Hanging processes #
By nature, LSUClient has to run and wait on external processes such as hardware-detection routines or driver installers to complete.
The executables and installers Lenovo bundles in their packages are generally designed to run silently and without user interaction. This means LSUClient can just execute these processes, wait for them to complete and then continue. However, it is unfortunately sometimes the case that a process LSUClient is waiting on gets stuck indefinitely and never exits on its own.
Starting with Version 1.4.2, LSUClient will log warnings about any long-running processes at regular intervals so that such problem cases can be easily identified.
If you run into this, you should proceed with these two options:
Fixing hanging processes #
It is always ideal to have a process finish successfully instead of hanging.
First, if you run LSUClient remotely or in an unattended scenario, make sure you are only installing packages that can be installed silently and non-interactively in the first place as covered in the best practices article.
Often when a process is stuck indefinitely, it is because it did not run entirely silently, opened up a graphical window and is waiting for user input to continue. When this happens it can easily be seen by someone in front of the computer, but to also make identifying this behavior remotely easier (without being in front of the computer), when a process has been running for longer than 5 minutes LSUClient starts checking for any open windows and if there are any, captures and prints their text contents to the console. An example output of this can be found below. The messages in the open windows often explain or can be googled to understand why the problem occurred. Sometimes a process may also leave logfiles that can help troubleshoot the cause of the hanging.
The feature of looking for open windows of a process run by LSUClient was first introduced in version 1.5.0. Then, the check only ran once when and if the process hit its configured runtime limit. Starting with LSUClient 1.5.3, all processes are investigated periodically once they’ve been running for longer than 5 minutes, independently of a configured runtime limit.
You can also search the issues on GitHub for the package name and keywords like “hang” or “stuck” to see if other people have had the same problem. For example, GitHub issue #49 details a problem and solution with an Intel Graphics Driver installer that, despite being run in silent mode, pops up an error message under certain conditions and then sits there indefinitely.
Hanging processes in session 0 #
An additional complication is if you run LSUClient (and therefore its child-processes as well) in session 0. Many software deployment solutions,
MDMs, RMMs and other tools you may use to run your LSUClient scripts will run them from a service in session 0. Graphical windows can be created
but are not drawn/rendered in session 0 so if a process is running there and gets stuck due to opening a window and waiting for someone to interact
with it, the window will not be visible and only a limited set of information about it (such as its dimensions) can even be gathered by LSUClient.
Any text inside a window cannot be retrieved and attempts to screenshot the window only show black. If you run LSUClient in session 0 and experience
hanging processes, it is best to reproduce the problem running LSUClient in a graphical logon session (such as via RDP or in front of the physical
device) to ensure any opened windows and their contents are fully drawn and visible. When running with the -Debug parameter, LSUClient prints the
session ID it and processes started by it are running in, e.g.:
...
DEBUG: Process IDs in job (without runspace): 14076
DEBUG: (Current session ID: 1, Environment.UserInteractive: True)
WARNING: Process 'C:\Windows\Temp\n2hdr35w\installer.exe' has been running for 00:05:00.1928042
WARNING: 14076: 'Installer' started at 20:34:04.3837487
DEBUG: Process 14076 ('Installer'):
DEBUG: Session: 1
DEBUG: CommandLine: "C:\Windows\Temp\n2hdr35w\installer.exe" -s
DEBUG: StartTime: 20:34:04.3837487
DEBUG: Parent Id: 14384
...
Killing hanging processes #
Starting with LSUClient 1.5.0, you can configure runtime limits for external processes. When a process exceeds the limit, it is forcefully terminated. Killing a running process is not ideal, but as a last resort it can be a better option than having your entire LSUClient script halt indefinitely, especially in unattended scenarios.
These time limits are configured with Set-LSUClientConfiguration, see the Set-LSUClientConfiguration cmdlet help
for details and examples on how. You can get the current limit values with Get-LSUClientConfiguration. Some limits may be enabled by default.
As a precaution LSUClient does not enforce the MaxInstallerRuntime setting for BIOS and firmware update installers.
However this automatic safeguard is based on package metadata such as Type, Category, Title etc. and therefore may not be perfect. If you configure a MaxInstallerRuntime, always be aware of the risk of potentially forcefully stopping an in-progress firmware update!
When a package install process exceeds the MaxInstallerRuntime time limit and is killed, the FailureReason of the PackageInstallResult object returned
by Install-LSUpdate will be set to PROCESS_KILLED_TIMELIMIT. When this happens you should look into what caused the process to run for so long and whether
it can be fixed.
For example, reproducing a problem with an Intel Graphics Driver installer that was reported on GitHub now gets logged with the following output when it is killed:
Example of a package installation exceeding the MaxInstallerRuntime #
jantari@AMDESKTOP:~
└─ PS> Set-LSUClientConfiguration -MaxInstallerRuntime (New-TimeSpan -Minutes 6)
jantari@AMDESKTOP:~
└─ PS> Install-LSUpdate -Package $igfx -Path C:\Windows\Temp -Verbose
VERBOSE: Installing package n2hdr35w ...
WARNING: Process 'C:\Windows\Temp\n2hdr35w\installer.exe' has been running for 00:05:00.0588631
WARNING: Process has exceeded the configured runtime limit of 00:06:00
WARNING: Process has windows open, this can help troubleshoot why it timed out:
WARNING: - Title: -------------------------------------------
WARNING: HandledStartupErrorWindow
WARNING: - Content: -----------------------------------------
WARNING: Graphics Driver Installer
WARNING:
WARNING:
WARNING:
WARNING: The application cannot be launched.
WARNING: The application is in an unauthorized location. Please move to a non-system folder.
WARNING: OK
WARNING: ----------------------------------------------------
WARNING: Killing process 13104 'Installer' due to exceeding time limit ...
ID : n2hdr35w
Title : Intel Graphics Driver - 10 (1709 or Later)/11 (21H2 or Later)
Type : Driver
Success : False
FailureReason : PROCESS_KILLED_TIMELIMIT
PendingAction : NONE
ExitCode : -1
StandardOutput :
StandardError :
LogOutput :
Runtime : 00:05:59.3823498