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Issue metadata

Status: WontFix
Owner:
Closed: Apr 2017
Cc:
Components:
EstimatedDays: ----
NextAction: ----
OS: Windows
Pri: 2
Type: Bug



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MSI-based installer removes master_preferences file

Reported by steven.m...@migsupport.com, Apr 3 2017

Issue description

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/57.0.2987.133 Safari/537.36

Steps to reproduce the problem:
1. Install older version of Google Chrome MSI (GoogleChromeStandaloneEnterprise.msi). One version behind should be fine.
2. Add master_preferences file to Application directory (%ProgramFiles% (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application)
3. Upgrade using a newer GoogleChromeStandaloneEnterprise.msi

What is the expected behavior?
The upgrade should occur, but the master_preferences file should not be removed.

What went wrong?
The master_preferences file was removed on upgrade,

Did this work before? No 

Chrome version: 57.0.2987.133  Channel: stable
OS Version: 6.1 (Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2)
Flash Version: 

The master_preferences file is critical to enterprises as it allows for program preferences to take affect before group policy has a chance to apply. Removing it during an upgrade definitely causes problems.

Using a Google Chrome Updater executable (0.0.0.0_0.0.0.0_chrome_updater) instead of a Chrome MSI, the master_preferences file is NOT deleted.

If this directory is volatile (and it appears to be), the program should allows for storing the master_preferences file in a non-volatile location, such as %SystemDrive%\ProgramData.
 
Cc: pbomm...@chromium.org ligim...@chromium.org
Labels: M-57
Prudhvi, can you please try a repro.
Components: Internals>Installer
Owner: grt@chromium.org
Status: Assigned (was: Unconfirmed)
Since I am not that aware of the way how admins set the Master_preference to MSI install's, Based on chat with Grt@(Thank you) I am assigning this to him.

Comment 3 by grt@chromium.org, Apr 4 2017

Labels: Needs-Feedback
Status: Started (was: Assigned)
I'm unable to reproduce this. My test case:
- Install 56.0.2924.87 msi
- Edit ...\Chrome\Application\master_preferences
- Install 57.0.2987.133 msi
- Notice that my edits to ...\Chrome\Application\master_preferences are still present

I've verified via Process Monitor that Chrome's installer does not touch the existing master_preferences file when updating. The installer only lays down master_preferences for new installs:

https://cs.chromium.org/chromium/src/chrome/installer/setup/install.cc?type=cs&sq=package:chromium&q=CopyPreferenceFileForFirstRun%5C(i&l=505

Is it possible that you are uninstalling the previous version before installing the new version? If not, please provide more concrete repro steps and/or a ProcMon log that shows the overwrite. Thanks.
Thank you for attention to this and you are absolutely correct that the uninstall is the issue. The following is what is causing this issue; though it is not a bug.

1. The Google MSI was transformed with an MST that dropped the master_preferences file.
2. The MST is not formatted correctly to leave the file behind during an uninstall.

I owe you a cup of coffee for teaching me that I should have tested my own reproduction steps. I may have seen this before submitting. My apologies.

Please close this as being user error. And, thank you, again.

Comment 5 by grt@chromium.org, Apr 4 2017

Status: WontFix (was: Started)
No worries! I'm glad you were able to find the problem. Cheers.

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