Can't update Zotero on Windows

PileOfCells

Hello Zotero community,

I can't update Zotero on my Windows machine because it requires administrator privilege (nothing special here) BUT if I start Zotero with as administrator, it starts on a completely different session and I don't have my data.

If you have any idea that might help, I would be glad to hear about it.

adamsmith

But couldn't you still update when running as administrator? The software and the data are separate.

PileOfCells

No, if I start as administrator Zotero will tell me that there are no update available. I just checked the version and it's the 5.0.55 so I have an updated version. I don't know why Zotero would bring a pop-up saying that he can't run updates (when started as normal user). I'll come back if I still have a problem for the next release but for now, I'm good (except I have to kill a pop-up from time to time).

adamsmith

If you find this very annoying and this is a personal computer, you can actually just uninstall Zotero and then re-install it, but click cancel when prompted for admin login. That way it will install to a non-admin location and you can update as a regular user. That's the setup I use on Windows.

Make a copy of your data directory before uninstalling Zotero to be safe, but typically that shouldn't get touched in the process.

PileOfCells

Oh, ok. Thanks for the tip.
Have a good day :-)

trichner

On a related note, and as reference to others with a similar issue:
1. Adam's suggestion to run Zotero as admin to upgrade worked for me.
2. I was only able to install the Word add-on while in admin mode. In standard user mode it would report that the Word add-on was installed even though it wasn't.

Of note: I use Windows Server 2019, which probably has slightly stricter security settings.