"Software Update Failed" and "Zotero is trying to install a new helper tool." on second user account

jacob_peacock
Report ID: 771470430

To reproduce, on OSX, install Zotero on a computer with two user accounts. Open Zotero in the (non-administrator) account. Two copies of Zotero open and two dialogue boxes appear: "Software Update Failed" and "Zotero is trying to install a new helper tool." The latter box requests a password, but submitting the password doesn't resolve the issue. One of the Zotero copies is unusable and must be force quit; the other works as usual.

I tried uninstalling Zotero, restarting and reinstalling but the issue persists. Any thoughts? Thank you in advance!
  • dstillman
    The vast majority of Mac users don't use non-admin accounts, so this isn't something we test. Any fix would likely need to come from an upgrade of the Mozilla platform Zotero is based on. One such upgrade is likely happening relatively soon, so this might be resolved then.

    In the meantime, two possible fixes:

    1) Just install updates in the admin account.

    2) Install Zotero into ~/Applications (that is, "Applications" within your home folder), which would be able to update itself without an admin password.
  • jacob_peacock
    I did install the updates from the admin account, but unfortunately same problem. I can try installing in the user Applications folder, but wouldn't this cause two copies of Zotero to be installed? (I'm managing the install through brew cask, if it matters.) Thank you for your help, Dan!
  • dstillman
    I can try installing in the user Applications folder, but wouldn't this cause two copies of Zotero to be installed?
    Do you mean if you installed it in both user accounts? Are you actually using it in both accounts? Even if you are, there's no problem have it in both ~/Applications folders other than taking up a little extra disk space.

    I'm not sure exactly how brew cask works. Have you reproduced this after deleting Zotero completely and just installing normally into /Applications?
  • jacob_peacock
    Yes; I am indeed using both user accounts. I attempted installing both ways (without using brew cask). Installing to /Applications the issue persisted. Installing to ~/Applications did resolve this issue but caused a new one. With Zotero and Firefox open on both accounts, while in the administrator user account the Firefox extension saves articles to the non-admin user account's Zotero instance. This is similar to an issue I've experienced before of the Firefox extension saving to the wrong user account's Zotero instance. (Note that I'm logged into two separate Zotero accounts, one in each user account.)
  • dstillman
    Installing to ~/Applications did resolve this issue but caused a new one.
    No it didn't. You'd run into that issue with multiple instances no matter what, even if you were launching the same version.

    See multiple instances for how to configure that to work, and note the caveat about word processor integration at the end.
  • jacob_peacock
    Indeed, not an issue and resolved via those instructions. Thank you for your help!
  • rpgoldman
    edited September 8, 2020
    @dstillman I'm hoping that you can assist with this. I have upgraded to Catalina, and have a copy of Zotero in /Applications. I am getting the same bad behavior that @jacobpeacock reported (two copies of Zotero start, one claims to be trying to install a helper tool). But my user account *is* an administrator account.

    My copy was conventionally installed, but moved to a new laptop by the Migration Assistant.

    So... is the answer just that Zotero *must* be installed in ~/Applications and *not* in /Applications?

    I can do that, of course, but I'm still a little puzzled by what's going on here.

    Later -- I *did* move Zotero from /Applications to ~/Applications, and the problem seems to have gone away, but I'm still pretty puzzled. Is this possibly because of my use of add-ons like Better Bibtex?
  • dstillman
    @rpgoldman: Unless you're using multiple user accounts, you should just delete Zotero from /Applications and reinstall it. Zotero obviously updates properly for a standard installation in /Applications, so if it's not working for you, there's something wrong with permissions there. Migration Assistant doesn't usually mess those up, but it might have. Just delete and reinstall.
  • JHHbks
    I'm having the same problem. Used Migration Assistant to change to new computer. Now have one copy of app in Applications, but two copies open. One icon is in the usual place in my dock, the other is to the right, next to trash, where things that I didn't put in the dock show up when opened. I also get the error message about Update Failed/update tool. If I cancel the failed update, another icon opens on the right (then there are two), but the app opens and I can use it.

    If I request a download -- to overwrite the current app, it stalls and never goes anywhere.

    If I delete the app to reinstall, what happens to my data?
  • dstillman
    Just delete Zotero from Applications and redownload. Deleting an app from Applications never deletes data on a Mac.
  • JHHbks
    Is that true if I have My Library data on my hard drive, not on the Zotero website?
  • dstillman
    Again, deleting an app from Applications never deletes data on a Mac. It has nothing to do with Zotero, where your data is, etc. The only thing in Applications is the program files — the same thing you get when you redownload whatever app it is.
  • dstillman
    (The platform where this happens is iOS — on iOS, if you delete an app, you delete the local data. But macOS has never worked that way.)
  • JHHbks
    Done. So far so good! Thanks for your prompt help.
  • daniel.r
    I have run into the same problem and also removed the Zotero from Applications and re-installed it. However, the problem has re-appeared now, forcing me to do the same procedure again. Notice that this is a NEW PROBLEM that I had never faced before. So, it has likely to do with recent changes in Zotero. Also, while dstillman's claim that "The vast majority of Mac users don't use non-admin accounts" might be true it is very common to have distinguished admin and user accounts on university computers which I guess applies to a major, if not the majority, of users OF ZOTERO. So, it might be worth testing this case after all.
  • dstillman
    The updater hasn't changed in years, so this wouldn't be new. The platform upgrade I mentioned above is happening relatively soon, so we'll see if we can improve this at that time.
  • daniel.r
    I stopped updating Zotero for a while due to the problem but just dared to do it again. The update to Zotero 6.0.15 seems to have worked flawlessly!
  • ben.meier
    This problem still exists.

    Replying to "The vast majority of Mac users don't use non-admin accounts, so this isn't something we test." (I sadly can't figure out how to use a blockquote in the forum):
    I'm quite sure that this is true for private mac users, but might not be for academic staff. I suppose that otero is mainly used in higher educational settings, e.g., university. Given that most students (=private mac users) might use zotero only for about 6 month, the main users of zotero might be researchers who might be mainly using a non-administrator account (some might also have an additional administrator account, but only to install software)
  • dstillman
    As I said originally, if you don't have easy administrative control of your computer, you can put Zotero in an Applications folder in your home folder and it will be able to update itself.

    The updater might better handle prompting for non-admin users in Zotero 7, currently in beta, but that's not something we've tested.
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