Installer freezes and never responds
For a number of years now I've noticed I've had problems getting GIMP to reinstall/update when I want to upgrade to a new version. I download the installer and run it and after I enter the language type, the installer sub process that it executes seems to just hang with the original installer process reporting a "not responding" task condition in task manager. I have never experienced this with any other software installer before, only with the Gimp installer.
I've searched and searched over the years on how to resolve this issue and get Gimp to install and I came across a thread on reddit where the op recommended to just sit and wait. https://www.reddit.com/r/GIMP/comments/8zky31/gimp_windows_installer_freezes_after_selecting/
Well, I figured it was worth a try, I've let it sit for almost an hour and still no success, I can not seem to get the installer to begin extracting files. So I happened to notice that the disk activity light was solid once I executed the installer so I started poking around to see if I can figure out what it is doing and I have finally figured it out, with the help of Windows resource monitor. The installer subprocess is scanning every file in every subdirectory beneath where it is located in the root of my Downloads directory. I don't have any idea why a self extracting installer would need to do this, it seems rather suspicious for it to scan EVERY file in EVERY subdirectory in my Downloads directory, and yes I have upwards of 2.4 million files in that folder and all of its subdirectories (2,442,618 Files, 467,870 Folders to be exact). This explains why the installer never recovers and continues, because I've never let it sit there long enough to finish, it would probably take hours/days to complete a scan.
To solve the issue I have moved the Gimp installer to a different hard drive D:\new folder with no other files or subdirectories in it and the installer runs and completes correctly.
To reproduce this freezing issue move the installer to a directory with hundreds of thousands of files (ie C:\ , C:\windows) in it and execute the installer. Open Windows resource monitor, and go to the disk access tab, and select the Gimp installer process and you will visually see in the disk activity pulldown each and every file being accessed for some unknown reason.
Please remove this unneeded file scan in future releases of the installer. A self extracting installer should contain all the files it needs to perform a complete installation, there is no valid reason for it to access any file(s) on a users hard drive. It should extract the files needed to install gimp to the default windows temp folder and work from there, not access any file in any other location. Why is it scanning/accessing my files, and what is it doing with that data??
Thank you,
One concerned citizen.
Windows 7 SP1
Gimp 2.10.6