electron: autoUpdater.checkForUpdates() throws "Can not find Squirrel"

I’m trying to get autoUpdater working in my app, and when I call ‘checkForUpdates’, it just throws this error:

Error: Can not find Squirrel
    at AutoUpdater.emitError (D:\Workspace\myApp\node_modules\electron-prebuilt\dist\resources\atom.asar\browser\api\lib\auto-updater\auto-updater-win.js:58:31)
    at AutoUpdater.checkForUpdates (D:\Workspace\myApp\node_modules\electron-prebuilt\dist\resources\atom.asar\browser\api\lib\auto-updater\auto-updater-win.js:26:19)
    at Object.<anonymous> (D:\Workspace\myApp\main.js:28:15)
    at Module._compile (module.js:425:26)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:432:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:356:32)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:313:12)
    at Object.<anonymous> (D:\Workspace\myApp\node_modules\electron-prebuilt\dist\resources\default_app\main.js:258:23)
    at Module._compile (module.js:425:26)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:432:10)

About this issue

Original URL
State: closed
Created 8 years ago
Reactions: 9
Comments: 25 (6 by maintainers)

Most upvoted comments

Call that method and see if it throws 😃

+26

anaisbetts on Feb 18, 2016

You can’t call checkForUpdates unless you’re an installed app

+23

anaisbetts on Feb 18, 2016

What is installed app? I packaged my app and install it. But Can not find squirrel errer is…re-occured. What should I do?

+18

adampoh on Aug 18, 2017

I just ran into this issue with my electron app.

The app is packaged using electron-builder and is installed on windows, but throws the error “Can not find Squirrel” when it checks for updates on Windows. It works find on Mac.

Every thread I can find says the issue is related to the app not being installed, but the app is definitely installed.

randomgithubuser1 on Mar 11, 2021

The canonical way to detect if you are a Squirrel-installed app if you’re not into that is:

fs.existsSync(path.resolve(path.dirname(process.execPath), '..', 'update.exe'));

anaisbetts on Feb 20, 2016

You can only trigger the checkForUpdates from the installed location. Squirrel barfs when you try triggering the checkForUpdates from the source-code…

Also, you’ll need to run the update.exe file from command-line, not electron.

kumarharsh on May 9, 2016

Lol, was thinking of doing that as a last resort. Seems like it is the first resort 😝

kumarharsh on Feb 18, 2016

It’s 2024, and I also encountered this problem. How did everyone solve it?

LCTcode on Mar 15, 2024

Yes. I used grunt-electron-installer to make my setup.exe file, which I believe uses Squirrel.Windows. The setup.exe got put in the same directory as the setup.msi, nupkg, and RELEASES files, and started up with the pretty animation and made a new entry to my programs and features, so I’m sure it executed correctly.

mzmousa on May 9, 2016

@paulcbetts @kumarharsh when you say installed app, does that mean it must be run through a windows installer? I can find my app in “Programs and Features” after running my setup.exe, so it’s installed but I guess it’s not Squirrel-installed ?

mzmousa on May 9, 2016