Same problem -- today, one at a time, all my remote desktops have failed. Symptoms are as the OP. If I check the CRD service, it is stopped, try and start and I get an error 1053.

I checked the remote desktop app, and the box "enable remote connections" has re-appeared. Click that and it downloads the msi to install remote services. Run the downloaded msi, and it starts to say "gathering information" -- then just shuts down.

I tried uninstalling the extension, and CRD from control panel, then rebooted, re added the extension, click enable remote connections, same result.

All this happened today, presumably as the various machines go some sort of google update.

So, for now, remote desktop is totally unusable....  :(

@g: The temporary fix is to go to Windows Control Panel - Programs, and uninstall the Chrome Remote Desktop Host. Then reopen CRD and a new version of the installer .msi will download. Run that and you should be good until the next time this happens. 

I'm beginning to suspect it happens when Chrome updates automatically...which happened to me most recently last Monday. The first time I tried to get in (today, Wednesday) it was out to lunch.    

That temporary fix definitely does *NOT* work for me.
Process: Uninstall CRD from CP. Reboot now to ensure service is removed.
Install new .msi 
Once installed, the service is not running and throws a 1053 error if you try and start it. Back to square one.

Joe, can you follow up with debugging steps? It's possible that the latest Windows release is broken, although I don't see evidence of widespread problems in our stats.

If it helps debugging at all, I had to reboot Windows to get the installer to believe I had admin on the box. That's never happened before, although this "CRD Host becomes disabled" thing has happened at least twice before on this machine...incidents are months apart, which is what makes me wonder if it's related to Chrome updates.    

What debugging steps would you like done? Not sure how to get more useful info on a service won't start 1053 error? I think if the service started all would be ok... 

#CBC-RS/TC-watchlist

Let's be clear that G's symptoms are different from mine. He's getting the 1053 error and I'm not.

Let's not end up back in the space that previous "My CRD Host died" issues have, where somebody realizes there's more than one failure syndrome and closes the issue in hopes that the individual syndrome victims will open separate issues. 

Seconded! And sill happy to try and find more about the 1053 error.. if someone can advise how...

For the original issue reported, is the chromoting service running when it is disconnected?  If it is stopped, can you start it via 'net start chromoting'?

It would be good to capture some logs while restarting the service or attempting to re-enable it for connections.  It may indicate the problem that caused it to fail in the first place.

Can you try installing sawbuck (per the instructions here: https://www.chromium.org/for-testers/enable-logging) and capturing debug output when you try to start the service (or enable it for connections if that also fails).

Once Sawbuck is installed, launch it (as admin) and go to Log->Configure Providers.  Set the log level field for Chromoting to 'Verbose' and the log level for the other providers to 'none'.  Then select log->capture and run through the steps to restart/re-enable the service.

Once you run through the scenario, you can select the trace lines in Sawbuck and copy (Ctrl+C only, I don't think there is a menu item for copying/exporting) and attach it to the bug.

Thanks!

Joe: On my end, the service was running when it disconnected. Next time it happens I'll install and set up sawbuck as instructed and try "net start chromoting" to see if that restores it. 

Unfortunately the notional case where this happens is when I'm away from the machine the service is on...of course. :-) 

That's one of the problems debugging the host is that it is usually a remote machine (which provides the value when it is working properly) :)

For the 1053 errors, let's open a new bug (feel free to assign to me) with sawbuck traces.

I'll try sawbuck as soon as i can get to a machine. Meantime. I tried net start chromoting earlier (previously I'd tried using services.msc):

C:\WINDOWS>net start chromoting
The service is not responding to the control function.
More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 2186.

C:\WINDOWS>net helpmsg 2186
The service is not responding to the control function.
EXPLANATION
The service cannot run your command at this time.

Not very helpful!

Ok, so, running sawbuck, chromoting set to show all, verbose, trying to start the service with either services.msc or net start...  creates no errors in sawbuck.

If I open the remote desktop app, I get:
INFORMATION	2580	3204	11:18:51-424	CONSOLE	0	"Unchecked runtime.lastError while running contextMenus.create: Cannot create item with duplicate id new-window
    at new remoting.ActivationHandler (chrome-extension://gbchcmhmhahfdphkhkmpfmihenigjmpp/activation_handler.js:41:23)
    at BackgroundPage.preInit_ (chrome-extension://gbchcmhmhahfdphkhkmpfmihenigjmpp/background.js:47:31)
    at new BackgroundPage (chrome-extension://gbchcmhmhahfdphkhkmpfmihenigjmpp/background.js:24:8)
    at chrome-extension://gbchcmhmhahfdphkhkmpfmihenigjmpp/background.js:59:29", source: chrome-extension://gbchcmhmhahfdphkhkmpfmihenigjmpp/background.html (0)
INFORMATION	2580	3204	11:18:52-254	CONSOLE	57	"Writing Event - {"type":5,"cpu":"","os_version":"5.1","os":4,"browser_version":"49.0.2623.23","webapp_version":"50.0.2661.22","application_id":"gbchcmhmhahfdphkhkmpfmihenigjmpp","role":0}", source: chrome-extension://gbchcmhmhahfdphkhkmpfmihenigjmpp/xhr_event_writer.js (57)
INFORMATION	2580	3204	11:18:54-393	CONSOLE	122	"App mode: home", source: chrome-extension://gbchcmhmhahfdphkhkmpfmihenigjmpp/ui_mode.js (122)
ERROR	2580	1716	11:18:54-703	c:\b\build\slave\win\build\src\chrome\browser\extensions\api\messaging\native_message_process_host.cc	338	Error when writing to Native Messaging host: -101
INFORMATION	2580	3204	11:18:54-213	CONSOLE	86	"Chrome Remote Desktop version: 50.0.2661.22 (v2)", source: chrome-extension://gbchcmhmhahfdphkhkmpfmihenigjmpp/application.js (86)
INFORMATION	2580	3204	11:18:54-762	CONSOLE	115	"Native Message port disconnected", source: chrome-extension://gbchcmhmhahfdphkhkmpfmihenigjmpp/console_wrapper.js (115)
INFORMATION	2580	3204	11:18:54-762	CONSOLE	130	"Pairing registry not supported by host.", source: chrome-extension://gbchcmhmhahfdphkhkmpfmihenigjmpp/crd_main.js (130)
INFORMATION	2580	3204	11:18:54-763	CONSOLE	27	"Host version not available.", source: chrome-extension://gbchcmhmhahfdphkhkmpfmihenigjmpp/host_controller.js (27)
ERROR	2580	1716	11:18:55-185	c:\b\build\slave\win\build\src\chrome\browser\extensions\api\messaging\native_message_process_host.cc	338	Error when writing to Native Messaging host: -101
INFORMATION	2580	3204	11:18:55-188	CONSOLE	115	"Native Message port disconnected", source: chrome-extension://gbchcmhmhahfdphkhkmpfmihenigjmpp/console_wrapper.js (115)
INFORMATION	2580	3204	11:18:55-189	CONSOLE	130	"Pairing registry not supported by host.", source: chrome-extension://gbchcmhmhahfdphkhkmpfmihenigjmpp/crd_main.js (130)
ERROR	2580	1716	11:18:56-239	c:\b\build\slave\win\build\src\components\nacl\browser\pnacl_host.cc	454	TranslationFinished: TranslationID 59,287913113 not found.

Does that help at all?!

Was that any use? Anything else I can try to debug?

The issue gpa@ is experiencing is being tracked by  crbug.com/600116 .

margaret.leber@, when you experience this error, is the CRD service running on the host machine?  I'd like to understand whether this is a case of the windows CRD service being stopped or if the service is running but not available.

joedow@ When the failure is observed, I'm expecting the service to be running, but cannot reach it. I have not yet checked the status of the service after a failure beyond running the CRD app and noting that the machine shows itself to be "offline since {time}", but does not offer to enable itself. They next time it fails I will be certain to discover if it is actually running before "fixing" it by deleting and reinstalling.  

This is my system event log filtered for the word "chrome"... the activity on the afternoon of 3/30 was the reinstall. The flurry on 3/19 is interesting. 


Information	3/30/2016 12:11:23	Service Control Manager	7040	None	The start type of the Chrome Remote Desktop Service service was changed from demand start to auto start.
Service Name:  Chrome Remote Desktop Service
Service File Name:  ""C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome Remote Desktop\50.0.2661.22\remoting_host.exe"" --type=daemon --host-config=""C:\ProgramData\Google\Chrome Remote Desktop\host.json""
Information	3/19/2016 18:55:37	Service Control Manager	7040	None	The start type of the Chrome Remote Desktop Service service was changed from demand start to auto start.
Information	3/19/2016 18:55:20	Service Control Manager	7040	None	The start type of the Chrome Remote Desktop Service service was changed from auto start to demand start.
Information	3/19/2016 18:54:29	Service Control Manager	7040	None	The start type of the Chrome Remote Desktop Service service was changed from demand start to auto start.
Service Name:  Chrome Remote Desktop Service
Service File Name:  ""C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome Remote Desktop\49.0.2623.40\remoting_host.exe"" --type=daemon --host-config=""C:\ProgramData\Google\Chrome Remote Desktop\host.json""
Information	2/17/2016 17:15:54	Service Control Manager	7040	None	The start type of the Chrome Remote Desktop Service service was changed from demand start to auto start.
Service Name:  Chrome Remote Desktop Service
Service File Name:  ""C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome Remote Desktop\49.0.2623.40\remoting_host.exe"" --type=daemon --host-config=""C:\ProgramData\Google\Chrome Remote Desktop\host.json""
Information	11/13/2015 10:53:29	Service Control Manager	7040	None	The start type of the Chrome Remote Desktop Service service was changed from demand start to auto start.
Service Name:  Chrome Remote Desktop Service
Service File Name:  ""C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome Remote Desktop\47.0.2526.18\remoting_host.exe"" --type=daemon --host-config=""C:\ProgramData\Google\Chrome Remote Desktop\host.json""
Information	9/28/2015 19:17:42	Service Control Manager	7040	None	The start type of the Chrome Remote Desktop Service service was changed from demand start to auto start.
Service Name:  Chrome Remote Desktop Service
Service File Name:  ""C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome Remote Desktop\46.0.2490.13\remoting_host.exe"" --type=daemon --host-config=""C:\ProgramData\Google\Chrome Remote Desktop\host.json""
Information	9/28/2015 14:50:01	Service Control Manager	7040	None	The start type of the Chrome Remote Desktop Service service was changed from demand start to auto start.
Service Name:  Chrome Remote Desktop Service
Service File Name:  ""C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome Remote Desktop\45.0.2454.17\remoting_host.exe"" --type=daemon --host-config=""C:\ProgramData\Google\Chrome Remote Desktop\host.json""
Service Name:  Chrome Remote Desktop Service
Service File Name:  ""C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome Remote Desktop\45.0.2454.17\remoting_host.exe"" --type=daemon --host-config=""C:\ProgramData\Google\Chrome Remote Desktop\host.json""
Information	9/7/2015 08:33:41	Service Control Manager	7040	None	The start type of the Chrome Remote Desktop Service service was changed from demand start to auto start.

On 3/19, did you disable and re-enable connections via the webapp for that host?

OK, the problem finally re-occurred today. Let's see what I can see...

The Chrome Remote Desktop service shows as "stopped", with a startup type of "disabled". I last used the service 6/1 around noontime Eastern, so that narrows the range of interest.

The service was observed to be unavailable this morning at around 10:15 ET. 

And I think we have a winner: "Product: Chrome Remote Desktop Host -- Error 1923. Service '@C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome Remote Desktop\51.0.2704.7\remoting_core.dll,-101' (chromoting) could not be installed. Verify that you have sufficient privileges to install system services." was logged at 08:35. And again at 13:34. 

I try to reset the service for automatic startup and am told it is "marked for deletion". The Start/Stop/Pause/Resume buttons are greyed out. 

I need to have this working tomorrow. I'm going to delete and reinstall the service. 

Now the service will not install simply by clicking on it, it will only install from an Administrator command prompt using 

msiexec /a chromeremotedesktophost.msi

...and now Services says Description: <Failed to Read Description. Error Code: 2 > 

this is all boogered up, I've come to depend on being able to use this and now it's suddenly flat on its back and unusable. 

This is good information, I've seen this in a case where the service is partially uninstalled and needs a reboot to complete.  Just curious, have you tried rebooting to see if that clears out the old install/service entries?

No, but I will. BRB.  

Rebooting seems to be what that "marked for deletion" business is about. I managed to get the service installed (it showed up as manual start, so I marked it for auto start and started it). 

Now the enable dialog gives me a bright purple banner across the screen: "This app can't run on your PC"

Twice. I dismiss it once and it comes up again.

This much is still working...

Log Name:      Application
Source:        chromoting
Date:          6/2/2016 17:25:06
Event ID:      5
Task Category: Host
Level:         Information
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      megelaar
Description:
Host started for user: margaret.leber@gmail.com.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="chromoting" />
    <EventID Qualifiers="16384">5</EventID>
    <Level>4</Level>
    <Task>1</Task>
    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2016-06-02T21:25:06.000000000Z" />
    <EventRecordID>72404</EventRecordID>
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer>megelaar</Computer>
    <Security />
  </System>
  <EventData>
    <Data>margaret.leber@gmail.com</Data>
  </EventData>
</Event>

Clicking 'Enable remote connections' in the CRD app will launch our native messaging host executable.  I'm wondering if that component wasn't registered correctly.  Can you try to uninstall/reinstall the host one more time (if you haven't already)?  I wasn't able to repro this problem so I'm thinking it is related to the original issue (the reboot required problem).

OK...and I'll reboot after the uninstall. 

Watching carefully, the purple banner actually comes up three times, if that matters. 

OK, that got it this time. 

I did the uninstall in Control Panel/Programs, too the additional precaution of uninstalling the Chrome app, rebooted, went through the entire install and everything seems to be working again. 

I appreciate your quick response...and hope I've been able to provide some helpful data. I *love* the combination of CRD and my Chromebook, and am a Sad Panda indeed when it stops working.   

Happy to do anything I can to help make all this operate more smoothly and reliably in the future. 

Glad to hear it is working, I will see what I can find out with the additional information.

Thanks!

Is there any chance you had the CRD webapp open on that machine at the time of the update (this time or the previous instances)?

I have a theory that the MSI does not complete its installation if the CRD app is open when the update occurs and it would be interesting to see if that is the case for you.

Um... I really don't think so. 

I can't say with absolute certainty that it was not running minimized, but in general I run it on the failed machine machine only rarely. (Which is why it's a surprise when I discover it's disabled.)

My use case is: I have the server running on a mostly-stationary Windows gaming laptop and a Linux desktop tower running somewhat headless (actually has a vidcard that's usually not attached to a running monitor but X only runs on the CRD). The Linux box has never ever failed like this (although the Ubuntu manual updates have been entertaining because of 

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2016/03/fix-failed-to-fetch-google-chrome-apt-error-ubuntu

Anyway, the CRD app is very occasionally run from the Windows box to the Linux box, but I run from a remote Chromebook to the Windows box at least two days a week with occasional visits to the Linux server as well.

It's when I crank up the Chromebook at my downtown office that I discover that the Windows CRD service is down.      

Crap. It's back, with a vengeance. 

Is this a case of the host service not running or is there something else going on?

We've pushed a few host updates since last June, have you continued to experience the problems previously described or was this the first recurrence?

It's seemed relatively stable until this month. I've had to kick it every once in a while. Judging by the event logs, once in February, once in January, and before that in November (56.0.2924.51). But it's always yielded to being reinstalled. 

Now I can't keep it up for more than a couple of hours. There's a stream of "Product: Chrome Remote Desktop Host -- Error 1923. Service '@C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome Remote Desktop\57.0.2987.37\remoting_core.dll,-101' (chromoting) could not be installed. Verify that you have sufficient privileges to install system services." that now repeats every five hours or so. 

Here's the history:

Error	4/13/2017 15:51:55	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/13/2017 10:52:16	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/13/2017 05:51:36	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/13/2017 00:51:35	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/12/2017 19:52:07	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/12/2017 14:52:05	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/12/2017 09:52:06	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/12/2017 04:52:21	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/11/2017 23:51:59	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/11/2017 21:57:49	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/11/2017 21:57:48	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/11/2017 21:57:48	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/11/2017 21:57:47	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/11/2017 21:51:51	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/11/2017 21:42:48	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/11/2017 21:42:47	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/11/2017 21:42:47	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/11/2017 21:42:46	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/11/2017 18:51:42	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/11/2017 13:51:50	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/11/2017 08:51:25	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/11/2017 03:51:47	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/10/2017 22:46:06	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/10/2017 17:46:41	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/10/2017 12:46:22	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/10/2017 07:46:08	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/10/2017 02:46:03	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/9/2017 21:46:16	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/9/2017 16:46:22	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/9/2017 11:46:44	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/9/2017 06:46:51	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/9/2017 01:46:20	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/8/2017 20:46:05	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/8/2017 15:46:02	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/8/2017 10:46:54	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/8/2017 08:11:23	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/8/2017 08:07:49	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/8/2017 08:06:37	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/8/2017 08:06:36	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/8/2017 08:06:35	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/8/2017 05:46:30	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/8/2017 00:46:46	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/7/2017 19:46:01	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/7/2017 14:46:29	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/7/2017 09:46:36	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/7/2017 04:46:49	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/6/2017 23:46:10	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/6/2017 18:45:59	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/6/2017 13:46:48	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/6/2017 08:46:56	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/6/2017 03:46:56	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/5/2017 22:46:30	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/5/2017 16:46:47	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/5/2017 11:46:46	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/5/2017 06:46:03	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/5/2017 00:46:26	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/4/2017 19:45:58	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/4/2017 14:46:53	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/4/2017 09:46:01	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/4/2017 04:46:02	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/3/2017 23:47:26	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/3/2017 17:46:25	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/3/2017 12:46:42	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/3/2017 07:46:48	MsiInstaller	11923	None

Error	2/16/2017 07:46:16	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/16/2017 01:46:16	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/15/2017 20:46:35	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/15/2017 15:46:29	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/15/2017 10:46:12	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/15/2017 05:46:27	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/15/2017 00:46:50	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/14/2017 19:46:20	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/14/2017 14:46:47	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/14/2017 09:46:54	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/14/2017 04:46:13	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/13/2017 23:46:17	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/13/2017 18:46:14	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/13/2017 13:46:14	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/13/2017 08:46:33	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/13/2017 02:46:40	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/12/2017 21:46:27	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/12/2017 16:46:50	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/12/2017 11:46:00	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/12/2017 05:46:42	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/12/2017 00:46:33	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/11/2017 19:46:34	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/11/2017 14:46:08	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/11/2017 09:46:13	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/11/2017 04:46:07	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/10/2017 23:46:54	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/10/2017 18:46:37	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/10/2017 12:46:15	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/10/2017 06:46:53	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/10/2017 01:46:12	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/9/2017 20:46:24	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/9/2017 15:46:21	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/9/2017 10:46:06	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/9/2017 05:46:14	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/9/2017 00:46:50	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/8/2017 19:46:42	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/8/2017 14:46:14	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/8/2017 09:46:25	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/8/2017 04:46:23	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/7/2017 23:46:49	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/7/2017 18:46:18	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/7/2017 13:46:51	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/7/2017 08:46:11	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/7/2017 03:46:03	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/6/2017 22:46:41	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/6/2017 17:48:11	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/6/2017 12:46:01	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/6/2017 07:46:04	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/6/2017 02:46:37	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/5/2017 20:46:23	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/5/2017 14:46:42	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/5/2017 09:46:06	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/5/2017 04:46:40	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/4/2017 23:46:30	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/4/2017 18:46:22	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/4/2017 13:46:20	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/4/2017 08:45:59	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/4/2017 03:46:45	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/3/2017 22:46:20	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/3/2017 17:46:38	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/3/2017 12:46:25	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/3/2017 07:46:34	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/3/2017 02:46:27	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/2/2017 21:46:22	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/2/2017 16:46:45	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/2/2017 11:46:44	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/2/2017 06:46:52	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/2/2017 01:46:29	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/1/2017 20:46:16	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/1/2017 15:46:33	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/1/2017 10:46:48	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/1/2017 05:46:35	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	2/1/2017 00:46:36	MsiInstaller	11923	None

Error	1/31/2017 19:46:10	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	1/31/2017 13:46:41	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	1/31/2017 08:46:28	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	1/31/2017 03:46:52	MsiInstaller	11923	None <<<<  begin 56.0.2924.51

Error	11/13/2016 18:40:36	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	11/13/2016 13:40:06	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	11/13/2016 08:40:59	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	11/13/2016 03:40:16	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	11/12/2016 22:40:08	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	11/12/2016 17:40:06	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	11/12/2016 12:40:24	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	11/12/2016 07:40:10	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	11/12/2016 02:40:25	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	11/11/2016 21:40:37	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	11/11/2016 16:40:42	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	11/11/2016 11:40:44	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	11/11/2016 06:40:34	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	11/11/2016 01:41:05	MsiInstaller	11923	None <<< 55.0.2883.17

It seems like the update component is retrying every few hours, I think that makes sense given that the install is likely returning an error code.

What broke the previous cycles?  Did you uninstall/reinstall to get the latest MSI?  Or did it eventually work w/o intervention?

Capturing a host log (sawbuck instructions at https://www.chromium.org/for-testers/enable-logging) *may* be interesting, it should be easier this time since it is occurring so frequently.

One other note, be sure to set logging to 'None' for every component in Sawbuck, save for Chromoting (which should be 'Information'.

When I'd see the host entry greyed-out, I'd go uninstall/reinstall. I don't think it's a matter of "latest msi" because the release number in the failure event only changed where I noted above: 55.0.2883.17 on 11/11/2016 and 56.0.2924.51 beginning on 1/31/2017, so we have multiple lock-ups per version. 

I"m going to rip everything out, reboot, start Sawbuck, and try to reproduce the fail.  

OK, went through the drill and reinstalled. It seems to be running now; I will leave Sawbuck running until we capture the fail, if there is one. 

Seven hours later (16:00 local) I check and it's down:

Error	4/14/2017 11:51:58	MsiInstaller	11923	None <<< new fail; CRD last heard 11:47 (see screenshot)

Product: Chrome Remote Desktop Host -- Error 1923. Service '@C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome Remote Desktop\57.0.2987.37\remoting_core.dll,-101' (chromoting) could not be installed. Verify that you have sufficient privileges to install system services.

Nothing logged by Sawbuck

Error	4/14/2017 06:52:16	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/14/2017 01:51:43	MsiInstaller	11923	None
Error	4/13/2017 20:51:32	MsiInstaller	11923	None

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Waitasecond... I just looked at C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome Remote Desktop, and the only directory in it is \56.0.2924.51\. The fail is trying to install into \57.0.2987.37\, which isn't there. 

I wonder if that is the problem? 

I just copied the 56.0... directory (which was last touched this morning at 11:51 local) and renamed the copy to 57.0...

I'm going to see if I can get the CRD service restarted.

I don't remember my OS-level filesystem commands in detail but I seem to recall that down low the OS won't create intervening directories for a new file if they don't exist.  

Curiouser and curiouser... I just uninstalled the CRD service from Control Panel/Programs. Both directories are still there. The 56.0... one has been cleared out except for TBM655D.tmp, TBM735B.tmp and TBM2178.tmp. It's only now that I'm noticing that all those files, and everything in the 57.0... copy have a datestamp of 1/3/2017, which means they really are the 56.0 version.

After uninstalling the service, there is still a HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\chromoting key in the registry: 

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\chromoting]
"Type"=dword:00000010
"Start"=dword:00000004
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000000
"ImagePath"=hex(2):22,00,43,00,3a,00,5c,00,50,00,72,00,6f,00,67,00,72,00,61,00,\
  6d,00,20,00,46,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,73,00,20,00,28,00,78,00,38,00,36,00,29,\
  00,5c,00,47,00,6f,00,6f,00,67,00,6c,00,65,00,5c,00,43,00,68,00,72,00,6f,00,\
  6d,00,65,00,20,00,52,00,65,00,6d,00,6f,00,74,00,65,00,20,00,44,00,65,00,73,\
  00,6b,00,74,00,6f,00,70,00,5c,00,35,00,36,00,2e,00,30,00,2e,00,32,00,39,00,\
  32,00,34,00,2e,00,35,00,31,00,5c,00,72,00,65,00,6d,00,6f,00,74,00,69,00,6e,\
  00,67,00,5f,00,68,00,6f,00,73,00,74,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,22,00,20,00,\
  2d,00,2d,00,74,00,79,00,70,00,65,00,3d,00,64,00,61,00,65,00,6d,00,6f,00,6e,\
  00,20,00,2d,00,2d,00,68,00,6f,00,73,00,74,00,2d,00,63,00,6f,00,6e,00,66,00,\
  69,00,67,00,3d,00,22,00,43,00,3a,00,5c,00,50,00,72,00,6f,00,67,00,72,00,61,\
  00,6d,00,44,00,61,00,74,00,61,00,5c,00,47,00,6f,00,6f,00,67,00,6c,00,65,00,\
  5c,00,43,00,68,00,72,00,6f,00,6d,00,65,00,20,00,52,00,65,00,6d,00,6f,00,74,\
  00,65,00,20,00,44,00,65,00,73,00,6b,00,74,00,6f,00,70,00,5c,00,68,00,6f,00,\
  73,00,74,00,2e,00,6a,00,73,00,6f,00,6e,00,22,00,00,00
"DisplayName"="@C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Google\\Chrome Remote Desktop\\56.0.2924.51\\remoting_core.dll,-101"
"ObjectName"="LocalSystem"
"Description"="@C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Google\\Chrome Remote Desktop\\56.0.2924.51\\remoting_core.dll,-102"
"FailureActions"=hex:80,51,01,00,01,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,14,00,00,\
  00,01,00,00,00,60,ea,00,00,01,00,00,00,60,ea,00,00,01,00,00,00,60,ea,00,00
"DeleteFlag"=dword:00000001

See screenshot. It seems the app in the store is downloading an installer configured to use a downlevel directory name. Or something.  

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OK, I'm running again, but the installer installed the files for the 56.0... version with the January dates.

Are we possibly having confusion between the version of the client and the version of the server? Maybe the client is using his own version number to diddle the server install instead of the current server version?

I expect to see it crap again in about five hours.

A couple of things (thank you for the details):
1.) We released the new version of the host via the updater but had not changed the link that is used by the client.  I have fixed that (i.e. you should get 57.X if you tried the un-install / re-install dance again)

2.) The problem is definitely occurring when updating.  It seems like the installer thinks CRD files are in use and does not complete the upgrade.  This happens repeatedly until some event allows the update to succeed.

Can you install process explorer and find out which processes have 'remoting_core.dll' open?  If the CRD service is running, but no one is connected, you should only see two remoting_host.exe processes with a handle open.

Process explorer link:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/processexplorer.aspx

Open the exe as admin and select the 'find handle or dll' option in the find menu.

Sure, I've been using ProcessExplorer for years. Looking...oh crap, it died already...*nobody* has remoting_core open. 

Back in a few minutes...

Looking at the error message again, this might not be the files in use case.  It's still interesting to see if any other process has a handle open to the *core.dll but not as likely a cause.

I'll look more into that error.

I've seen one anecdotal comment that the error you see can occur if the services.msc window is open.  I couldn't reproduce the problem on Windows 10 with those steps but I think you are running 8.1 so perhaps it is an issue there?

Do you regularly have the services window open on that machine? 

No, Services is almost always closed. 

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Crap. In cleaning up all the stale host entries, I accidently deleted the other two machines I had servers on. Have to remember to re-enable them on Monday.

Wow. After opening the client, everybody's got their fingers in the pie. 

And this list happened *after the client was closed*. Looks like his exe is still running.

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OK, the client stuff did clean up eventually.

It's been stable since the last full install. Updating the service installer link in the client may have been the win. I'll update here if it happens again.

I expect that it will happen during the next Host update we send out.  I think this problem is specific to your machine (I haven't had other reports and cannot repro it locally).

Do you have Antivirus software (or a similar type of protection or management software) running on that machine?

Is the machine affected by a group policy or had permissions/groups changed by yourself or a network administrator?

No antivirus (beyond what Win8.1 provides) and no group policies. It's my personal machine, and I'm the only admin. 

This morning I reinstated the host paring with my work machine (Fedora 25) that was accidently deleted over the weekend...now I'm at home and it's offline, last-seen at 09:25. The Ubuntu and Win8.1 hosts here at home are both fine now...I had applied the pending Fedora maint *before* reinstating the CRD pairing. 

Is it possible that two-factor authentication is involved somehow?

I don't think so.  Based on the 1923 error code and the logs I've seen, something is running on your machine which is preventing the Chromoting service from being correctly updated.  That is why you saw the 'DeleteFlag:1" entry in your registry (comment #51).

I've seen other people have problems with the Windows services control panel being open or AV software keeping a handle open to the service so Windows cannot finish the update successfully.  That is also why a reboot allows the update to succeed as nothing is running during boot so the update completes w/o incident.

The problem on Windows is not account related and is specific to this platform (i.e. Linux uses a different install/upgrade mechanism.  I am still investigating this problem on my side to see if there is a way to determine the root cause.

With respect to the Fedora issue, I don't think we officially support that platform ( crbug.com/343329  has more details).

I'd like to get an update log for this failure when you get a chance.

The steps are:
1.) Downgrade the current CRD host from M57 to M56.  The M56 build can be downloaded using this URL: https://dl.google.com/chrome-remote-desktop/chromeremotedesktophost-56.0.2924.51.msi
2.) Create a new file in the root of your c: partition called googleupdate.ini with the following contents:
[LoggingLevel]
LC_UTIL=6
LC_SERVICE=6
LC_CORE=6
LC_NET=6
LC_OPT=6
[LoggingSettings]
EnableLogging=1
ShowTime=1
LogToFile=1
AppendToFile=1
LogToStdOut=0
LogToOutputDebug=1
LogFilePath=GoogleUpdate.log
[DebugSettings]
SkipServerReport=1
NoSendDumpToServer=1
NoSendStackToServer=1

After the failed update, there will be a log file written to C:\ProgramData\Google\Update\Log.  Can you attach that log file (and delete c:\googleupdate.ini)?

I am starting to roll out a new host version.  If this problem occurs again, please grab an update log so I can continue the investigation.

I just created c:\googleupdate.ini (remotely!) ... we'll see what happens.
:-)

Just noticed that it happened again. GoogleUpdate.log attached.

I don't see the attachment, can you try adding it again?

The form here says max attachment is 10meg and the file is "only" 5m. 

But the comment gets deleted anyway. 
Let me try to think of a solution. 

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Oh! There it is. 

(Bulk Edit) Adding the new conops Chrome OS hotlist to all open issues with the "#CBC-RS/TC-watchlist" tag, our former tracking tag.