LO installer requires Firefox close or PC restart - why? how disable?

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#1

The LibreOffice installer in Windows shows a popup saying that Firefox first has to be closed or else the PC needs to be restarted. This happens at LibreOffice 6.2 installation. But it has been there for many years.

Questions:

  • Why? What is LibreOffice doing with Firefox?

  • Why cannot LibreOffice do whatever it does without closing Firefox?

  • Is there any way to disable/remove this behaviour from the installer?

Someone at reddit suggested this had to do with something called “Firefox themes” in LO. Is that true? If so, why isn’t such a peripheral feature opt in? I’ve never used themes and I bet many other LO users haven’t either. It makes no sense to complicate the installation process based on such a non-essential feature.

The popup window is not only annoying and confusing, it also seems to be false. Because if I choose to not close Firefox the installer proceeds and then at the ends shows a new popup asking me to restart the PC. But if I decline that too then both LibreOffice and Firefox appears to work just fine, no PC restart needed.

Links to previous discussions of this issue

Edit 2019-08-10:
The problem occurs even when the option “Windows Explorer Extensions” is unchecked/disabled in the LibreOffice Installer Custom Setup step.

Why Does LibreOffice Requires OS File Updates?
#2

LibreOffice installer for Windows is just a simple MSI (Windows Installer) database that tells system service which files and registry entries to put where. Windows Installer service (Windows component) takes this database, asks user which features to install, and creates resulting list of these files and registry settings. Then the service checks if the files are already present, what are their existing versions, and if they are in use by some process. This is just a magic performed internally by system service, not something LibreOffice does.

Actually, LibreOffice includes only a small number of components that may become used by other processes: they are fonts, shell extension used for displaying ODF information in Explorer, … and that’s basically all. Note that FF themes support used in LO is totally independent from any external application (e.g. FF) that could be present on the system - LibreOffice installs all required libraries to its own directory, and uses them (does not depend on FF).

The notable component to discuss here is the shell extension. It is the component that may display ODF information (like author or other statistics) in Windows Explorer’s information panels when such file gets selected. This is a DLL that gets loaded into a process on-demand; and the demand may come from any process that e.g. displays system File Open/File Save dialogs - they use the same Explorer infrastructure, and load relevant DLLs into any process. Firefox could happen to be that process that got that DLL loaded - and so it got detected by Windows. It could be any other process; just the more often an application displays File dialogs, the more chances are that that will happen.

Is that detection a false positive just because both LO and FF work OK after the rejected reboot prompt? No. Since the old DLL is still there (it will be only replaced on reboot), FF would not crash. The old DLL would most probably be compatible with new LO - we rarely change its behavior. LibreOffice itself doesn’t need the DLL for its work… so the detection was right; but ignoring it is also OK.

And there’s nothing to be done here. This is a built-in behavior of MSI technology; and this is not a big deal.

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#3

The notable component to discuss here is the shell extension.

Thank you for explaining. I’ve never heard of the ODF information feature in LO before. I there any way to disable it with some custom installer setting and thereby bypass these popups?

so the detection was right; but ignoring it is also OK.

Isn’t it a bug then that this isn’t explained to the user in the popup windows?

And there’s nothing to be done here. This is a built-in behavior of MSI technology; and this is not a big deal.

I disagree. It is nowadays unusual for installers in Windows to require closing other applications and/or rebooting. If other installers can manage that then why not LO? An installer that is confusing and a hassle is a big deal. Imagine recommending LibreOffice to a friend who’ve been using only MS Office for years. Confusing popups about restarting browsers/rebooting is not a good first impression to give to people considering switching to LO.

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#4

I there any way to disable it with some custom installer setting and thereby bypass these popups?

Yes, disable it in installer.

Isn’t it a bug then that this isn’t explained to the user in the popup windows?

No. We don’t know what is detected and shown by Windows. In your case, it was FF. In another’s case, it might happen to be LibreOffice itself, that user forgot to close, or hung in the background. In one case, it might be OK to ignore, in others not.

I disagree. It is nowadays unusual for installers in Windows to require closing other applications and/or rebooting. If other installers can manage that then why not LO?

Which specific installer you refer to? This statement is nonsense. There are hundreds of programs that don’t have shell extensions; and even when you update an application with such components, you not always have such warnings. So your personal feeling that other deal that might not reflect the reality.

#5

An installer that is confusing and a hassle is a big deal. Imagine recommending LibreOffice to a friend who’ve been using only MS Office for years. Confusing popups about restarting browsers/rebooting is not a good first impression to give to people considering switching to LO

Absolutely minor thing.

#6

disable it in installer

How exactly? I see only one item relating to Explorer in the custom installation options. Even if I disable that the installer still shows a popup about closing Firefox.

BTW I’ve seen that popup for years every time I update LO and it is always and only Firefox that the installer wants to close. I also use Chrome and other programs with File Open/Save dialogs. So there seems to be something special to the combination of Firefox and LibreOffice.

In one case, it might be OK to ignore, in others not.

The popup should then say that. Perhaps something like “Might in some cases be necessary” to close Firefox (or whatever process) and/or restart the PC. Rather than “required” period.

#7

Which specific installer you refer to? This statement is nonsense.

I test and use a lot of software in Windows, in many cases with shell extensions. My impression is that it is very unusual today for software installers to demand a reboot or closing other applications. That was much more usual 5-10 years ago. Seems to me like the LO installer is stuck in those bad old days while other software installers has progressed.

Absolutely minor thing

Minor for an expert perhaps, but a hassle for non-expert end users considering switching from Microsoft Office to LO.

Compare also the steps of updating for example Google Chrome (it updates itself silently in the background, the user doesn’t have to do anything) and LO (go to website, compare versions, choose a download, get confusing download page with walls of text, wait for large download, run it, consider options, see confusing popup demanding Firefox to be closed, and so on). Each minor hassle adds up!

#8

No. The messages must be on the safe side. Being so much afraid of closing applications or rebooting is not a normal case; installing a software might ask for such things from time to time. If sometimes it could happen to be safe not to, is just am exception. I disagree that for a user (especially novice), some messages that bring uncertainty (“may be in come times possible not to …”) is better than clear and robust guidance, even if sometimes it might happen to be avoidable.

The primary goal of installer is not to avoid user interactions and interruptions at all costs. The primary goal is to reliably install application, and leave system in a predictable and safe state. All other things are secondary. If possible, it could try to minimize interaction (yes, that’s good, but secondary!). And being not the primary function of the installed application, the possible inconvenience is much lower priority than possible problems when installer fails its primary goal.

#9

What you wrote earlier wrote

The old DLL would most probably be compatible with new LO - we rarely change its behavior. LibreOffice itself doesn’t need the DLL for its work… so the detection was right; but ignoring it is also OK.

doesn’t fit together with what you now write

If sometimes it could happen to be safe not to, is just am exception.

Anyway, I will stop talking about the wording in the popups now. Others who find it similarly confusing can now at least find this page and get an explanation for what is happening.

The more basic problem is that it is bad that the LO installer is designed in such a way that demands for closing browsers and/or rebooting happens at all. I hope LO in the future switches to an installer without those problems.

You earlier wrote that the component that causes the popups about Firefox could be disabled in the installer. How exactly? Can you please name the exact checkbox that should be unchecked?

#10

What you wrote earlier … doesn’t fit together with what you now write

Only if you ignore everything I wrote, and cite selectively.

You earlier wrote that the component that causes the popups about Firefox could be disabled in the installer. How exactly? Can you please name the exact checkbox that should be unchecked?

Well - when talking about Windows Explorer extension component (citing myself from the answer: “shell extension used for displaying ODF information in Explorer”), I’d not discard the possibility that something named “Windows Explorer Extension” has something to do with that :slight_smile:

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#11

Only if you ignore everything I wrote

Sorry, but can you then please explain again? I really don’t understand how you think what you wrote fits together. If it is true that “old DLL would most probably be compatible with new LO - we rarely change its behavior” and “LibreOffice itself doesn’t need the DLL for its work” then how can it be “just an exception” that decling the “close Firefox”/“reboot PC” popups is safe? It sure sounds from what you wrote earlier that anything problematic happens only in exceptional cases.

“Windows Explorer Extension”

Ok, that is the component (named differently in my localization of the installer, but it is the only one that uses the term Explorer) that I was talking about earlier when I wrote

How exactly? I see only one item relating to Explorer in the custom installation options. Even if I disable that the installer still shows a popup about closing Firefox.

Again, disabling that does not prevent the popup about closing Firefox.

#12

Again, disabling that does not prevent the popup about closing Firefox

If the component was previously installed, it needs to be uninstalled regardless if you chose to update it, or to remove it.

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#13

I really don’t understand how you think what you wrote fits together. If it is true that “old DLL would most probably be compatible with new LO - we rarely change its behavior” and “LibreOffice itself doesn’t need the DLL for its work” then how can it be “just an exception” that decling the “close Firefox”/“reboot PC” popups is safe? It sure sounds from what you wrote earlier that anything problematic happens only in exceptional cases

There are three possible cases:

  1. There’s an external process holding a replaced resource, and the old resource is compatible with newer LO;
  2. There’s an external process holding a replaced resource, and the old resource is incompatible with newer LO;
  3. There’s an LO instance still running (e.g., user forgot to close it, or it is hung - it happens).

They are of different frequency; and also they are of different severity. And also - what’s important - installer does not know which happened at the time of execution.

#14

So the severity of #1 is "Oh I am so much afraid of closing my lovely browser/Explorer or rebooting - they must have done something terrible to make me SUFFER!!!1111’

Severity of #2 (admittedly rare) and #3 (quite common!) is crash. And that is what is not acceptable, not the “suffering” of case 1, no matter how often #1 is. In that sense, #1 is just an exception. Windows Installer gives no means to tell #1 from #3; and there is generally no way to tell #1 from #2 (it depends on if a future version made incompatible changes to the component - something previous version that actually uninstalls old component cannon know).

#15

Thanks for that more detailed explanation, now I understand better what you meant. The basic flaw here then seems to be the use of an installer that cannot separate the three cases 123 and react to them differently. I never said I was “afraid” of closing the browser, you seem to invent that phrase yourself. I’ve only said that it is a hassle. A hassle that installers for many other programs do not have.

If the component was previously installed, it needs to be uninstalled regardless if you chose to update it, or to remove it.

If I uninstall LibreOffice, reboot the PC multiple times, after that start the LibreOffice installer again and disable the Explorer component in the installer options then the popup about closing Firefox still appears. Are there some additional steps to do to avoid that popup?

#16

The basic flaw here then seems to be the use of an installer that cannot separate the three cases 123 and react to them differently

Heh.

If I uninstall LibreOffice, reboot the PC multiple times, after that start the LibreOffice installer again and disable the Explorer component in the installer options then the popup about closing Firefox still appears

Well - that would be a very interesting thing actually. So you say that the warning is shown when LO is not installed? That’s interesting - and that actually means that the problem here is something different. Well - the only thing to do here is to spend some time and try to find out what it is - e.g., use SysInternals’ Process Explorer to list handles opened by, say, FF at the time when the warning is shown, and try to find one (vs redist?), closing which makes the warning disappear…

#17

I asked a question that could help to find the offending resource using a list of deferred actions scheduled to happen after the reboot.

#18

So you say that the warning is shown when LO is not installed?

Yes, I first uninstall LibreOffice competely. Then reboot the PC multiple times. Then LibreOffice is installed again, with “Windows Explorer Extension” disabled in the installer GUI options. That still produces a “close Firefox”.

I have since creating this topic reproduced the above sequence multiple times on two separate PCs. Running Windows 10, Firefox 65.0.1 and LibreOffice 6.2.0.3.

As mentioned before the problem with the “close Firefox” popup has existed for many years for LO. I therefore suspect the cause is not limited to the most recent version. Though I haven’t tested disabling the “Windows Explorer Extension” in previous versions.

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#19

Here is a screenshot of the popup. The number of Firefox items in the popup list seem to vary with the number of open tabs in Firefox.

[Album] imgur.com
#20

Possibly the pending changes are listed under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\PendingFileRenameOperations, as indicated in MoveFileEx documentation. If you have a reproducible scenario, then could you please: 1. uninstall LO and reboot; 2. Launch FF; 3. Start LO setup, make sure it emits the Shutdown FF message, and not shutdown it; 4. Complete installation and see that “Reboot required”; 5. Without the reboot, open regedit and dump everything under the mentioned registry key, copying that here so that we could see what was actually causing the warnings.

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