GameMaker:Studio Installer Fails

The Problem:

I've had consistent problems with GameMaker:Studio's upgrade/install process over the past couple of years. The symptoms are as follows:

  1. Install proceeds normally.
  2. GameMaker:Studio restarts.
  3. A progress dialog appears, that indicates it is "Extracting" or "Updating" or something.
  4. Dialog nears completion and then crashes. 
  5. Attempt to launch GM:S.
  6. Progress dialog appears again... 
  7. This will continue as many times as you wish to try it.
I figured out a potential workaround for this. I run as a user with standard permissions on Windows (and I suggest that you do so as well). The GM:S install/update process works fine when you run it as an Admin, but fails as a standard user. My hunch if you're reading this is that you're also trying to install as a standard user. 

Workaround: 
  1. Change your account to have Admin permissions. 
  2. Run the installer.
  3. Revert your account to Standard permissions.
Another side effect of this issue is that the installer prompts for UAC rights (if you're not familiar, this is the dialog that pops up asking you for permissions to install something). When you're running as a standard user, this dialog will ask you for the password for an Admin user, and then runs the installer as that user. Unfortunately, this mucks up the GameMaker:Player installation, which will attempt to install to the user directory of the Admin user -- not the intended behavior. This forces you to use your own account, which means you'll have to be Admin.

Bottom Line:

YoYo Games needs to fix these installer woes. I've submitted a ticket, although I don't see it showing up in the bug tracker yet. I'll post a link when I get it. In the meantime, you can use this workaround to get by.

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