Hi, I've been making changes to my deploy\exe file for months now. I made one this morning and the automatic update function worked fine. I am now getting an error "unable to update exe because it is in use by another process" error. Desperate to get this fixed as the server is in production and changes need to be made. Help!
Update: detailed log showing:
2025-12-14 19:54:37.834 - Configuration read: {"ErrorMessage":"","MessagingMechanism":1,"ComServerProgId":"Publishing.PublishingServer","UseStaComServers":false,"ServerCount":2,"AutoStartServers":false,"ComServerLoadingMode":0,"TempPath":"~\\..\\deploy\\temp\\","TempFilePrefix":"WC_","Timeout":90,"AdminAccount":"ANY","AdminPage":"~/admin/admin.aspx","ExeFile":"~\\..\\deploy\\Publishing.exe","UpdateFile":"~\\..\\deploy\\Publishing_Update.exe","LogDetail":true,"MessageDisplayFooter":"Generated by Web Connection IIS .NET Connector Module","LiveReloadEnabled":false,"LiveReloadExtensions":".pb,.wc,.wcs,.html,.htm,.css,.js,.ts","UseWebSockets":false,"WebSocketProcessScriptmap":"pb"}
2025-12-14 19:54:37.881 - 887788046572_28 - Starting Request - /admin/showerrorlog.wc - usr: SYSTEM / VULTR-GUEST\rjcit - iis: /LM/W3SVC/2/ROOT
Also this is what is hwoing in log:
2025-12-14 19:40:13.485 - Unload: Com Server released: Publishing.PublishingServer, ProcessId: 2416
2025-12-14 19:40:13.485 - Unload: Com Server released: Publishing.PublishingServer, ProcessId: 948
2025-12-14 19:40:13.516 - 80021448343338_7 - Server Execution Error
The given key was not present in the dictionary.
---
at System.ThrowHelper.ThrowKeyNotFoundException()
at System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2.get_Item(TKey key)
at Westwind.WebConnection.ComServerManager.GetServer(WebConnectionHandler handler)
at Westwind.WebConnection.ComProcessor.ProcessRequest() - /lswhsaleupdate.cit
2025-12-14 19:40:14.018 - Unload: COM Process was shut down: 2416
2025-12-14 19:40:14.209 - Unload: COM Process was shut down: 948
Hi, This happens from time to time; an old instance wasn't deleted properly. Luckily, I have my server locally, so I just need to go to the server and delete the task with task manager.
You should always be able to shut down servers remotely via Unload Servers. That command will first try to unload the COM instances 'normally' via their COM references and then kill any processes that match. This should work as long as the account that the Application Pool is running under has permissions (COM release works without Admin permissions- but KILL operation requires an ADMIN or SYSTEM account).
+++ Rick ---
Hi Ron,
Not saying this is the issue you're having but it might be worth checking.
Once in a blue moon, the EXE update fails because, for some unknown reason, there are instances running in File Mode.
I switch to File Mode, unload the servers, switch back to COM Mode and then I'm able to update the EXE.
Carl
Yes that's the way - especially in past versions.
In newer version in COM Mode doing an Unload Servers operation finds all instances of a given EXE running and kills it - regardless of whether it was loaded via COM or not. IOW, it's doing the same thing that a Unload Servers does in file mode, with the difference that we first try to do it properly via controlled shutdown with the kill operation only after as potential cleanup.
This was added late in v7 but officially shows up in v8.
+++ Rick ---