Issues requiring a Windows Restart after an install

[mdlawler]

PR #19718 proposes adding a feature to prompt to restart NVDA after install. I'm suggesting that an option to log off would be another good option as this, at least for me, unlocks the locked files that NVDA was using and allows them to be removed. Sean Budd commented that he has seen cases where logging off and back on isn't good enough. My curiosity is has anyone else seen this and what problems still happen while only logging off and back on? From what I've read and seen registering a COM DLL doesn't require a reboot so based on my experience I've always seen log off and back on work. I suggested the option for people who are running NVDA on high available machines that need to be rebooted as little as possible. I'm interested in community thoughts and experiences with this.

[SaschaCowley]

@mdlawler restarting is the only safe way of guaranteeing that all resources are freed. While logging out and back in may work on a system with only 1 NVDA user, there's no guarantee that it will work on a multi-user system. The changes introduced in #19718 don't stop you from logging out and in again, they just add an optional convenience method of restarting, as this is considered to be best practice after updating software.

[mdlawler]

I realize everyone says that restarting is the recommended way of doing things after installing new software, but I think there are plenty of cases where a log off and back on is good enough and I think NVDA falls in this category. The DLL files only inject into processes of the current user session not system processes so logging off closes the session and frees all of the NVDA files. In the case of a multi-user system I think this is even more of a useful approach. If there is only one NVDA user the system won't have to be rebooted disrupting the other users for the NVDA update. If there are more than one NVDA users the user that loggs off and back on will get the new files while the users that don't won't until either a reboot or they log off and back on. In any case I think adding this option as a convenience option would be helpful. I think the reboot recommendation is historical because for a long time Windows, and especially consumer Windows, didn't really support multiple users. The only reason I see to not add this as another convenience option is if someone can show that NVDA files are used in processes that are not user session specific or if any NVDA COM registrations make registry changes that are read on system boot rather than when a user loggs into a session. Rebooting isanoying, takes longer than a log off and back on, and is inconvenient for systems that need high uptime availability. Since these are just convenience options why not give both and discuss them in the user guide?

[seanbudd]

as mentioned previously, if you want to log off, all you have to do is open the start menu and log off. We created the dialog as we want to encourage restarts specifically, as it is the only way to truly complete the installation.

[mdlawler]

I'm not advocating for this option for myself. I know how to deal with it just fine. I'm advocating for it for users because it works and is faster than a reboot. NVDA doesn't inject into system or service processes running in session 0 so logging off and back on closes the user session and unlocks the files. The only thing that doesn't happen is that the files listed in HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\PendingFileRenameOperations don't get deleted, but if a user really wanted to delete them there are utilities to do so. I've done this since I've been running NVDA for a year and a half with no problems. If NV Access doesn't want to add this convenience option it is your choice, but the reasoning isn't sound. You're telling people to reboot because that's what has always been done. That would be like telling ships in World War II to not use RADAR and keep using lookouts because that is what they had always done. Please give me an example where logging off and back on doesn't work. Without an example you have no good reason to not start suggesting this method for users who don't want to take the time or find it inconvenient to have to reboot just to update NVDA.