Software Update Failed Recurring Message

pabloavilesflores
Hi,

Since a few days ago I'm getting a message every time I start Zotero:

"Software Update Failed. The update could not be installed. Please make sure there are no other copies of Zotero running on your computer, and then restart Zotero to try again."

At the same time, my computer send another message warning me Zotero tried to install a new "utilitarian"(?) (My computer is in french, the message reads: "Zotero tente d'installer un nouvel utilitaire) and then asks for my password to allow Zotero install it. I give permission every time, but both messages come back every time.

Then Zotero starts normally, without any problems. Also, three Zotero icons appeared in my dock.

Any ideas why this is happening and how to fix it?

I'm using macOS Catalina 10.15.6, my Zotero is 5.0.89, there is no ID for this problem.

Thanks in advance,

p
  • dstillman
    Are you using a non-admin macOS user account? That might not work, in which case an alternative would be to install Zotero into Applications within your user directory instead of the system Applications folder.
  • pabloavilesflores
    This is happening in my admin macOS account, but I have recently install Zotero in a guest account in the same computer.

    Would be this the problem? Shall I uninstall Zotero from the guest account?
  • pabloavilesflores
    edited September 4, 2020
    BTW, I am using different Zotero accounts in each macOS account,
  • dstillman
    edited September 4, 2020
    The Zotero data directory and Zotero account aren't relevant at all. This is just about the Zotero application.
    but I have recently install Zotero in a guest account in the same computer
    I'm not quite sure what you mean by this. The Zotero app goes in /Applications. Once it's there, you wouldn't "install" it in a guest account, unless you were doing the thing I say above where you put it in ~/Applications (Applications within the home directory). Do you just mean that you started Zotero in the non-admin account and set it up with a different Zotero account?

    If you're getting an error or permissions prompt when updating Zotero in the admin account, there's something strange going on. The updater simply needs to be able to overwrite files in /Applications/Zotero.app, which should be the case for admin users. I guess it's possible that if you reinstall or update Zotero from a non-admin account then, depending on how exactly the permissions are set up, the admin account might prompt for a password to update it, and that might not work.

    Anyhow, there's a good chance you can fix this just by redownloading Zotero from the admin account and reinstalling it in /Applications. Then, as long as you'll be running Zotero in the admin account regularly, you can go to the non-admin account, go to the Config Editor in the Advanced pane of the Zotero preferences, and set app.update.enabled and app.update.auto to false so that it doesn't try to update. If you continue to have trouble — we haven't really tested multi-user Mac setups — using separate copies in ~/Applications in each account would be an option.

    This might improve with future updates to the framework Zotero uses.
  • pabloavilesflores
    Hi,

    What I meant was that I installed Zotero in a non-admin session in my Mac. I downloaded it and use a different Zotero account too.

    When I came back to the admin session in my Mac, the messages started to appear.

    As for yesterday, I unistalled Zotero in the non-admin session and the problem is gone. Zotero could update without any problems!

    thx in advance
  • dstillman
    I just don't know what you mean by "installed" and "uninstalled" here — again, applications generally exist in /Applications on macOS and are shared between user accounts. If you uninstall Zotero from /Applications in one account, it's gone from your computer.
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