[Python-bugs-list] [ python-Bugs-229998 ] "Corrupt installation" when installed without admin privs
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Wed, 25 Apr 2001 17:59:47 -0700
Bugs item #229998, was updated on 2001-01-24 17:57
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Category: Windows
Group: 3rd Party
Status: Closed
Resolution: Wont Fix
Priority: 1
Submitted By: Tessa Lau (tlau)
Assigned to: Tim Peters (tim_one)
>Summary: "Corrupt installation" when installed without admin privs
Initial Comment:
On Windows 2000, when logged in a user without administrator privileges, attempting to run the Python 2.0 installer results in a single dialog box saying "Corrupt installation detected" and then the installer exits.
This should be a more informative error message. I downloaded the 5MB installer three times before suspecting the correct cause of the problem. When the same binary is run as a user with the correct privileges, it correctly begins the installation process.
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>Comment By: Tim Peters (tim_one)
Date: 2001-04-25 17:59
Message:
Logged In: YES
user_id=31435
Sylvain, note that another cause was identified later:
people trying to install Python over a network have also
gotten bogus "Corrupt installation detected" msgs. Move
the installer to your home drive (probably C:) first?
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Comment By: Nobody/Anonymous (nobody)
Date: 2001-04-23 05:09
Message:
Logged In: NO
I have the same problem with Windows NT TSE.
I use the admin to install Python.
Python 1.5.2 ok !
But Python 1.6, 2.0, 2.1 => "Corrupt installation detected"
Sylvain FAUVEAU
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Comment By: Tim Peters (tim_one)
Date: 2001-01-25 23:06
Message:
tlau, thanks a lot for helping us here! I wish we could help you in return, but Guido is right, there's really nothing we can do about it now. Well, a long-term plan is to move to a more recent Windows installation program (the one we're using was developed before Win2K was even a rumor!), but that's not going to happen soon.
For a good time, download ActiveState's Python Windows installer, and see whether it blows up too: no reason you can't be disappointed by all of us <wink>.
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Comment By: Guido van Rossum (gvanrossum)
Date: 2001-01-25 14:27
Message:
Then this is most likely a bug we can't fix. The"Corrupt installation" check is made AFAIK by the WISE installer code before it runs any of the script. One of the system checks it does must be using something that's disallowed by Win2K in Restricted User mode.
We have control over the script -- it tests for Administrator privileges and offers to proceed; but we have no control over the system check before it runs. I haven't seen this complaint before, so I presume it's unlikely to happen (Restricted Users typically won't want to install software :-).
I'll leave it up to Tim, but personally, I'd just close the report as "Won't Fix" and "3rd party".
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Comment By: Tessa Lau (tlau)
Date: 2001-01-25 13:22
Message:
I did some more investigating. Python prints the correct md5 checksum for the installer; but that's a red herring.
In the "Users and Passwords" control panel, my account is set up as a "Restricted user" (Users Group) account. When I change this setting to "Standard user" (Power Users Group), then launching the installer prompts me to proceed with a weaker installation (as expected). Changing the setting back to "Restricted user" and re-running the installer produces the "corrupt installation detected" message yet again.
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Comment By: Guido van Rossum (gvanrossum)
Date: 2001-01-25 04:52
Message:
I recall explicitly testing whether that installer worked on Win2000 without admin privileges. So I suspect it's something to do with tlau's set-up, and I don't think we will be able to get much further with this. (It doesn't help that we don't have the source code for the WISE installer generator, of course. :-( )
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Comment By: Tim Peters (tim_one)
Date: 2001-01-25 02:10
Message:
Curious! That's the right MD5 checksum. Yours is the only report of this we've ever gotten, though, while you're certainly not the only 2.0 Win2K user. It's possible that you're the only one who wasn't logged on to an admin account, though.
Since you have Python running on Windows now, we can use it to compute the MD5 digest:
>>> # change to path of your installer; "rb" is crucial
>>> f = open("/updates/beopen-python-2.0.exe", "rb")
>>> import md5
>>> print md5.md5(f.read()).hexdigest()
05f93fc81247dfb993f2e946016264c0
>>>
If you still get the right checksum, we can rule out the file transfer, but then I'm stumped. Guess we'll have to report it as a bug to Wise, then (we're not generating the error msg you're seeing -- that's all an automatic function of the Wise installer).
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Comment By: Tessa Lau (tlau)
Date: 2001-01-24 20:46
Message:
I downloaded it using this link:
http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.0/BeOpen-Python-2.0.exe
The first two times I used IE to click on the link. I didn't save those copies; I know the file size was around 5.8MB, but I don't know exactly.
For the third try, I used ncftp on a Linux machine to get this file:
ftp://ftp.python.org/pub/python/2.0/BeOpen-Python-2.0.exe
I then used Samba to copy the file from my Linux home directory to the Win2k machine.
I got the same error message (corrupt installation) for all three attempts. I then logged in as a user with admin privs, ran the third copy, and installation proceeded correctly.
I don't know how to compute the checksum on Windows, but this is what I get from the copy I saved on my Linux system:
% md5sum BeOpen-Python-2.0.exe
05f93fc81247dfb993f2e946016264c0 BeOpen-Python-2.0.exe
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Comment By: Tim Peters (tim_one)
Date: 2001-01-24 20:07
Message:
I need someone else to confirm this (don't have W2K myself). Mark? If not, assign back to me. tlau, from where did you obtain the installer? Exactly how large is it? (If it's not exactly 5811039 bytes, it's definitely corrupt -- if it is that size, say so and we'll try an MD5 checksum next.)
The Wise installer produces the "Corrupt installation detected" msg itself, when it gets a CRC mismatch after checksumming its internal components. We have no control over that, and in every previous case of this I know of it *did* mean the installer was corrupt.
If you're not logged in with admin privileges, what's supposed to happen is that a box pops up telling you so, and asking whether you want to proceed with a weaker installation, or abort the installation. Testers reported that the 2.0 installer did exactly that, on NT and W2K (it's not an issue on 95, 98 or ME).
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You can respond by visiting:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=105470&aid=229998&group_id=5470