Bitwarden Update Appears to be deleting all application files Windows 10

[Adams880]

Describe the Bug

For the last 2 versions (installed using a 1.21.0 installer), every time I update Bitwarden it breaks all shortcuts and then the Program Files/Bitwarden folder has only "Uninstall Bitwarden" file in it anymore. All other files are gone. I have not been able to figure out if they move to somewhere else or are just gone entirely.

Steps To Reproduce

1. Install a 1.21.0 Version of Bitwarden
2. Update to a new version (I have been doing it on close, not off the prompt when opening, not sure it makes a difference).
3. Files and shortcuts are deleted and I cannot open Bitwarden or find it in the windows key search.

Expected Result

Bitwarden updates and does not uninstall itself on update. Also, shortcuts do not get broken when update is finished

Actual Result

Bitwarden basically deletes itself except for the uninstall script

Screenshots or Videos

Environment

• Operating system: Windows 10
• Build Version 1.21.0

Additional Context

[daniellutz]

This happened to me as well with the last versions of Bitwarden. =(

[clayadams5226]

@Adams880 this this happen to you with the most recent update? I was able to update here without any issue

[jvenborg]

I just updated and now it uninstalled itself.. Again. It happens to me very regularily.. Let me know if I can provide some information. I'm running Windows 10, version 10.0.1904, build 19042. Not sure which Bitwarden version I ran prior to upgrading. Probably the latest, since I do update regularily despite frequent uninstalls :)

[Adams880]

@clayadams5226 I just updated and it was no longer happening. I'm not really sure what the issue was.

[tallpants]

Just happened to me again, happy to provide any information that might help you replicate!

[jvenborg]

Yup, just happened here again. Likewise, I will gladly provide any information needed.

[tallpants]

@clayadams5226 I managed to record this happening on the newest update:

https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/15325890/111738191-e9990380-88a6-11eb-9c94-01d6fd68f470.mp4

And here's the logs from when this happened in case it helps:

[2021-03-19 11:23:44.087] [info] Checking for update
[2021-03-19 11:23:45.723] [info] Found version 1.25.1 (url: Bitwarden-Installer-1.25.1.exe)
[2021-03-19 11:23:45.724] [info] Downloading update from Bitwarden-Installer-1.25.1.exe
[2021-03-19 11:23:45.735] [info] Cached update sha512 checksum doesn't match the latest available update. New update must be downloaded. Cached: JwT/rU3R1zf07BF/yYPGRGQQYcqB8qS4rxfuXV9tmd8OObmKBsjuBGw4As+pa5m2sEFJ2YY+VRe5KQyfQ+c7uQ==, expected: eITD34oDPq5Crtvg9seFKmS5NWWsxabhs+K6grnLGdbTD8OCkc+HkDE3ZDzEncwLnWs2te0/y0AUPjS9U0Cbrg==. Directory for cached update will be cleaned
[2021-03-19 11:23:46.376] [error] Cannot download differentially, fallback to full download: Error: EPERM: operation not permitted, open 'C:\Users\Adithya Reddy\AppData\Local\bitwarden-updater\package.7z'
[2021-03-19 11:23:48.145] [info] New version 1.25.1 has been downloaded to C:\Users\Adithya Reddy\AppData\Local\bitwarden-updater\pending\Bitwarden-Installer-1.25.1.exe
[2021-03-19 11:28:18.525] [info] Install on explicit quitAndInstall
[2021-03-19 11:28:18.527] [info] Install: isSilent: false, isForceRunAfter: true
[2021-03-19 11:28:18.803] [info] Cannot run installer: error code: EACCES, error message: "spawn C:\Users\Adithya Reddy\AppData\Local\bitwarden-updater\pending\Bitwarden-Installer-1.25.1.exe EACCES", will be executed again using elevate if EACCES"
[2021-03-19 11:28:18.871] [info] Update installer has already been triggered. Quitting application.

Entire file: app.log

This is definitely 100% reproducible every single time on my computer and it's getting very very annoying.

[jvenborg]

The exact same thing just happened to me when trying to update to version 1.25.1 Still running Windows 10 Pro, 20H2, build 19042.867. I am not sure how to make logs, sorry, but will happily do it once I find out.

[szetyi]

Same thing happening to me too, I'm suspecting an error related to user folder with spaces is the cause, maybe special charachters, as @tallpants and I both have a space in our username

log:

[2021-06-01 07:17:44.931] [info] Checking for update [2021-06-01 07:17:46.281] [info] Found version 1.26.5 (url: Bitwarden-Installer-1.26.5.exe) [2021-06-01 07:17:46.282] [info] Downloading update from Bitwarden-Installer-1.26.5.exe [2021-06-01 07:17:46.302] [info] Update has already been downloaded to C:\Users\Szilágyi Péter\AppData\Local\bitwarden-updater\pending\Bitwarden-Installer-1.26.5.exe). [2021-06-01 07:20:46.484] [info] Install on explicit quitAndInstall [2021-06-01 07:20:46.485] [info] Install: isSilent: false, isForceRunAfter: true [2021-06-01 07:20:46.744] [info] Cannot run installer: error code: EACCES, error message: "spawn C:\Users\Szilágyi Péter\AppData\Local\bitwarden-updater\pending\Bitwarden-Installer-1.26.5.exe EACCES", will be executed again using elevate if EACCES" [2021-06-01 07:20:46.816] [info] Update installer has already been triggered. Quitting application.

[jvenborg]

Sorry to bump, but it is still very much happening.

And what szetyi wrote is very interesting, I too have a space in my user name.

[Sc0tTyXL]

I've been having the same issue as well on two machines for months now: Windows 10 20H2 on my laptop Windows 10 20H1 on my desktop

And it stopped me te use the auto updater....

PS: Both machines have spaces in the username folder.

[MiniBossDK]

The error also happends for me. Windows 10 20H1 and with spaces in the username folder.

[CarlBluePrism]

This also just happened to me, happy to provide any more details if needed.

[mjlehrke]

No spaces in my username and it removed itself.

[evanj97]

This just happened to me for the first time too.
After reading this thread and 5-10 mins of googling, it looks like the error that szetyi provided: EACCES is an npm install error due to insufficient permissions to write to a directory (see below stack overflow links).
I'm not familiar with how bitwarden works or installs and I've barely ever used node or JS/TS, but I would guess that npm is running from or accessing something in AppData\Local\bitwarden-updater\pending\ (see szetyi's log) or some other temp folder instead of only touching the application directory.

Sources: How to fix EACCES issues with npm install and gyp WARN EACCES user "root" does not have permission to access the dev dir

Edit: username is "Evan", so no whitespaces

[CrashedLife]

can confirm latest update (2022.05 or so) did this for my computer too.

[nmarchan]

happened a few minutes ago for me as well

[Kybeer]

happened a few minutes ago for me as well

same here.

[ve7mjc]

This is still happening routinely - 4 different Windows 10 machines for me; Windows 10 21H1 and similar. I have confirmed it is not anti-virus or endpoint protection software in my cases. I do not know of any other software that self-destructs itself so efficiently - maybe this is a feature?