Windows Desktop Client vanishes after update

Ask the Community Password Manager
1

This has happened to me about 5 times now. Whenever the Windows Desktop client tells me it needs to update, I accept the update. It goes through the process of downloading the update, installs it and then I click “finish”.

Except now it does not exist. When I try to start it from the Start menu it says the link doesn’t exist and asks me if I want to remove it. The only way I can get BitWarden back is to download it anew and re-install.

Curiously, I had 0.18 in my download folder, so when the 0.19 auto-update made BitWarden disappear (like the update always does) I double clicked the 0.18 installer, which downloaded 0.19 (which is good!) but then it hadn’t installed. Same start menu entry that pointed to nowhere existed. Had to re-download the 0.19 from the web site and then it installed properly.

I want to keep my password apps updated. But this update behavior is so frustrating. Is anyone else running in to this issue?

Using plain-vanilla Windows 10.

2 Likes
2

Here are some ideas:

  • Check the logs and the quarantine area of your AV program.

  • Go to C:\Program Files\Bitwarden and check if the Bitwarden.exe exists. Perhaps only your Start Menu is screwed up.

  • Log in with another user account. [Edit] Try to start Bitwarden. [/Edit] If this works, perhaps your primary account has an issue.

And as an alternative: Get Bitwarden from the Microsoft Store. You can install and run both versions in parallel.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/p/bitwarden/9pjsdv0vpk04

  • Last straw: Do not use the internal update routine. Instead whenever you are told about an update, reject it, close Bitwarden, then go to Bitwarden.com, download the full package from there and install it on top of the existing version.
3

After auto-updating to version 1.19.0 there is no icon in taskbar when I start Bitwarden. I get this on 2 pcs after updating. But Bitwarden works as it did before the update. :confused:

image

EDIT: Just installed version 1.19.0 on top of the installed version and now the Bitwarden icon is shown in Taskbar again. :slight_smile:

image

Where do you get the full package there? When I download the app for Windows I only get an online-installer which downloads installationfiles. I would like to have an offline-installer. :confused:

4

You are right, the full package is not available. I meant the downloader from the website, sorry for the confusion.

1 Like
5

I see this behaviour with quite a lot of apps following an update, e.g. FileZilla. It usually corrects itself after rebooting or forcing a restart of Windows Explorer. Worst case, I just remove the plain icon and re-pin the app to the task bar.

1 Like
6

No problem. :wink:

Didn’t help in my case(s).

Could be a quicker solution than installing the software again. I will try next time this issue appears. Thanks Dan! :slight_smile:

1 Like
7

Something like this happened to me today. auto updated to
Version 2024.8.2
Shell 31.3.1
Renderer 126.0.6478.185
Node 20.15.1
Architecture x64
But the app disappeared and had to reinstall. Opted to download installer as I thought mine would download the previous version. Is there new info about why this happens?

8

@mariosScope Welcome to the forum!

Just guess, but is it possible that your anti-malware software is being too aggressive and detecting the Bitwarden app as a false positive? Assuming that you’re downloading from a reputable source, you could temporarily disable the antimalware defenses while reinstalling the app.

9

Thanks @grb. I’m not sure about that, as it was upgrading without any issues from previous versions. The application asked to restart to update and it used to come back. But on this specific update, it didn’t pop back. And it wasn’t found in the system. I’ll have to check the system logs. Will let you guys now if I find something.

1 Like