Trying to update software using `winget upgrade --all`: bad optional access

[ArtistYay]

Brief description of your issue

Running the command winget upgrade --all and I'm getting an error of An unexpected error occurred while executing the command: Bad optional access.

Things I've tried:

1. winget source reset --force; winget source update
   

2. Manually Add winget.exe to PATH. I saw that I didn't have winget in my environment variable path so I added it with the C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8.1.19411.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe directory.

3. I Tried to uninstall and reinstall the App installer but got a grey box.

4. Not sure if this will help but can't find the executable in file explorer.
   

5. Lastly, I tried renaming the pinning database but nothing like that is found in my file explorer.
   

System Specs:

winget --version v1.9.25180

Edition: Windows 11 Home
Version: 23H2
OS build: 22631.4460
Experience: Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22700.1047.0

Here is my logs -> WinGet-2024-11-15-08-26-37.950.log

I also seen issue #4909 but don't think the issue was resloved.

Steps to reproduce

Run the winget upgrade --all command

Expected behavior

To upgrade the packages.

Actual behavior

Not upgrading the packages.

Environment

`winget --info
Windows Package Manager v1.9.25180
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Windows: Windows.Desktop v10.0.22631.4460
System Architecture: X64
Package: Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller v1.24.25180.0

Winget Directories
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Logs                               %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\DiagOutputDir
User Settings                    %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\settings.json
Portable Links Directory (User)    %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WinGet\Links
Portable Links Directory (Machine) C:\Program Files\WinGet\Links
Portable Package Root (User)       %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WinGet\Packages
Portable Package Root              C:\Program Files\WinGet\Packages
Portable Package Root (x86)        C:\Program Files (x86)\WinGet\Packages
Installer Downloads                %USERPROFILE%\Downloads`

[similar-issues-ai]

We've found some similar issues:

• Unable to update packages using - winget upgrade --all #4909 , similarity score: 86%

If any of the above are duplicates, please consider closing this issue out and adding additional context in the original issue.

Note: You can give me feedback by 👍 or 👎 this comment.

[denelon]

I don't think I've seen this issue reported before.

It looks like the pinning database isn't getting created if the path is empty.

We'll look into this to see if we can fix it. In the meantime, I've got a couple of ideas to try and see if we can find a workaround.

Try running Repair-WinGetPackageManager -Force -Latest from the Microsoft.WinGet.Client PowerShell module to see if that fixes the issue.

If that doesn't fix it, I'd try adding a pin to one of your packages and then removing the pin.

[florelis]

This isn't related to the actual problem but I wanted to point a out a couple of things:
 

Manually Add winget.exe to PATH. I saw that I didn't have winget in my environment variable path so I added it with the C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8.1.19411.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe directory.

You don't need to add that to your PATH, and generally you shouldn't need to touch C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\ directly.
winget and other packaged apps use an App Execution Alias, which creates something similar to a symbolic link to the executable at %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\WindowsApps. That's the one that needs to be on your PATH

(Also, the version number in that path doesn't look right. We don't have a 8.1.19411)

Lastly, I tried renaming the pinning database but nothing like that is found in my file explorer.

The pinning database (and all other winget data) is not in C:\ProgramData\WindowsApps\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe\ but in %LocalAppData%\Packages\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\

[ArtistYay]

@denelon did what you asked and still getting the error. Your right as well, the pinning database isn't getting created.

[JohnMcPMS]

I think I found the problem. The only workaround is to upgrade one at a time, at least until you have upgraded one of the "conflicting" packages with dependencies.

[JohnMcPMS]

I should also have mentioned that I'm working on the fix right now and hope to have the PR out soon and the fix published this week.

[JohnMcPMS]

One more update: You actually should be able to avoid the problem (mostly) with winget upgrade --all --skip-dependencies. That may cause its own issues though if the required dependencies are not already installed.