[Windows] Every update breaks taskbar pin

[Snowman3456]

Every time PMP gets gets an update the installer breaks the taskbar pin and it reverts to a blank white document icon that can't find PMP when clicked (OS prompts for removal).

Been happening since around 1.1.2 IIRC.

[WayneD]

It seems to me like this could be a Windows bug. When PMP does its own update (and thus PMP starts running again), the now-broken icon is underlined, showing that Windows knows what executable it is associated with, but right-clicking the icon shows a bogus "pin to taskbar" choice instead of unpin. I usually do a pin + unpin + pin sequence that restores the icon to normal, and then I have to drag it back into position. Yeah, it's pretty annoying. I had hoped that the Plex folks would report this to MS by now, since I reported this issue in the forums ages ago, but nobody at Plex has ever responded in any way about this issue.

[Snowman3456]

Yeah it's pretty irritating. Same problem with Mumble.

The way PMP actually updates seems to be part of the problem - all other apps that receive updates and are pinned don't have this issue (besides mumble).

[Snowman3456]

This is still a majorly irritating issue every update.

Every update breaks the pin and it has to be unpinned, re-opened, and re-pinned.

To make matters worse, I use PMP on an HTPC which has no mouse or keyboard and I have to remote in just to do this fix.

Meanwhile it also breaks the command arguments --tv --fullscreen.

[Snowman3456]

Still broken in 1.3

Had to:

1. Update PMP
2. Change to Windowed (hit \)
3. Right click the now broken icon/pin & Pin it (it's dysfunctionally broken to the point that it thinks it's unpinned but is still in slot 1)
4. Right click again to unPin
5. Right click again to Pin
6. Move it back to slot 1
7. Right click > Properties
8. Append --tv --fullscreen since I had to Window it and I always want it Fullscreened

This is absurd - please fix ASAP.

[LongChair]

@Enigma0 : just to make sure & update, is that still an issue with recent builds ?

[fvbommel]

@LongChair : I just updated to the latest version and had the blank white document icon again, and had to do the whole pin-unpin-pin-move back to correct position dance again (even though it was already pinned).
So yes, this is still an issue.

[LongChair]

Thanks for checking.

[Snowman3456]

Yup still and issue for me as well.

[LongChair]

@markus101 : should we ping william about this ?

[LongChair]

could be related to #233

[LongChair]

@Enigma0 : do you have a setup that allows to build PMP installer ?
I have a few ideas that we should try, but i have a few others things on my plate at the moment.
If you can build it then i can provide a patch to test :)
Otherwise i'll look into that later

[LongChair]

@Enigma0 : could you please test the installer below and check that specific installer issue ?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nezf5oztzy138c6/PlexMediaPlayer-2.10.0.840-5954ab87-windows-x64.exe?dl=0

NOTE Don't try to use the app itself as it's not released and might have still troubles.

It seems to fix the issue for me here, but would like to have a confirmation before i merge the fix.

[Snowman3456]

@LongChair It still breaks with that installer also. I spun up a windows VM to test it.

[WayneD]

I also confirmed that the above installer doesn't fix the issue. What does the nightly installer do differently from the regular installer? I have noticed before that it doesn't break the pinned taskbar icon. I just confirmed this with the latest one: https://nightlies.plex.tv/public-test/plexmediaplayer/public-testing/2.9.0.831-b1acec41/PlexMediaPlayer-2.9.0.831-b1acec41-windows-x64.exe

[LongChair]

it doesn't remove shortcut on uninstall.
The installer will start with uninstalling previous install before updating to newer.
this process would break the shortcuts, and therefore taskbar pins.

[LongChair]

@Enigma0 : i'm very suprised that it still does, I tested this myself and got that tested by one of our ninjas. are you sure ?

[WayneD]

Yup, just re-tested going from 2.9.0.284 to 2.10.0.840 -- still busted. Maybe the drop-box version cited above is not the version with the installer change?

[LongChair]

@OttoKerner : isn't that the version i linked you ? i would think so.

[LongChair]

840 was the right one with that fix : 5954ab8

[Snowman3456]

Yup - the dropbox linked installer busted the taskbar shortcut

[LongChair]

yeah that wix installed is a nightmare :) But i'm holding on :)

[LongChair]

Ok i found a bunch of things.
This is not a PMP installer related issue. Looks like there are tons of other apps having the same issue see

• Pinned Icon becomes invalid after update adobe/brackets#6297
• Bug -- Playlist cant be created on Windows 11 digimezzo/dopamine#293

Anyways, browsing all those issues i seem to have found a workaround that doesn't break the pinned icon.

It seems to break it only if you pin it from the taskbar.
I tried creating the pinned shortcut from the Windows explorer, that is

• Go in C:\Program Files\Plex\Plex Media Player
• Right click Plex Media Player.exe
• Select the Pin to Taskbar menu item.

Creating the pin icon that way seems to make it resilient to installer update.

Other than this and given all the people that have been looking at this issue without much success, i don't think there is much more we can do about this.

Please let me know if that seems to work for you guys :)

[Snowman3456]

Go Windows >.>

[LongChair]

@Enigma0 @WayneD @fvbommel : yeah that's kind of a shame, I'm not sure if that is a Wix installer or an MSI issue. but either ways, seems like there is not fix for this currently.
Also looks like the work around i mentioned above can be used to overcome this, creating he pinned icon directly from the Windows Explorer is not a Huge thing as it would need to be done only once.

if anyone of you guys can confirm that this is working (looks to work here, i'll close this for now).

[WayneD]

Can't you just change the installer to be more like the nightly one? It doesn't trigger this bug.

[LongChair]

I'm not sure to understand which installer of which product you are referring to.
Did you check that creating the Pinned icon from Program Files exe works ?

[WayneD]

BTW, I tried the suggested work-around, and it didn't help.

[WayneD]

I gave you a link to an example working installer above. The nightlies have always avoided this issue for some reason. Hmm, the reason may well be that it doesn't do an uninstall. I just checked the Add/Remove programs list, and there were 2 Plex Media Player entries in it on the host where I tried out the nightly install.

[LongChair]

hmm that would be very off if it was the case, the build i linked comes from teh same nighly server.
The installer itself didn't get any change in over a year.