Problem with the last 2 updates installing

[BlueWotsit57]

Having problems installing the last 2 updates 7.25.0 or 7.26.0

Hope this is right forum to ask this question. Been using Calibre for years with Windows 10 but for both of these updates I keep getting the following error message stopping the install

Calibre 64 bit setup

Another installation is in progress. You must complete that installation before continuing with this one


I have not installed any software for ages, and other updates to software have been fine. Have googled the error message and looked in Task Manager but can not get this resolved

Can anyone help or redirect this to a more suitable forum

[theducks]

I assume some event happened prior to this. A power glitch or a forced restart of Windows. There may be remnants of a prior installation attempt that did not get cleaned up properly.

Have you rebooted the PC?

As an admin user, from the (admin) command prompt:

sfc /scannow

This is a MS tool to check (and fix) system files. It can take some time to complete (Minutes).

[BlueWotsit57]

Thank you for this.

I ran the scannow command and it found some errors which it said were fixed correctly.

Tried the update and still had same error. So I thought would try another approach as follows

1. Copied the directory of my books to a new drive, leaving originals intact
2. I tried then to uninstall Calibre - got same error
3. I tried a forced uninstall from a Utility program - same error
4. I did a registry clean and tried again - same error

What does not make sense to me is

1. All updates are actioned manually by myself the last I did was 7.21.0 I believe
2. Other updates to other software continue to work fine
3. I tried a couple of installs of other software they worked fine

So now I am at a total loss as you can see - very frustrating

[BlueWotsit57]

well I stil dont know how, but I ran several diagnostic progs, even a system restore none of which helped.

Eventually managed to uninstall, then downloaded again and this time it worked - hopefully next update will work fine for me

[PeterT]

This is not a calibre issue; rather it's a common Microsoft Installer issue.

Next time try googling for "Another installation is in progress. You must complete that installation before continuing with this one" and following the suggestions google will present.

[JSWolf]

If that error ever happens again, one thing you can try is to download the installer (unless you've kept it) for the version you are using ad do a repair install and see if that works.

[BlueWotsit57]

There were lots of solutions when I googled it, but none of the many I tried worked

What was also strange was that my System Restore points had vanished - very strange, but all seems to be working now

I found some code online which I had to paste into an Admin controlled CMD and I think that was what solved it

Thanks for all the input

[theducks]

Just a side note:
If this was a CALIBRE INSTALLER issue, these forums would be alive with comments about said issue.

FWIW I have 2 @ W10 64 bit systems on my desk. The older (HW) one won't run all of Calibre past 7.16 (The never ending spin for the Viewer). There are no UPDATES for drivers.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by theducks

There are no UPDATES for drivers.

Have you tried downgrading the video drivers to the version shipped with the adapter. Most video driver updates are targetted at later versions of hardware… which by definition you don't have.

Has doing this fixed problems with calibre/Qt? - Yes.

I haven't updated a video driver or associated bloatware for decades. And I don't allow any driver updates via Windows Update either, currently there are 8 available and that's where they'll stay. I don't play video games.

BR

[theducks]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Have you tried downgrading the video drivers to the version shipped with the adapter. Most video driver updates are targetted at later versions of hardware… which by definition you don't have.

Has doing this fixed problems with calibre/Qt? - Yes.

I haven't updated a video driver or associated bloatware for decades. And I don't allow any driver updates via Windows Update either, currently there are 8 available and that's where they'll stay. I don't play video games.

BR

No, I had not. But, then again, the system was a Dell refurb shipped with W7pro and it did not have the original Dell discs.
Even if I did, I would need to stop W10 from updating it. (I had this problem with a Turtle Beach Audio, the XP kept downgrading because it mis-detected (the TB card used the same main chip, but did way more. )

[Jaws]

The good news: It's probably not Calibre.

The bad news: It's probably part of Windows, specifically the Windows Installer (introduced for Windows 2000 and the architecture has remained the same since, making it about 120 in internet years). I had this exact problem with 7.14 and 7.25 on both Windows 10 and Windows 11 machines — and was able to fix it quickly.

The not-so-bad news: Many of these errors (especially error codes 2502 and 2503) happen when the installer (msiexec.exe) doesn't correctly synchronize its idea of the machine state with the actual machine state. And it doesn't require a reinstallation of the installer, just reregistering it and immediately rebooting.

First, close all programs (including social media!), and preferably close your internet connection.
Open a command window with administrator privileges, from the context menu if you're set up that way or otherwise Win-S, search for "cmd", then select "run as administrator". (The Win-R method doesn't always work.)
Type the following commands in, hitting the [Enter] key after each line:

msiexec /unreg
msiexec /regserver

Now close the command window and immediately reboot (because you absolutely, positively do not want some background process trying to update.)
After the reboot is complete and you've logged back in, retry the failed installation.

[tomsem]

You could add this to reboot:

shutdown /r

[Jaws]

Originally Posted by tomsem

You could add this to reboot:

That works sometimes, but there appears to be something in the interface between msiexec and Windows Explorer that doesn't always resynch when rebooting from the command line, requiring repeated deregister/reregister cycles. I infer that rebooting from the GUI does something in a different order (or even just something different) than reboot from a command window, but what documentation there is doesn't reveal anything.