all the above is valid.

[TheSlowestZombie]

I updated Fantasy Grounds last night, and again this morning. Yesterday I had no special prompts and it felt like any other update. I use default file locations and have not had permissions problems.
However on today's update, I got a prompt about fixing permissions (I clicked OK). And after the updating was done, Fantasy Grounds started, but also the updater seemed to launch again (and prompt that FG is currently running, and the dialog will close when FG is closed). Since I didn't need to update, I tried clicking the X to just close the updater engine, but it was stuck in a loop and just kept relaunching and I had to close FG to get out of it.

Aside from the multiple separate bugs with the launcher, I 100% agree with Speculi's post above. Adding the Everyone role with full control (that's additional access beyond just read/write access, including rights to further change permissions) is pretty terrible. Given that this is still in beta, it's tolerable for now but please please find a better solution before the gold master release.
Edit: Also, I want to say that I'm concerned that because permissions are getting set to allow Full Control to Everyone, unless a future update specifically removes that, it is going to be extremely difficult to get good testing results out of future refinements to find what exactly the settings need to be

[Moon Wizard]

The Full Control permissions are only being granted to the FG application folder where the program files reside. This allows us to update the program files without having to request admin access on every single check for updates. We decided on this approach after noting that this was the approach used by some major publishers. I verified on my machine that this is how Blizzard handles program updates for at least some of their applications.

Otherwise, the problem becomes that it every update requires admin escalation, and that there are not any built-in mechanisms to "de-escalate" a process in .Net or in either Mac or Windows OS. So, the issue is that the updater has to be escalated, and the "rights" of any programs spawned by the escalated process are also escalated. The net result is that the program is sometimes run by the "logged in user", and after updates, it is run as the "admin user". For most people, this is the same user; but for those with more complex user setups, it becomes a problem where the program gets run as two different users depending on whether you update or not.

Regards,
JPG

[TheSlowestZombie]

I'm, not a developer, but I think that other programs like Google Chrome have solved this by doing the following: During the initial install, create a scheduled task that has admin rights. You don't need any special triggers defined, but it would be configured to run with highest elevation permissions, and all it would do is launch the FG updater.
Then, when users click Check for Updates, just manually trigger the scheduled task. It won't prompt for admin elevation from the user, but it will run with administrative rights.

Alternatively, could you just script something to get the username of the currently running fg process, and add full control permissions for just that account? On shared systems, each user would one time after approve admin access, but after that they'd have the permissions they need.

Or yet another option, in Active Directory, there's a built-in group called Authenticated Users. I'm not sure if that is also a built-in account on individual computers but if it is you could use that to grant permissions and it'd still be better security than assigning rights to Everyone.

[Moon Wizard]

That's what we're doing to adjust the permissions on the FG application directory. By doing it as a change and check, we reduce how often we need to request admin rights to a minimum.

Regards,
JPG

[Kelrugem]

It still does not work for me, the popup is still there and my version is still the 22. of April; shall I maybe simply reinstall? :) (the updater is at the 23. of April) I have the feeling that I can't get any update anymore, so a new install might help :)

I just wanted to reinstall (also because that seemed to fix the stucked pop-up for others), but I can't access the deinstall button in the settings due to the stuck pop-up; FGU is also not listed in the software-list under Windows such that I can't deinstall it there :) I could try to do it manually, but the last time I messed up things then :D (but I remember how to do that, I guess)

Should I maybe simply wait, or can I reinstall manually? :) Just want to make sure that I do not start something bad :)

[Weissrolf]

The net result is that the program is sometimes run by the "logged in user", and after updates, it is run as the "admin user".
This is why other software first downloads program updates, then *immediately* run the installer via admin rights and restart the process to finally install content updates.

Blizzard does the same with their Battle.net software, as does Steam, they always restart after running the updater for their own clients. They don't mix client updates with content updates (aka games), it's two distinctly different updates processes. Same goes for Hero lab, where it installs the program using admin rights and then restarts the client immediately, content can be installed using normal user directly without a restart.

Personally I tend to install games into their own sub-directory on the main/root drive. Keeps things tidy and any such file permission ugliness is circumvented. An audio software called Ableton Live used to work around the issue by installing its software into the "ProgramData" folder instead, which is more permissive.

That being said, there is a reason why software is kept in a permission restricted location: to keep other software from easily messing with it, be it accidental deletion or malicious modification. You remember all those viruses of old that would just append their code to already present .exe and .com files?

[pollux]

We decided on this approach after noting that this was the approach used by some major publishers. I verified on my machine that this is how Blizzard handles program updates for at least some of their applications.

Steam appears to at least use the "Users" group rather than "Everyone" which would at least cut out the guest account and non-interactive limited-privilege system accounts. It would still open up write access to non-admin human users, but certain kinds of privilege escalation tricks started from low-privilege access would be unable to abuse FG's permissions to overwrite FG binaries and then subsequently run as a more privileged human's account when someone tries to start FG.

But I also think TheSlowestZombie's proposal to create a elevated privilege task and Weissrolf's suggestion of using UAC but then restarting after the update are worth consideration if they work. I certainly would not mind saying "yes" to a UAC prompt for each update, if that's the remaining "problem" after adopting such suggestions.

[Kelrugem]

I just wanted to reinstall (also because that seemed to fix the stucked pop-up for others), but I can't access the deinstall button in the settings due to the stuck pop-up; FGU is also not listed in the software-list under Windows such that I can't deinstall it there :) I could try to do it manually, but the last time I messed up things then :D (but I remember how to do that, I guess)

Should I maybe simply wait, or can I reinstall manually? :) Just want to make sure that I do not start something bad :)

I was able to fix that: I manually gave "user" the permission to the app folder, and then finally the pop-up was gone. But I was still stuck on the wrong version, so, I had to reinstall (which was now possible without manual deletion due to that the pop-up was finally gone)

[Zenger]

I tried to install and uninstall, delete the registry, use the old installer but the FGU does not come out of this splice when updating after installing.
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[LordEntrails]

I tried to install and uninstall, delete the registry, use the old installer but the FGU does not come out of this splice when updating after installing.
34505


Welcome to the forums, sorry you are having problems.

Can you let us know your operating system and then upload the installer.log file that should be in your installation directory?

[Noonien]

Ich habe jetzt auch die Berechtigungen für meinen User manuell angepasst, und habe jetzt das Popup nicht mehr.
Wie kann ich denn überprüfen ob jetzt Updater und Programm die richtige Version haben, oder ob ich eventuell neu installieren muß ?

[Kelrugem]

Ich habe jetzt auch die Berechtigungen für meinen User manuell angepasst, und habe jetzt das Popup nicht mehr.
Wie kann ich denn überprüfen ob jetzt Updater und Programm die richtige Version haben, oder ob ich eventuell neu installieren muß ?

Du siehst im Launcher oben rechts Deine Version und daneben ein Datum, dasselbe kannst Du beim Updater machen :)

Die Version vom Launcher ist gerade der 23. April und die vom Updater der 24. April :)

Wenn Du da ein anderes Datum siehst, dann solltest Du FGU neu installieren :) (und vielleicht vorher nochmal ein Update versuchen)

@All: Noonien did the same as me, and asked how to see whether one has the correct version of FGU :)

[Noonien]

Will try, and sorry to write in German ...seems I am confused :)
When reinstalling, do I need to save changes that I made to my compaign, save characters or things like that before ?

[Kelrugem]

Will try, and sorry to write in German ...seems I am confused :)
When reinstalling, do I need to save changes that I made to my compaign, save characters or things like that before ?

no, when your data folder was separate to the app folder then you should not loose your data :) (there were some issues when both folders coincided; as far as I know the updater does not allow anymore that both are at the same folder anyway :) ) If you want to be really sure then do a backup of your data folder (in general always good to do that from time to time, you never know what happens, maybe an electricity outage, your computer explodes etc. :D)

[Zenger]

I didn't find install.log in the installation folder. The problem occurs right after installation and does not update anything.345893459034591

[Zenger]

Welcome to the forums, sorry you are having problems.

Can you let us know your operating system and then upload the installer.log file that should be in your installation directory?

I didn't find install.log in the installation folder. The problem occurs right after installation and does not update anything.
34592
34593
34594

[Noonien]

Thx Kelrugen, wanted to reinstall today, but after updating today I now get the right version displayed Updater 24_04, Launcher 28_04.
So no reinstall needed.

[xsheikanx]

One of my players is having issues. Every time he tries to join my campaing, fantasy grounds show the logo and keep it for hours.
Other players can join without problems. So i think is omething on his PC. Is runing wondows 10 pro. Folders have all permision to read and write.
I run out of ideas... :(
This is a screen of log. ( im running his computer with teamviewer, bcse he is nt proficient on computers :(
34628

Any ideas?

this is the network log:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Co_kTLzuGSwLKj7JDjexd8gwqKgvPASH

[Trenloe]

@redeyesofnight - there's a strange issue where FG is looking in C:/WINDOWS/system32 for the FG updater - even though the registry setting is correct

Details here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?57209-Updater-Unable-to-locate-program

EDIT: they were using an old pinned link to start FG. Removing the pinned link and creating a new one fixed the issue. Probably the "start in" setting of the link wasn't correct.

[Aridhro]

I was able to fix that: I manually gave "user" the permission to the app folder, and then finally the pop-up was gone. But I was still stuck on the wrong version, so, I had to reinstall (which was now possible without manual deletion due to that the pop-up was finally gone)

Thx Kelrugem, first post that helped to fix the popup
Another problem I think is my FGU version (after update without popup) is still 2020-04-17, while updater version changed to 2020-04-30. Are these the right versions? If not, should I uninstall FGU?

[Kelrugem]

Thx Kelrugem, first post that helped to fix the popup
Another problem I think is my FGU version (after update without popup) is still 2020-04-17, while updater version changed to 2020-04-30. Are these the right versions? If not, should I uninstall FGU?

The launcher should be 28. of April, so, maybe you should reinstall :) Your data is safe, but you can make a backup of course when you want to make sure :) (never bad to make backups :D)

[pablomaz]

Well, the messages never stop. I can't uninstall FGU from the Control Panel, it just keep running the updater. How can I unistall FGU? Is the development team looking into it?

[Kelrugem]

Well, the messages never stop. I can't uninstall FGU from the Control Panel, it just keep running the updater. How can I unistall FGU? Is the development team looking into it?

Did you try this? https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?56821-Incoming-Updater-Permissions-Changes/page3&p=502263#post502263

I also read that people simply deleted the app directory and reinstalled then :) Or did you already try that?

[pablomaz]

Did you try this? https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?56821-Incoming-Updater-Permissions-Changes/page3&p=502263#post502263

I also read that people simply deleted the app directory and reinstalled then :) Or did you already try that?

You mean simply deleting the entire "Fantasy Grounds" folder under the "SmiteWorks" folder and then reinstalling? :confused:

[pablomaz]

You mean simply deleting the entire "Fantasy Grounds" folder under the "SmiteWorks" folder and then reinstalling? :confused:

Nevermind. I just downloaded the installer and ran it again. The "fix permissions" message is gone.

[Henrique Oliveira Machado]

Just tried and ran a whole campaign session without problems.
But I don't know what happened. The other user couldn't connect to my campaing. I had to reinstall this new updater 3 times and run update until she could connect to my computer. (She is demo). I used Anydesk to install and check things myself on her computer.

QUESTION: How can i check the version on our FGU, so i can make sure her version is the same as mine? I checked everywhere i could, but could not find the version number.

if i could know the version of my FGU and hers i could confirm it's a network problem or not.

Sorry for the silly question.

[Sulimo]

Just tried and ran a whole campaign session without problems.
But I don't know what happened. The other user couldn't connect to my campaing. I had to reinstall this new updater 3 times and run update until she could connect to my computer. (She is demo). I used Anydesk to install and check things myself on her computer.

QUESTION: How can i check the version on our FGU, so i can make sure her version is the same as mine? I checked everywhere i could, but could not find the version number.

if i could know the version of my FGU and hers i could confirm it's a network problem or not.

Sorry for the silly question.

When you open the app, it should have a Date. The current version (as of 2020-05-04) is v4.0.0 <license> (2020-04-28)

NOTE: The Updater and the Application itself have different dates, see image below, the top half is the updater, and the bottom half is the application. This is what I have anyway for my installed version, and I just updated it.

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[Henrique Oliveira Machado]

When you open the app, it should have a Date. The current version (as of 2020-05-04) is v4.0.0 <license> (2020-04-28)

NOTE: The Updater and the Application itself have different dates, see image below, the top half is the updater, and the bottom half is the application. This is what I have anyway for my installed version, and I just updated it.

34901

ok, so as long as my date is the same as hers, she should connect, right? Ok, thank you.

[Sulimo]

ok, so as long as my date is the same as hers, she should connect, right? Ok, thank you.

Assuming you have all of the other requirements met, yes.

Lots of things could cause connection issues.

You don't specify if you are using Cloud or LAN.

Depending on how you are setup, it could be different issues.

See this thread for what to provide for troubleshooting:

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?55185-Connection-Issues-And-What-To-Provide

[Henrique Oliveira Machado]

Assuming you have all of the other requirements met, yes.

Lots of things could cause connection issues.

You don't specify if you are using Cloud or LAN.

Depending on how you are setup, it could be different issues.

See this thread for what to provide for troubleshooting:

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?55185-Connection-Issues-And-What-To-Provide

Using cloud. Once i test again, i will check that out if i have any problems during the next session in two weeks. Thank you.

[LordNanoc]

...okay ...

I had those pesky rights issues with all the trimmings (updater-loops starting again and again etc) and did what no IT savvy person should do: I gave all users full access to the Fantasy Grounds folder in the Program Files directory.
Still gives me the goose bumps but whatever.

Now I got the Updater on 2020-04-30.
Strangely, every time I update, the same modules are updated (again and again) and double each time, see here: 35031
Traveller 2E is updated twice, each update run. And when I run updater again and a gain, it is always the same. It does not write the file into the vault again though.

The other oddity is my fantasy grounds being 2020-04-17 ... is that the latest one? I don't think so. I think I read that there should be on from 23rd at least.
So deinstall via "Settings/Programs" and then download new and reinstall?
Do I need my license number again? (Phew, where did I put that... that one's on me).

[Sulimo]

...okay ...

I had those pesky rights issues with all the trimmings (updater-loops starting again and again etc) and did what no IT savvy person should do: I gave all users full access to the Fantasy Grounds folder in the Program Files directory.
Still gives me the goose bumps but whatever.

Now I got the Updater on 2020-04-30.
Strangely, every time I update, the same modules are updated (again and again) and double each time, see here: 35031
Traveller 2E is updated twice, each update run. And when I run updater again and a gain, it is always the same. It does not write the file into the vault again though.

The other oddity is my fantasy grounds being 2020-04-17 ... is that the latest one? I don't think so. I think I read that there should be on from 23rd at least.
So deinstall via "Settings/Programs" and then download new and reinstall?
Do I need my license number again? (Phew, where did I put that... that one's on me).


As of today (2020-05-08) the versions are as follows:

Updater: 2020-04-30
FGU: 2020-04-28

I would definitely suggest uninstall, download the latest installer (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/home/FantasyGroundsUnity.php), and reinstall.

I don't have Traveller, but you might be able to remove the file from the vault for it so it downloads it fresh, that should help out with the double update issue. You might consider backing up the Data folder before a reinstall, and clearing everything out and adding campaigns back one at a time, I would leave Rulesets (those will download again when you reinstall), same with vault, and Modules (unless you have some custom modules). Looks like you might have some IT experience, I would use your judgement when adding things back in.

To find your key, go to Store above and Select Order History from the drop down, your key should be there.
35036

[LordNanoc]

Tried one last update and hear, hear ... I got 2020-05-08. No issues so far. No updater loop.
Those problem, that solve itself are my favourite :-D

Thanks all for helping. Great community!
Nanoc

[hoopalong]

So, now i am stuck again on the updating error...
And nothing happens anymore. No updating in the Backgroung.
And i cant uninstall FG to reinstall it, because i get the same error message and thats it.
The Windows Account i am using is definitely an admin account. So, now what?
I can'T update, i can'T reinstall.... i can't connect to the campaign i am supposed to be in...

[pablomaz]

So, now i am stuck again on the updating error...
And nothing happens anymore. No updating in the Backgroung.
And i cant uninstall FG to reinstall it, because i get the same error message and thats it.
The Windows Account i am using is definitely an admin account. So, now what?
I can'T update, i can'T reinstall.... i can't connect to the campaign i am supposed to be in...

I had this issue last week. I simply downloaded the installer and ran it again. It worked for me and for a couple of friends as well.

[hoopalong]

All right. I will try that.

[update]
Thanks. That worked.

[pablomaz]

Tried one last update and hear, hear ... I got 2020-05-08. No issues so far. No updater loop.
Those problem, that solve itself are my favourite :-D

Thanks all for helping. Great community!
Nanoc

I just updated and got a 06/May/20 version. Who understands that? Not me.:confused:

[swrzy]

Should 05-06-2020 appear in the live channel? Similar to others I was stuck on 04-17 and had to reinstall some days ago. Worked just fine but after the latest update, i.e yesterday, my client still says 04-28. I actually uninstalled, cleared my data folder, loaded the installer and still 04-28. I even changed my data folder for good measure and did it all over again. Client is 04-28, updater is 04-30, webinstaller 04-23, Win 10, single user. I had the impression the updater this morning actually implemented the newest patch, but after reinstalling many times I cant be sure anymore.
If indeed 05-06 should be displayed, any other ideas?

edit: maybe I should clear the program folder too. Trying after work if there is nothing else to be done by then.

[pablomaz]

Should 05-06-2020 appear in the live channel? Similar to others I was stuck on 04-17 and had to reinstall some days ago. Worked just fine but after the latest update, i.e yesterday, my client still says 04-28. I actually uninstalled, cleared my data folder, loaded the installer and still 04-28. I even changed my data folder for good measure and did it all over again. Client is 04-28, updater is 04-30, webinstaller 04-23, Win 10, single user. I had the impression the updater this morning actually implemented the newest patch, but after reinstalling many times I cant be sure anymore.
If indeed 05-06 should be displayed, any other ideas?

edit: maybe I should clear the program folder too. Trying after work if there is nothing else to be done by then.

Apparently mine was just "updated back" to the 28/april version. I don't get it.lol

[sstarsslayer]

You are still supposed to be on 4/28 (or 4/29 on Mac). The other two updates were rolled back. No need to keep reinstalling.

[Lonewolf]

This might be off topic. However I noticed if protected folder issue comes up. It is impossible to fix without deleting registery settings.

The uninstall process does not clear the registery. As a result a simply trying to install will fail every time. It will keep on hitting the error and it is also possible to have diffrent values for the data folder in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SmiteWorks and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SmiteWorks.

It keeps reading bad data and it can break the installer. This all leads to repeated failure to install correctly. It can be fixed by deleting the broken registery settings. FGU will then install correctly.

The trouble is there is a lot of end users that will not think about manually clearing the registery errors. They expect the uninstal function to that. As a result they report a range of problems because a unistalling and reinstall process fails to clear their issue.

[redeyesofnight]

This might be off topic. However I noticed if protected folder issue comes up. It is impossible to fix without deleting registery settings.

The uninstall process does not clear the registery. As a result a simply trying to install will fail every time. It will keep on hitting the error and it is also possible to have diffrent values for the data folder in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SmiteWorks and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SmiteWorks.

It keeps reading bad data and it can break the installer. This all leads to repeated failure to install correctly. It can be fixed by deleting the broken registery settings. FGU will then install correctly.

The trouble is there is a lot of end users that will not think about manually clearing the registery errors. They expect the uninstal function to that. As a result they report a range of problems because a unistalling and reinstall process fails to clear their issue.

Thank you for the tip.
I've added a task to look into this.
This is possibly related to an older from when we ran the update process as administrator.
Can you confirm that this still occurs with the latest installer?

I don't see a reason really not to remove this settings file on uninstall if it's causing an issue, but I'd probably rather have permissions set correctly so this isn't an issue if we can/need to. Mostly because our paradigm at the moment is to leave settings intact for the uninstall.

[Weissrolf]

How do I uninstall FGU without it messing with folder permissions on my system?

[Moon Wizard]

I'm not sure I'm following the question/concern. There should be an uninstall option right in the FG Settings.

Regards,
JPG

[Weissrolf]

Trying to uninstall lead to FG asking me to first change the folder permissions on my system first. Something I do not want, hence me trying to uninstall in order to install to a different folder (with non administrator write permissions).

I am currently in the process of installing a new version over the old one, hoping that this was solved meanwhile. Unfortunately download bandwidth from the FG server's side is less than 1 mb/s, despite my line allowing over 10 mb/s.

[Weissrolf]

After updating I am allowed to uninstall without having to change folder permission. The Programs & Features entry was not removed, nor was the Program Files folder, but the content was deleted.

https://i.imgur.com/k0CZbIM.png

What is the current status of this folder permission thing? I did not notice a ProgramData folder being used instead, so how is it currently solved?

[Moon Wizard]

The app folder is added to the Program Files folder; and requests elevated privileges if needed to install files there.
The data folder is added to the User's %APPDATA% folder; and will request privileges to change the permissions if it can't write to that folder using the user who started the updater app.

JPG

[Weissrolf]

Thanks for the clarification. Asking for elevated privileges for installations/updates is the right way to go.

[spkane]

For a new install on macOS 11.0 Big Sur (actually 11.1), my program directory is in the default /Applications/SmiteWorks/Fantasy Grounds and my data directory is in $HOME/Dropbox/games/Fantasy Grounds Unity. I was getting a failed to fix permissions error from the updater. Recursively changing permissions on the directories DID NOT help. However, going into System Preferences - Security & Privacy and adding FGUpdaterEngine to Full Disk Access solved the problem.

FGU either needs to be updated to ask for this permission, if it indeed needs it, or the application needs to be updated so that it does not trip over the default macOS security in current releases.

[throvolos]

I just downloaded the Free Client for FGU to join a D&D campaign being hosted by a FGU Ultimate subscriber. For the installer, it says "v4.0.0 (2020-11-09)"

I just went through the defaults and let it install where it felt it needed to install.
1) First gripe: User applications should never EVER need administrative privileges. EVER. As a former admin, this is just a huge security hole that should never ever be used. EVER. Yes, it allows for some easy updates and installations, but it is entirely unnecessary. Ok, I think I've made my point. :P

2) While using FGU, everything worked, except when I tried to plug in a portrait for my character. The directory it needed, "<USER acct>/AppData/Roaming/SmiteWorks/Fantasy Grounds/portraits" did not exist. That's because I have created a non-admin account on my windows box (like everyone should) and use that as my primary account (because no one should be using an admin account as their day-to-day account). I went digging around and found that the path FGU had created was "<ADMIN acct>/AppData/Roaming/SmiteWorks/Fantasy Grounds/...". This doesn't make sense to me. I am installing the app as a USER, I want the data and all of the objects to be installed in my USER directory, not the ADMIN directory. I manually created the USER/.../portraits directory, uploaded my file, and could then use it. But that should never have been necessary. Note, at this point, I had used all of the defaults for everything FGU asked for during installation.

3) I uninstalled and reinstalled, this time pointing the data directory to my USER directory, but then when I connected to the campaign, there was no data. The PHB window would open up blank, the Items window would open up blank, essentially it looked like none of the components had been installed. I believe this is because I had pointed the installer to use "USER/.../Fantasy Grounds" instead of allowing it to install data into "ADMIN/.../Fantasy Grounds", which is the default it wanted.

4) Three hours later, after uninstalling/reinstalling(and rinse-repeat), registry editing, manually deleting folders, reboot, I tried again, letting FGU use all of the defaults. No desktop icon was created. If I click on the folder icon in the top left of the main FGU window, it once again says "USER/.../Fantasy Grounds" doesn't exist.

Extremely frustrating.

[Weissrolf]

When you are using a non admin user and FGU then asks for administrator rights to do its installation then for the time of the installation said administrator account *is* the user. This explains why the folder creation stuff goes south. It should not happen, but that's how it likely is.

I keep repeating this: FGU's installer and updater should only ask for administrator rights when they need to write/update files to "\Program Files". Data files should not be written via administrator account, which they don't need anyway. This is how Windows software works for years already, please follow the proper procedures.

[Zacchaeus]

If you accepted the default installation then the data should have installed into users/username/Appdata etc

I suspect because you've done something non standard (I don't know what a non admin account is and I doubt many others do either) then I suspect that you should have pointed the installation to there rather than the default if that's where you wanted the data to go. Whatever the case FGU needs the correct permissions in order to save files to the FGData folder.

[Weissrolf]

On Windows, OS X and Linux there are "Standard" or "User" accounts and there are "Administrator" accounts. When you are using a standard account then software that needs elevated rights asks for the login name and password of an administrator accoun. On Windows you need elevated rights to write to "/Program Files/" for good reasons. No elevation rights are needed to write to a users own "Users/User/" directory and it is not needed for FGU to change any permissions there.

Problem in Windows is: When a software installation asks for elevated rights through an administrator account then the software effectively runs under this account. At that moment "users/username/" is not the name of the original account anymore, but the name of the administrator account. This also comes with other drawbacks, like network drive letter mappings only being valid per account (so User may have drive H: mapped, but Administrator may not).

Again: FGU's user data should never have to be installed/updated using administrator rights to begin with, it's completely unnecessary and creates additional problems and security issues. It's bad practice and not how any other software on my computer handles these kind of things. Developers had time since Windows Vista to learn this.

Happy holidays.

[charmov]

On Windows, OS X and Linux there are "Standard" or "User" accounts and there are "Administrator" accounts. When you are using a standard account then software that needs elevated rights asks for the login name and password of an administrator accoun. On Windows you need elevated rights to write to "/Program Files/" for good reasons. No elevation rights are needed to write to a users own "Users/User/" directory and it is not needed for FGU to change any permissions there.

Problem in Windows is: When a software installation asks for elevated rights through an administrator account then the software effectively runs under this account. At that moment "users/username/" is not the name of the original account anymore, but the name of the administrator account. This also comes with other drawbacks, like network drive letter mappings only being valid per account (so User may have drive H: mapped, but Administrator may not).

Again: FGU's user data should never have to be installed/updated using administrator rights to begin with, it's completely unnecessary and creates additional problems and security issues. It's bad practice and not how any other software on my computer handles these kind of things. Developers had time since Windows Vista to learn this.

Happy holidays.

I guess we have to create campaigns and play on our administrator account. From what I understand installing/updating/DMing/playing on a non-admin account doesn't save the changes? I am confused by this as I like to use separate accounts for business (admin. acct.) and recreation (non-admin acct). Is it true that changing the default file path to the desired /user/account will result in having to verify credentials every time?
Please correct me if I'm wrong. I am confused.

[Weissrolf]

No, the data is saved in another folder from the software. And the current installer sets user rights to both folders at least in a better way than the old installer did. So you can use a non admin account as long as the folder rights process done by the installer works as expected.

[Netjera]

I'm running Mac OS Big Sur 11.2.3 and had multiple problems. Installation would hang without opening the updater. Once I fixed the updater issue, it kept telling me that Fantasy Grounds didn't have read or write permissions in the directory, and the Fix Permissions button didn't work. I did finally manage to get everything to work, but I'm not entirely sure which step got the Updater working and I'm a little afraid to mess with it. I reproduce those steps here, and maybe someone braver than I can experiment, or someone with more Mac experience (I've only had mine a couple of months), can explain to me whether what I've found actually means anything.

1). Installation proceeded smoothly but would not permit me to install anywhere other than the Applications folder. I found this annoying as my Mac has limited hard drive space.
2). Got to the end screen where it says, "The updater will now run." Heard a beep, as if an application was being blocked, but nothing opened. A glance into System Preferences: Security & Privacy: General lists nothing to indicate an app was blocked.
3). Tried running Applications: Smiteworks: Fantasy Grounds: FantasyGroundsUpdater and had the same issue as everyone else - small window flashes and closes. Nothing else happens. Found the thread here that said to use the FGUpdaterEngine instead. Did that and finally got the updater to start.
4). Go through the login and licensing process, change the folder to the external drive where I want data to be stored. Get an error saying FGU cannot write to the Applications or Data directories. Try the "Fix Permissions" button. Nothing happens. Close the updater. Try again. Same results.
5). Lots of digging on the Mac and Smiteworks forums. Lots of aggravation and cursing. Can't get permissions to change in the Security window because the only option available under Privacy: Files and Folders: FGUpdaterEngine is "Removable Volumes" which is checked. No other files or folders show up there to allow access. Can not seem to manually fix the error.
6). More digging. Decide to check permissions on the FGUpdater Engine itself, by going to Get Info, all the way down to Sharing & Permissions. Strange - *I* have the ability to read & write, but admin only has read ability. Shouldn't the admin account have read *and* write ability? This is where I'm not sure if I'm understanding things correctly. I change permissions for admin, giving them read & write, close Get Info and try again.
7). Unfortunately, I clicked through without meaning to, and wound up installing to the default directory instead of the external where I wanted.
8). Upgrade was completely successful. FG opened correctly.

So - sorry about the length of this, but I'm not sure if my fixing permissions on the updater itself is what fixed the problem, and if that means I would have been able to update and download to the external as I wanted, or if those permission settings have nothing to do with it. Either way, I'm hoping someone can answer a couple of basic Mac questions regarding this incident, and that what I did here gives someone else with the same problem a bit of hope.

[smelton]

I'm running Mac OS Big Sur 11.2.3 and had multiple problems. Installation would hang without opening the updater. Once I fixed the updater issue, it kept telling me that Fantasy Grounds didn't have read or write permissions in the directory, and the Fix Permissions button didn't work. I did finally manage to get everything to work, but I'm not entirely sure which step got the Updater working and I'm a little afraid to mess with it. I reproduce those steps here, and maybe someone braver than I can experiment, or someone with more Mac experience (I've only had mine a couple of months), can explain to me whether what I've found actually means anything.

1). Installation proceeded smoothly but would not permit me to install anywhere other than the Applications folder. I found this annoying as my Mac has limited hard drive space.
2). Got to the end screen where it says, "The updater will now run." Heard a beep, as if an application was being blocked, but nothing opened. A glance into System Preferences: Security & Privacy: General lists nothing to indicate an app was blocked.
3). Tried running Applications: Smiteworks: Fantasy Grounds: FantasyGroundsUpdater and had the same issue as everyone else - small window flashes and closes. Nothing else happens. Found the thread here that said to use the FGUpdaterEngine instead. Did that and finally got the updater to start.
4). Go through the login and licensing process, change the folder to the external drive where I want data to be stored. Get an error saying FGU cannot write to the Applications or Data directories. Try the "Fix Permissions" button. Nothing happens. Close the updater. Try again. Same results.
5). Lots of digging on the Mac and Smiteworks forums. Lots of aggravation and cursing. Can't get permissions to change in the Security window because the only option available under Privacy: Files and Folders: FGUpdaterEngine is "Removable Volumes" which is checked. No other files or folders show up there to allow access. Can not seem to manually fix the error.
6). More digging. Decide to check permissions on the FGUpdater Engine itself, by going to Get Info, all the way down to Sharing & Permissions. Strange - *I* have the ability to read & write, but admin only has read ability. Shouldn't the admin account have read *and* write ability? This is where I'm not sure if I'm understanding things correctly. I change permissions for admin, giving them read & write, close Get Info and try again.
7). Unfortunately, I clicked through without meaning to, and wound up installing to the default directory instead of the external where I wanted.
8). Upgrade was completely successful. FG opened correctly.

So - sorry about the length of this, but I'm not sure if my fixing permissions on the updater itself is what fixed the problem, and if that means I would have been able to update and download to the external as I wanted, or if those permission settings have nothing to do with it. Either way, I'm hoping someone can answer a couple of basic Mac questions regarding this incident, and that what I did here gives someone else with the same problem a bit of hope.

Did you use the default installation directory or choose another location?
Does your user have permissions to create directories in the external location you chose for the data directory?

[Netjera]

Did you use the default installation directory or choose another location?
Does your user have permissions to create directories in the external location you chose for the data directory?

My first try, the program would only install into the Applications directory, but I tried to change the data directory to an external drive, and it kept failing on permissions. My second try, (after changing the permissions for admin on the FGU updater), I intended to do the same thing, but accidentally clicked through. Wound up installing to the internal hard drive instead.

I am admin, and a far as I know, I should have all read/write permissions. I still get popups asking if I want to allow things, but I'm capable of doing that, and changing security settings.

I thought it was odd that permissions for my username (Netjera), were read and write, but permissions for (Admin) were read only.

[Fionavar]

This just started and I have Admin Rights: please advise.47174

[Zarestia]

This just started and I have Admin Rights: please advise.47174

Well, click on "Fix Permissions". If you want to be extra sure, backup your campaigns before. :)

[Fionavar]

I have tried that multiple times and it keeps failing :?

[Zacchaeus]

You may have to manually set permissions - depending on where you decided to install FG and the level of permissions that you already have. You may also need to create an exception in your anti virus for FG since some will just reset permissions after you set them.

[Fionavar]

Well it has been working for years and now something has been changed. As well - all permissions are in place, so I am very confused

[Fionavar]

And now it is working :?

[Zacchaeus]

Sounds like a Windows update or similar messed with something.

[Fionavar]

Sounds like a Windows update or similar messed with something.

I am going to opt for aliens as I await the zombie arrival ;)

[Doomarest]

I think this is going to help cut down a great deal of confusion and support requests. Nicely done.

One suggestion would be to add a bit more clarification to the instructions on demo users entering their license keys. Specifically;
"If you are a demo user, you may continue."
to
"If you are a demo user, you may continue without entering a license key."

I agree with this statement. Currently trying log on demo so I can play. No idea how to get past another login attempt which says something about new user and if not click this thread. spent about 2 hrs trying to figure out how to get there. I have stopped and told DM. I'm done I have no idea why D*** C***** wants to keep using FG

[LordEntrails]

I agree with this statement. Currently trying log on demo so I can play. No idea how to get past another login attempt which says something about new user and if not click this thread. spent about 2 hrs trying to figure out how to get there. I have stopped and told DM. I'm done I have no idea why D*** C***** wants to keep using FG
This thread is five years old and not really relevant anymore. If you are still having issues and would like help. Please chose one of the following methods to get help;
- start a new thread with details in the House of Healing; https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?107-The-House-of-Healing-Fantasy-Grounds
- open a support ticket; https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portals
- Or ask for help in the Discord channel: https://discord.com/channels/274582899045695488/692116657858150410

Connecting to a DM's server usually takes no more than a few minutes to resolve any issues.