Why does the Nextcloud Windows client require a restart each update?

I’ve also got Seafile, Dropbox, OneDrive and Google Drive on my PC and none of them require closing Windows Explorer but then also a restart. What’s different about the Nextcloud client?

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They said it normally isn’t required when you use the MSI installer:

However there are still reports that there are issues with the update:

Since this is recent and some versions it was messed up, it is important to check which version you have and which installation source you use, before reporting issues.

It’s happened for my client and me on every single update for the year or so they’ve been running Nextcloud. On every computer AFAIK. Mine own PC has gone from W10 to W11 (clean install) and still does it. Good to see that it’s reported.

This is getting a bit annoying now esp. as there have been several new clients releases over the past few months. Now it’s great that they’re fixing bugs but this restart of Explorer and then the complete computer is really OTT. I recently rebuilt my PC with the MSI installer. Same problem.

I had the problem as well (if I don’t restart, it kills explorer.exe, desktop and explorer disappear, you can restart somehow via task manager, but in the end you have to restart. It won’t force you immediately, but not a good experience either).

I now wait for Windows update day, then I have to do a restart, I update the NC client as well and restart again.

I’ve just had another prompt to update, one assumes to v3.8.1 - and I wasn’t asked to reboot!

Indeed very annoying! Why? Other syncApplications like Dropbox and GoogleDrive don’t need a system reboot. Why does Nextcloud (which I started using because it’s less spammy) now suddenly need a system restart?

Suddenly? It’s always done it for us on all Windows computers.

There seems an bug report that is still open:

You can give it a thumbs up on the original post to show that you are affected as well. Just write a new comment if you have data/information to share about this bug.

If you have a more specific case (like this one: [Bug]: UPDATE requires a REBOOT because stuck by Notepad/Firefox/Windows EXPLORER · Issue #5251 · nextcloud/desktop · GitHub), it can be better to have a dedicated issue for that.

I’ve just had a remote session with a client and I asked why he hadn’t updated the Nextcloud client. He said he wasn’t able to because he doesn’t have admin rights. Which is of course increasingly common! Many smaller companies don’t have the infrastructure for automated software updates BUT have removed local admin rights quite rightly because of security concerns.

They have to engage with IT or disclose the local admin username/password. Which isn’t ideal either…

So the frequency of updates to the Nextcloud client is also a cause for concern. It feels like we’ve been getting one update a week recently!

Whilst not a big fan of OneDrive, it updates itself in the background without any special intervention of the user. Nextcloud could do with adopting this very useful function.

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Disable the update check and update the client once a month as part of the Microsoft Patch Day procedre (which by the way also requires a reboot).

Yes, that would help in the frequency of updates! But disabling automatic updates feels like a step backwards.

Seems like you’re residing between a rock and a hard place :wink:

Seriously, disabling automatic updates is probably the lesser of the two evils, at least until maybe someday, admin permissions and reboots are no longer needed. Until then, the development of the app takes place on GitHub. If you want to contribute, even if it’s just a feature request, you can do so here: GitHub - nextcloud/desktop: 💻 Desktop sync client for Nextcloud

But please search for open issues before you open a new one, because at least the “reboot issue” has already been discussed back and forth and back again… :wink:

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The Seafile SeaDrive client also requires Windows Explorer to close during update but it re-opens it afterwards and doesn’t require a reboot. I’d love to have the time to get involved (I miss developing software) but can’t right now.

I do have a background task to investigate cost-effective software deployment tools. I can see Cyber Essentials accreditation going down the route of banning all users from installing software by not letting them have a (secondary) admin account.

Agreed - Nextcloud updates and required reboots frequency is ridiculous.

It’s really annoying and makes me look for other solutions. Nextcloud has become the laughing stock of storage solutions, I am really disappointed that it is the only one that is mature enough on the open source market to “compete” with paid solutions.

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Well, in this case, the developers have clearly failed in their duty to ensure that no user will ever be disappointed or annoyed by using their software, which of course must be provided completely free of charge and cover every conceivable use case.

I mean, where would we end up if everyone could just develop software and give it away for free without it meeting all the needs and expectations of every possible user?

Hmm… to play devil’s advocate here but if you want to take part in the open source market, then you can’t be surprised if people complain even when they’re using the free version or not paying for support. Plus Nextcloud have Enterprise versions that a very much not free. I assume that paying clients have the same problem with the client? There have been three updates in about a month.

And very often when people express dismay like this, it’s because they really want the product to succeed and thrive but feel that some annoying faults let down what is overall a very good product. I’m also an advocate of Mikrotik network equipment. RouterOS is incredibly powerful and should rule the world. But it doesn’t.

The stability over the past releases does appear to be lower than usual. There has just been another release today. I’m assuming this very frequent release schedule and stability are not unconnected. So whilst we’re in gripe mode, why are the release notes so difficult to understand?

https://github.com/nextcloud/desktop/releases

I also use another great bit of open source: ShareX. It recently had a major release and I took the time to read it’s release notes:

https://getsharex.com/changelog

They’re IMO written in a much more user friendly manner. Github Nextcloud tickets are far too technical. Where they fail is that they explain the fix and not what bug they were fixing. I’ve got a client who has had horrible faults over the last month and I hoped I’d see a line that said “Fixed bug where Nextclient client stops responding”.

But you can see the difference between constructive criticism and a two-sentence post from someone who registered specifically to express their disappointment without elaborating on why they feel that way?

That was of course a rhetorical question, I know you can, just compare your posts with the one you’re playing devil’s advocate for :wink:

And this has nothing to do with open source, it has to do with the way you communicate in general. If you just throw out a one-liner without context or reason, just to express your frustration, you should expect a sarcastic response at best, because frankly I don’t find such posts worth responding to at all, but sometimes I just can’t help it :wink:

Of course I am aware that in our neo-capitalist world you can get a lot of free coffee for this kind of bad communication. But in the context of OSS, this strategy won’t work, because capitalist levers cannot be applied, since there is no capital involved, unless you have a support contract or contribute to the project in some other way. And that’s a good thing, imho. :slight_smile:

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And here’s my response to your actual post because, as I said, it’s constructive, meaning it addresses specific issues and provides examples of how those issues could be improved :slight_smile:

I think it’s more of a strategy driven by a sense of entitlement, which I really hate in today’s world. But who can tell from the two sentences that were posted!?

I guess you are referring to the desktop client, specifically the Windows client…?

I really can’t say much negative about the desktop client, as I’ve never experienced most of the issues discussed here in the forums. However, I’m just a home user running it on Linux (currently Fedora, previously Arch and Ubuntu), I don’t use Virtual Files, and I don’t have an enterprise like environment, just two users, no group folders, no external storage etc…

I think that’s a valid point, and I wish there were real curated changelogs for sysadmins, with advice on how to deal with breaking changes etc. At the moment the only options we have are a list of merged pull requests and occassional marketing posts on nextcloud.com. :wink:

However, Nextcloud is also a much larger and more complex project than searx, and it would probably be a full-time job to somehow “readactively” process all the changelogs of the server and the “featured” apps, plus desktop clients, plus the mobile app etc…

And I suppose there also must be some exclusive benefits left for the paying customers. I don’t know if they get better changelogs (I honestly doubt it :wink: ) but I guess they get more specialized support and consulting if they run into issues.