2.0.4 Update Problem

[MaximumEnigma]

When downloading I deleted the previous version (2.0.3) and when it came time to install I got to 88% and it gave me the error message "Extract: error writing to file libskins_2.dll" Please help, I'm forced to use WMP at this time

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

It seems that your download failed or got corrupted. You will need to download the file manually and install. Also make sure your disk is not full and your antivirii is not going haywire.

[Firewall99]

Downloading 2.0.4 gets to 100% (or maybe just before that) and the application disappears. Upon rebooting VLC, the error message "The application has just crashed..." appears.

This behavior is 100% repeatable even with preferences reset and anti-virus temporarily disabled.

I believe that the windows 2.04 installation package itself is corrupt.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

I think there would be many more reports identical to yours if that were the case. It might be corrupt on your web proxy, if your network has one, or on one single server.

[sonicspike41]

Downloading 2.0.4 gets to 100% (or maybe just before that) and the application disappears. Upon rebooting VLC, the error message "The application has just crashed..." appears.

This behavior is 100% repeatable even with preferences reset and anti-virus temporarily disabled.

I believe that the windows 2.04 installation package itself is corrupt.

Same error. Manually downloading/updating worked fine though.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Where (what folder) did you install VLC?

[eastcoaster]

Downloading 2.0.4 gets to 100% (or maybe just before that) and the application disappears. Upon rebooting VLC, the error message "The application has just crashed..." appears.

This behavior is 100% repeatable even with preferences reset and anti-virus temporarily disabled.

I believe that the windows 2.04 installation package itself is corrupt.

I have the same problem. its not just 2.0.4 VLC Update. I had the same problem with 2.0.3 Update. The same thing happened with this new 2.0.4 Update. I start VLC to play a video file and I get the Update Popup. When I click to Update, something downloads for a minute or two. Then when the downloading finishes, VLC shuts down and then nothing happens. VLC taskbar icon disappears and then nothing happens. When we restart VLC I get the error message saying "VLC crashed, do you want to send a bug report?" The best thing to do is uninstall the old version manually and then install the new version after manually downloading it. I have Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit. BTW, the 64 bit VLC version is still experimental. Looking at how long its been that way, I am guessing it will always remain experimental.

[pixygiggles]

I'm having this problem, also. VLC did an update today & I kept getting error after after error after error when it tried installing the newest version. I've tried downloading at different times today and several times. Each separate download appears to be corrupt.

[drakanor]

I have the same problem like eastcoaster, but with the 32 bit version. The integrated upgrade functionality doesn't seem to work correctly. Manually downloading and installing ist fine. I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit.

[afdent64]

I experience upgrade problem from VLAN 1.1.10 to 2.0.4
OS: Vista
Pbl: Running updating program can't update
message error: "Unable to elevate, error 1814"
Tnks in advance

[Abinadi]

As several people have noted this has been a problem ever since the 2.0.3 update.
I finally got that one working but can't remember what I did to make it go ahead and install Am still now using VLC 2.0.3

Now with today's update notice it is at it again.
It is not a corruption of the download (downloaded three different times and same results each time)
Download is fine. It refuses to install in my Win7 Premium 64 bit SP1
I tried moving v2.0.3 to clear the decks. Still won't install.
Also turned off virus checker. Still won't install.

The window that comes up after authorizing the install of the package is:
===========================
VLC media player 2.0.4 Setup

Unable to elevate, error 1814
===========================
Manually downloading and installing is giving the same message.

There is something about these updates that is off kilter.
Any suggestions out there?
Rich
Panama

[eastcoaster]

Its probably something to do with "Run As Administrator" security feature in Windows 7 and Vista. The developer just passed on the update feature from (I am guessing) Windows XP installation which does not require 'Run as Administrator" security feature to install a program. Usually if we install any other program (besides VLC), there is an immediate Windows popup asking something like "Click Yes if you want to install this program". This never happens with VLC installation and I think this is why the download completes, running VLC shuts down but the new VLC Update never installs. Hopefully the developer will read this forum thread and fix this problem in their next release.

[LiquidMerc]

I've encountered the update error too. Unless uploaded to multiple download sites it seems that file corruption is not the issue.

Add a driver file to handle the updates
1. kill all running processes in tree for VLC (depending on the error this may resolve easily)
2. then launch the installer program
3. upon successful exit/end of the update (copying over the new files) end the "driver" program you make

should be a simple fix and if you already are doing something similar then be sure to kill all running processes in tree for VLC and not just the VLC player process. Some windows processes probably are not closed out and "locked" so over-writing is causing an error?

Just a thought but this seems to be the case.

Good luck and I love this player!

[LiquidMerc]

FYI: I use Windows XP Service Pack 3 for the 2 PCs I have this installed in at my home; simillar issue with Windows Vista and Windows 7. Those have the "administrator" install and at times need to run from a command line (royal pain for the typical user).

Having a separate "driver" file to handle updates would be best as any down level processes used/initiated by VLC player will be killed (when you kill process tree). You may be doing this and why the crash. Make a separate non-VLC launched updater that is run or something. I don't program full time nor know the specific language you are using to be more of assistance. Hope this helps ya!

[Abinadi]

Hey eastcoaster, you are right. As soon as I read your post I remembered that is what I resorted to on the last update.. That time I stumbled onto the solution while poking around and is how I got it installed. This update needs the same work around. It had been just long enough since the 2.0.3 update that I had forgot.

And you are correct that the developer needs to fix this next time around. But I do feel that these guys do such a fantastic job with what they have created in VLC, that surely this can be forgiven.

If you use the auto update within the previous versions, it will give you the aforementioned error message and then the download disappears. Since it doesn't ask where you want to save it, it appears to only reside in operating memory and when it can't run, you also no longer have access to the downloaded installer.

For those who are having the same problem (and who are on Win7 OS) who are reading this thread, here is the method.

Go to the Videolan site and download the v2.0.4 installer program and save it where you can locate it.
Go to the location where the download was saved by you.
Right click and choose "Run as Administrator"
The installer will run and will ask if you want to uninstall the previous version.
Click Yes and it will proceed to take off the old version and then install the new one.

Thanks eastcoaster for your suggestion and the help.

[LiquidMerc]

Yup and the fix is what I put up A separate installer as you're doing (by downloading the file and not launching within the media player). Windows locks files that are in use (ie: can't delete a media file you have open in whatever media player you run) but you just get a locked error message in versions prior to Vista. The admin function is to over-ride any "in-use" files that the media player is relying on.

The crash out is more than likely the developer made it kill process tree (instead of killing the process to exit out of the player interface to apply the update), which will be the solution to apply updates effectively (version of Windows irregardless). This has to be performed from something in a different process thread (ending the process tree; otherwise you end the installer that was launched from within the same process thread and hence the crash of the installer). Won't take much effort, more than likely just overlooked since so easy to fix.

I'm not being hard on the developer, I dig his work, just giving him some simple nerd stuff he probably is overlooking in the monster program developed.

Good luck! (to the developer), and thanks!

[LiquidMerc]

for pre-vista users to work around the issue:
1. download the installer from VLC
2. open the VLC media player
3. open task manager
4. right click on the application (VLC media player) and select "Go to Process" (if your task manager isn't opening to the default tab of "Applications" select it and go to the VLC application listed or just choose in the Processes tab "vlc.exe" at least is the process name for my version of the install ** this is just to ensure no actively running downlevel processes in the VLC thread
5. when the highlighted process is listed in the Processes tab of the task manager: right mouse click on that highlighted process and choose End Process Tree (do not press the "End Process" button you must "End Process Tree" from the popup menu for it)
6. after process tree has ended then run the downloaded update

This is the same idea as using the "admin" feature meantioned by eastcoaster for installing in Vista and post OS's for MicroSoft. If this is overkill, I haven't tested... meaning if it installs fine w/o all of that then disregard for pre-vista. I've only had it crash out and from the error message I know it's due to trying to end process tree programmatically which then will end the installer too that was launched from it (and why you don't get the admin installer popup from vista and later since it's process was killed for/before the update to install)

[eastcoaster]

Hey eastcoaster, you are right. As soon as I read your post I remembered that is what I resorted to on the last update.. That time I stumbled onto the solution while poking around and is how I got it installed. This update needs the same work around. It had been just long enough since the 2.0.3 update that I had forgot.

And you are correct that the developer needs to fix this next time around. But I do feel that these guys do such a fantastic job with what they have created in VLC, that surely this can be forgiven.

If you use the auto update within the previous versions, it will give you the aforementioned error message and then the download disappears. Since it doesn't ask where you want to save it, it appears to only reside in operating memory and when it can't run, you also no longer have access to the downloaded installer.

For those who are having the same problem (and who are on Win7 OS) who are reading this thread, here is the method.

Go to the Videolan site and download the v2.0.4 installer program and save it where you can locate it.
Go to the location where the download was saved by you.
Right click and choose "Run as Administrator"
The installer will run and will ask if you want to uninstall the previous version.
Click Yes and it will proceed to take off the old version and then install the new one.

Thanks eastcoaster for your suggestion and the help.

You're welcome Abinadi
BTW: VLC needs improvements in many aspects and not just this flop update feature which has failed during the last two releases. Another example is when it comes to energy saving methods such as how every other Media Player allows the computer to turn off the monitor or allow the computer to sleep, hibernate or shutdown, as per Windows user's energy saving preferences. Instead VLC (while its running an active file while paused) prevents Windows from going into any of these energy saving modes even when not in Full Screen mode. More about this here: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=100211. Don't be surprised to experience this same update problem in 2.0.5 release because (In my experience) the developer ignores user feedback, messages and requests and even chooses not to respond to them. This in my opinion is not only a major turn off in terms of "donations" but also violates the basic principles of the Open Source movement.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

The most basic principle of open-soruce is that you scratch your own itches. If you don't scratch them, you should not expect some unspecified third party, certainly not hobbyist programmers unrelated to you, to scratch them on your behalf.

As you seem to be more into paying than waiting, I suggest you hire consultants to look specifically at your problems, rather than donate for no specifiable purpose.

[LiquidMerc]

Rémi Denis-Courmont : I don't believe he was being over critical on you (or whomever; I'm somewhat new to VLC). I know him personally. We've discussed the issue about the power saving. Something perhaps to add in to absolve his issue for power saving features in windows...

He informed me that when he'd pause when watching in full screen mode it wouldn't engage windows power saver controls. I did suggest he just physically turn off the monitor power to work around. But I do know that power saving is disabled when in "full-screen-mode" so perhaps when users click pause to pop it out of full screen mode after a timer counts down from maybe 30 seconds? I exlpained how we can see the effects of power saving when playing a game it won't turn off the monitor when in full screen mode, even if not in a game just at the setup screens.

My comments are just development suggestions (except for pre-Vista users that one is just in case something isn't closed out when the crash of the autoupdate feature). Since this is open source I can get involved to help then? I just noticed in your reply and would be interested to get my hands dirty. I've only been using VLC for under a year but truly love it so far. The extended audio and video formatting controls work great (with a more expanded audio mixer than Windows Media Player at least; I've screwed up the video settings one time playing with them but reset to default and we're fine again). I planned on using this (VLC) as a standard install for my new PC builds. However, the concerns about the power saver and the updater fizzling have worried me I'll be fielding service calls. If I can jump in and poke around to correct if possible, I'm willing to take a whack at it!

I'll look around this site more when I have some time, but if you have a direct link for me to review could you forward to me?

Thanks again!

PS: Eastcoaster: thanks for pointing out the install the separate file. This sold me on the issue needing corrected... I truly wasn't discounting your feedback my friend. So if it seems as though, don't fret, we're friends I'd never take credit for anything I shouldn't. I was just suggesting some feedback for the developers to correct.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

I thought the issue was when people did install in non-standard location. But maybe I am wrong.

[jfh]

I run XP SP3 and have never had a problem automatically installing previous updates of VLC - until 2.0.4. When I tried to install this one, I got a similar message as the one received by the author of this thread, MaximumEnigma. It had uninstalled 2.0.3, so I had to use the .exe file of that version to reinstall it (which, being a cyber pack rat, I had retained). Seems to work ok, except that now files will not open by left clicking the mouse. Instead, I have to open files in VLC using the context menu. I don't seem to have problems opening files by left clicking - except in VLC. Any help with this glitch appreciated.

[bb2]

Others have mentioned a failed update to 2.0.4 (as I had a similar problem from 2.0.2) but I noticed that it was installing to \ProgramFiles\VideoLan\VLC and the VLC directory still had a copy of 2.0.2 in it. I changed the install to \ProgramFiles\VideoLan and the install went fine. VLC is a great program - well done!

[eastcoaster]

The most basic principle of open-soruce is that you scratch your own itches. If you don't scratch them, you should not expect some unspecified third party, certainly not hobbyist programmers unrelated to you, to scratch them on your behalf.

As you seem to be more into paying than waiting, I suggest you hire consultants to look specifically at your problems, rather than donate for no specifiable purpose.

Rémi Denis-Courmon, after reading your comment, I assume you may not be aware, that VLC's home webpage has a "Donate" box on the top right corner. Do you think VLC users will be encouraged to donate to VLC after reading your "Scratch your own itches" comment, coming from a VLC developer? If we users should scratch our own itches, then why should we users donate to VLC? I am sure you are a talented developer and genuinely trying to help improve VLC player during your "hobbyist programming hours" but you certainly need to retake your public relations class for the benefit of VLC's donation collections and organization itself.

No, I am not into paying and if you take a look at that link I posted in my earlier message, I have patiently waited for more than six months not for a bug fix but at least a response from the developer named "VLC_Help" which never came. If I was into paying, I wouldn't be reporting bugs in an open source forum.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Rémi Denis-Courmon, after reading your comment, I assume you may not be aware, that VLC's home webpage has a "Donate" box on the top right corner. Do you think VLC users will be encouraged to donate to VLC after reading your "Scratch your own itches" comment, coming from a VLC developer? If we users should scratch our own itches, then why should we users donate to VLC?

Yes and there is also a "Why?" link that conspicuously does not mention software development and bug fixing:
http://www.videolan.org/contribute.html#money

I am sure you are a talented developer and genuinely trying to help improve VLC player during your "hobbyist programming hours" but you certainly need to retake your public relations class for the benefit of VLC's donation collections and organization itself.

So what do you prefer?

• being ignored,
• being told lies about upcoming bug fixes that will not materialize,
• being told the hard truth that your bug is not going to get fixed without external contributions.

Personally, I prefer the truth.

No, I am not into paying and if you take a look at that link I posted in my earlier message, I have patiently waited for more than six months not for a bug fix but at least a response from the developer named "VLC_Help" which never came. If I was into paying, I wouldn't be reporting bugs in an open source forum.

VLC_help is a volunteer answering questions and filling bugs, but not writing code (so far).