Upgrade to 4.2.2 woes

[sesame_uwash]

Hi all

I have a handful (big handful?) of machines that are running agent 3.7.2 on Windows 11.   My network is set to Latest and I would expect these machines to automatically update themselves, but that just doesn't seem to be happening. 

Further, if I just download the 4.2.2 installer (which on some machines was getting trapped as malware by Defender, but that seems to have resolved as it hasn't happened predictably in a while...) and attempt to install it as an upgrade, it aborts quickly with an unhelpful "the installer has encountered an error please try again later" sort of message.

I've attempted to uninstall 3.7.2 and then proceed with the 4.2.2 install, but that same error persists.  I'm guessing whatever causes this abrupt halt is also blocking the automatic upgrade from happening.

So far the only fix has been to go into the registry on the machine and locate every instance of the word "Meraki" that I can find and remove those all manually.  After doing that (not sure which of the dozen or more deletions were responsible) it then installs just fine.   But I'd like to not have to touch every machine out there and especially not have to spend my days clearing out their registries. 

Am I missing something silly?  Or is there a more robust removal tool out there somewhere maybe?

Thanks in advance!

Jeff

[Mloraditch]

I don't use SM for windows, but have tried using the agent version control to install an interim release?

https://documentation.meraki.com/SM/Device_Enrollment/Systems_Manager_Agent_and_MDM_Profile_Enrollme...

The release notes certainly don't indicate a required upgrade path, but it's worth a shot.

[sesame_uwash]

Ah, that's what I forgot to add to my original post:  I tried to install multiple versions between 3.7.2 and 4.2.2 and they all received the same error.  In fact, after uninstalling 3.7.2, simply attempting to reinstall 3.7.2 aborted in the same error.  I suspect there was a registry entry for one of the original services that doesn't get deleted and thus fails when attempting to install the service anew.  Or something like that. 😞

Thanks for the suggestion!

[PhilipDAth]

I don't know for this specific case, but I have had to use this Microsoft tool to fully uninstall software before I could re-install.  Note that this tool takes a long time to run.  You are going to think it has gotten stuck and want to quit it.  Push yourself away from the keyboard, get a coffee, it will complete.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/fix-problems-that-block-programs-from-being-installed-or-r...

[sesame_uwash]

Thanks for the link!  I attempted to run it on Windows 11 and received a notice that "A problem is preventing the troubleshooter from starting.  Troubleshooters have moved and this tool will be retired."  Which is a bummer because it sounds like something Windows 11 could use.

[BHC_RESORTS · Accepted solution]

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@sesame_uwash wrote:

So far the only fix has been to go into the registry on the machine and locate every instance of the word "Meraki" that I can find and remove those all manually.  After doing that (not sure which of the dozen or more deletions were responsible) it then installs just fine.   But I'd like to not have to touch every machine out there and especially not have to spend my days clearing out their registries. 

This is the only solution we found as well. We have a couple of SME tickets that have been open several years now...it's pretty much a dead product at this point.