Update aborts during installation (.rbf)

[Anak]

Everytime when I try to update Calibre the .msi file aborts the installation with an error message. Write access file/folder .rbf (see attached screenshot).

I've tried to change all file and folder permissions on Windows to get all necessary permissions, but the installation still terminates prematurely.

Deleting all existing .rbf files before running the msi file did not solve the problem either. The MSI installer replaces it with a fresh one and terminates the installation prematurely. And rolls back to the previous installed version.

What does work is renaming the Calibre folder.
Renaming the existing Calibre folder from "D:\Program Files\Calibre2" to "D:\Program Files\Calibre2-old" and then execute the msi file. The update succeeds in "D:\Program Files\Calibre2".
However, with the next update I'm back at square one, ending up with an prematurely terminated update due to write/access permissions of the .rbf files.

P.S. This is not new to this version number of Calibre. I have this issue for at least 2 years now. I'm just a bit fed up with it and hopefully someone here knows a definitive solution to this recurring problem.


OS: Windows 11 Pro x264 and up to date.
Calibre installtion folder: D:\Program Files\Calibre2
Update file: Calibre x264 MSI (64-bit)
Error message: see attached screenshot

[kovidgoyal]

Uninstall, delete C:\\Program Files\\Calibre2
(or wherever you chose to install calibre). Then re-install. And
dont worry, uninstalling will not affect your books/settings.

[Anak]

Thanks for your reply. I was not worried about losing settings or losing my library (which is installed on an separate drive)

Uninstalling Calibre with the uninstaller didn't solve the issue.
After reinstalling Calibre (calibre-64bit-6.10.0.msi; the previous release) updating to 6.11.0 I ended up with the same .rbf error.

I have therefore opted for a more rigorous approach:
1) uninstalling Calibre with the uninstaller (Windows Control Panel)
2) Windows registery: removed all traces of of Calibre [mostly book/filetype associations]
3) Deleted all Calibre releated folders in %Appdata% (sub)folders [i.e. calibre, calibre-cache, calibre.parallel].
4) installed Calibre after rebooting the computer to the default location. C: drive.
Updating from 6.10 to 6.11 went smoothly. No more error messages.

Solved.

[kovidgoyal]

Dont update just install 6.11 after uninstalling. You wont need all those steps.

[Anak]

Thanks, for you reply. I'm just glad that my issue is solved.

I installed the previous version just to check if a future update to a newer version fixed the .rbf issue. For any other reason this is unnecessary.

2) Windows registery: removed all traces of of Calibre [mostly book/filetype associations]

I agree this step is also not necessary

3) Deleted all Calibre releated folders in %Appdata% (sub)folders [i.e. calibre, calibre-cache, calibre.parallel].

This was a necessary step.
A normal uninstall, or manually removing the Calibre installation folder, or renaming the Calibre installation folder. None of these would solve my installation issue when updating to a newer version.

Uninstalling Calibre, deleting or renaming the Calibre installation folder manually is what I've tried many times in the past but none solved the write access to .rbf files when updating Calibre and terminated the update prematurely. This is why I started this thread to find a definitive solution.