uninstall coreutils will Failed to update PowerShell profiles in pwsh.exe loss

[a-rookie-of-C-language]

因为卸载时会调用CurUninstallStepChanged最终会执行到pwsh.exe -NoProfile -NonInteractive -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File ...\pwsh-install.ps1 -Action Uninstall,它默认我本机上有pwsh.exe,但是遗憾的是我本机并没有于是报错Failed to update PowerShell profiles
所以这个问题的关键是:
安装阶段有 DetectPowerShell，会判断有没有可用 PowerShell；但卸载阶段没有重新检测，直接尝试清理 PowerShell profile。于是没有 pwsh.exe 的机器上就会报错。

但是我看到在 #40 这个pr中已经修复了这个问题,但是我任然在本机出现了这种状况,似乎是这个pr修改的内容没有出现在最新的winget包中,但是我依旧发现了一些问题, #40 是一个很窄的修复,它没有避免这几种情况:

• 卸载阶段仍然无条件调用InstallPowerShellProfiles(PWSH_SCOPE_NONE);
• 卸载阶段没有重新 DetectPowerShell
• 如果找到了某个 pwsh.exe，但脚本返回非 0，仍然会RaiseException('Failed to update PowerShell profiles...')然后整个卸载中断。
• PowerShell profile 清理本质上只是“附带清理”，不应该阻止卸载主程序、移除 PATH、删除安装目录。

[caomengxuan666]

Wtf, this reminds me of the NSIS problem. If you pack a software with cmake and nsis, after you install it, if you remove it from that directory manully, the uninstaller cannot find the primary executable and the uninstall will fail.

What's worse, you can't even reinstall it because it detects leftover registry entries. So you'd be stuck — the first step of reinstall is to uninstall, but uninstall needs the primary executable.

Have you ever tried reinstalling it? I'd say that if the reinstall path requires the executable, you may run into the serious problem I mentioned above. That is what I worried about most. Failed to uninstall seems like a tiny thing, but if you want to reinstall it, that leads to a funny deadlock.

[caomengxuan666]

Actually I just checked the code. This isn't exactly the same as the NSIS problem. The uninstaller doesn't depend on coreutils.exe — it depends on pwsh.exe + pwsh-install.ps1 in the install dir. If you have pwsh but deleted the install dir manually, uninstall tries to run pwsh-install.ps1 (which no longer exists), fails with an exception, and the whole uninstall aborts. Then you're stuck.

If you don't have pwsh at all, the ExecAndCaptureOutput('pwsh.exe', ...) returns false and it silently skips — so that case is fine. The trap is specifically: you have pwsh + you deleted the directory.

[a-rookie-of-C-language]

好消息是,我本机并不会出现这个问题,但是你的担忧是合理的,因为我做了两组实验,

第一组: 删 coreutils.exe

安装到临时目录。
手动删除：
.tmp-winget-reinstall-coreutils\coreutils.exe
跑普通：
winget install --id Microsoft.Coreutils --exact
结果：失败/跳过，提示已安装且没有升级：
找到已安装的现有包。正在尝试升级已安装的包...
找不到可用的升级。
跑winget install --id Microsoft.Coreutils --exact --force --location ...可修复

第二组: 删整个安装目录

安装到临时目录。
手动删除整个目录。
跑：
winget install --id Microsoft.Coreutils --exact --force --location ...
结果：成功重装，目录和 coreutils.exe 都恢复了。

[caomengxuan666]

What about the other case？

[caomengxuan666]

What about the other case？

I guess that would failed within 1s,this logic is dangerous.That may turn into another NSIS issue I mentioned above.

[a-rookie-of-C-language]

您的意思是第二种情况会出现一些潜在的问题吗?并且我的测试并没有覆盖到这种情况?

[caomengxuan666]

Actually I just checked the code. This isn't exactly the same as the NSIS problem. The uninstaller doesn't depend on coreutils.exe — it depends on pwsh.exe + pwsh-install.ps1 in the install dir.

Unfortunately,they are in the same folder.So,if someone remove it,I guess he would delete the whole folder instead of a single file.

All Roads lead to Rome,aha,since the uninstaller cannot be found yet...

[caomengxuan666]

您的意思是第二种情况会出现一些潜在的问题吗?并且我的测试并没有覆盖到这种情况?

The chain is: uninstall fails → registry still shows installed → reinstall triggers uninstall calls UninstallString (points to unins000.exe in {app} which is gone) → fails

The --force test bypasses this because winget install --force skips the installed check. But normal users going through Add/Remove Programs or running the installer without --force would get stuck.

I guess he would delete the whole folder instead of a single file.

Also you can notice that unins000.exe lives in {app} by default, same as coreutils.exe. No UninstallFilesDir is set in coreutils.iss. So deleting the install dir kills both the program and the uninstaller.Like metioned above,most pepele tend to delete the whole folder.

[a-rookie-of-C-language]

你说的是对的,如果不加--force选项,的确会遇到找不到可用的升级问题

[caomengxuan666]

你说的是对的,如果不加--force选项,的确会遇到找不到可用的升级问题

Of course failed to update

Without --force: The installer checks HKLM\...\Uninstall\{AppId}_is1 on startup → detects existing install → prompts to uninstall → tries UninstallString (points to {app}\unins000.exe) → file not found → users get "The uninstaller could not be found" → stuck.

winget install --force skips this check entirely and overwrites.

So the blocker is the Inno Setup installer itself, not winget.

I have met these issues before so I could predict the result so quickly(╥_╥)

[caomengxuan666]

你说的是对的,如果不加--force选项,的确会遇到找不到可用的升级问题

Wait,that maybe double problems...
the inner one is innosetup scripts and the outer one is from winget

I guess winget collects and stores the metadata somewhere and if you remove them manually, those would not be removed from the metsdata database.

[caomengxuan666]

I guess winget collects and stores the metadata somewhere and if you remove them manually, those would not be removed from the metsdata database.

But most software shared the problem,your pr seems enough for current cases.Such consideration could be delayed.

[levicki]

I am getting the error too on uninstall:

When I installed it, I let it integrate for all users.

My PowerShell is 7.62 though.

EDIT: If I manually remove global PATH entry I made it uninstalls correctly. I did not select add to PATH during install, I added it manually.

[a-rookie-of-C-language]

或许您可以尝试使用管理员方式运行看看