NRF Connect

[Jayhumbard]

I have installed the NRF Connect app on my Windows 10 PC, using "Run as Administrator" and keep getting the following error message whenever I try to install any of the products using the INSTALL buttons in the NRF Connect app:

The Error says: Unable to install:  Error invoking remote method 'apps:install-downloadable-app': Error: spawn UNKNOWN

Most computer settings are managed by IT for all sorts of corporate security.  I'm sure we are behind firewalls, etc. I was advised to use run as administrator to allow it to install (the command line tools seems to have installed using this method).     I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling, and also tried rebooting several times. 

Any ideas?

[Simonr]

Hi

Three things you should try in the following priority:

1. Delete nrfutil.exe from %APPDATA%\nrfconnect\nrfutil.exe, close the nRF Connect for Desktop app and reopen it. This will re-add the file and would fix it in case it's broken.

2. This error could be caused by antivirus quarantine, and you should check with your IT department. Especially since this is the second time AFAIK your company specifically reports this issue.

3. execute the command %APPDATA%\nrfconnect\nrfutil search  in your command line and let us know whether does it shows an error or the installable nrfutil commands.

4. Let me know what apps you want specifically and I will try to provide the specific files for you that you can install manually onto the nRF Connect app with the "Add sources" option in SETTINGS.

Best regards,

Simon

[Jayhumbard]

Deleting NRFutil was of no result...

#3 yielded the following result:

PS C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0> C:\Users\Humbard\AppData\Roaming\nrfconnect\nrfutil search Program 'nrfutil.exe' failed to run: This program is blocked by group policy. For more information, contact your
system administratorAt line:1 char:2
+ C:\Users\Humbard\AppData\Roaming\nrfconnect\nrfutil search
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.
At line:1 char:2
+ C:\Users\Humbard\AppData\Roaming\nrfconnect\nrfutil search
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ResourceUnavailable: (:) [], ApplicationFailedException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : NativeCommandFailed

So it looks like this is an IT thing... 

[Jayhumbard]

My IT guy says he thinks it is because the app is going into the appdata folder... He recommends installing everything to a temp folder in C:\

I uninstalled everything and reinstalling.   I can tell the desktop tools where to install but the nrfconnect-setup-4.3.0-x64.exe installer does not give me any option to choose a path

Ideas?

[Simonr]

I've forwarded this internally and let you know when our developers have an idea. Is your firewall blocking apps from/to the Appdata folder? This has not been an issue for anyone in the past as far as I know.

Best regards,

Simon

[Simonr]

Hi

Some feedback. It is very interesting that you're not able to run nrfutil due to a group policy, as that is a prerequisite for all nRF Connect for desktop apps. Unfortunately there is not an option that lets you choose where the nRF Connect installer installs files. The installer installs the nRF Connect for Desktop program itself within %LOCALAPPDAT%\Programs\nrfconnect but during runtime nRF Connect for Desktop stores several things (among others the nrfutil executable to run) in the folder %APPDATA%\nrfconnect. These look similar, usually both are in the users home folder, but in slightly different locations. Because of that changing the folder where nRF Connect for Desktop is installed wouldn’t help.

But there is one thing you can try: This is an option we don't support, so it may break other/future things, but you can at least try. When running nRF Connect for Desktop you can use the command line option --user-data-dir to specify a different directory than %APPDATA%\nrfconnect in which many of the run time files will be stored, including nrfutil. So if you point that at a location that your IT policy don't block, it might help. One way to achieve this is to edit the properties of the shortcut that is used to run nRF Connect for Desktop and at the appropriate option and folder to the “Target” field, as pictured below:

Best regards,

Simon