NSIS installer crashes on Windows 10

[jsimomaa]

• Electron-Builder Version: 24.9.1

• Node Version: v20.9.0

• Electron Version: 27.1.2
• Electron Type (current, beta, nightly): current

• Target: nsis

NSIS-installer randomly crashes for a fresh installation when installing for a single user.

Similar issues:

• NSIS installer crashes on Windows 7 x64 #3545
• Setup file crashing on Windows 8.1 & 10 deltachat/deltachat-desktop#1269
• How to update / upgrade NSIS electron-builder-binaries#42

I was able to catch the crash in WinDBG:

And here is the actual crash:

(938.ab0): Access violation - code c0000005 (first chance)
First chance exceptions are reported before any exception handling.
This exception may be expected and handled.
*** WARNING: Unable to verify checksum for C:\Users\JANIJA~1\AppData\Local\Temp\nspF21C.tmp\System.dll
eax=04a23400 ebx=0086de58 ecx=fbe86420 edx=04a24be0 esi=00002838 edi=04a23418
eip=6c191581 esp=0019db24 ebp=0019db60 iopl=0         nv up ei pl nz na po cy
cs=0023  ss=002b  ds=002b  es=002b  fs=0053  gs=002b             efl=00010203
System!Store+0x4a0:
6c191581 8a0411          mov     al,byte ptr [ecx+edx]      ds:002b:008ab000=??

And the stack:

Only place in the source code that calls System::Store can be found here:

electron-builder/packages/app-builder-lib/templates/nsis/multiUser.nsh

Lines 25 to 41 in b8d6905

	# сhecks registry for previous installation path
	ReadRegStr $perUserInstallationFolder HKCU "${INSTALL_REGISTRY_KEY}" InstallLocation
	${if} $perUserInstallationFolder != ""
	StrCpy $INSTDIR $perUserInstallationFolder
	${else}
	StrCpy $0 "$LocalAppData\Programs"
	System::Store S
	# Win7 has a per-user programfiles known folder and this can be a non-default location
	System::Call 'SHELL32::SHGetKnownFolderPath(g "${FOLDERID_UserProgramFiles}", i ${KF_FLAG_CREATE}, p 0, *p .r2)i.r1'
	${If} $1 == 0
	System::Call '*$2(&w${NSIS_MAX_STRLEN} .s)'
	StrCpy $0 $1
	System::Call 'OLE32::CoTaskMemFree(p r2)'
	${endif}
	System::Store L
	StrCpy $INSTDIR "$0\${APP_FILENAME}"
	${endif}

[jsimomaa]

I've also got the dump file if that is of any help?

[github-actions]

This issue is stale because it has been open 60 days with no activity. Remove stale label or comment or this will be closed in 30 days.

[okjake]

I can confirm that removing the System::Store calls here fixed the crashes for me - I'd submit a PR but I don't fully understand why they're necessary

[pnedkovp]

I have a similar issue with electron-builder version 24.13.3 on Windows 11.
When I try to launch the nsis installer it crashes with the following error:
Faulting module name: System.dll, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x5c157efa
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00001581
Faulting process id: 0x0xF30
Faulting application start time: 0x0x1DB05CD5454D5C0
Faulting application path: ***
Faulting module path: C:\Users***\AppData\Local\Temp\nsmD439.tmp\System.dll
Report Id: 0e92fa50-e642-47bd-8aac-4b2d8e89f8f8
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID: