Installer doesn't request elevation, then it hangs during config near end of installation

[stanwest]

• I was not able to find an open or closed issue matching what I'm seeing

  Commenters to issue Git installer hangs on non-Windows drive #815 after Dec 2017 report the installer hanging, but the causes aren't clear.

  Issue Install from .exe freezes, some commands won't run #1374 reports a frozen installer and broken commands; based on a few tests, my commands appear functional.

  In issue Git for Windows Installer hangs #1763, the installer hangs at mkdir, whereas in my case it hangs at git config. The log omits the early line specifying whether the installer ran with administrative privileges.

Setup

• Which version of Git for Windows are you using? Is it 32-bit or 64-bit?

  $ git --version --build-options
  
  git version 2.18.0.windows.1
  cpu: x86_64
  built from commit: cd1a74fc9dc8a07626c216940db9a51f25206e03
  sizeof-long: 4
  

• Which version of Windows are you running? Vista, 7, 8, 10? Is it 32-bit or 64-bit?

  Windows 10 64-bit.

  $ cmd.exe /c ver
  
  Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.16299.551]
  

• What options did you set as part of the installation? Or did you choose the
  defaults?

  Editor Option: Notepad++
  Path Option: Cmd
  SSH Option: OpenSSH
  CURL Option: OpenSSL
  CRLF Option: CRLFAlways
  Bash Terminal Option: ConHost
  Performance Tweaks FSCache: Enabled
  Use Credential Manager: Enabled
  Enable Symlinks: Disabled
  

• Any other interesting things about your environment that might be related
  to the issue you're seeing?

  None known.

Details

When I ran the installer (Git-2.18.0-64-bit.exe) from my non-privileged user account, it did not prompt for elevated privileges but proceeded into the wizard. I accepted its proposed installation path under my AppData directory. Once the installer's progress bar filled, the installer remained in that state for several minutes. With Process Explorer, I saw that a subprocess with the following command line was running within the C:\ProgramData\Git directory:

"C:\Users\stan.west\AppData\Local\Programs\Git\mingw64\bin\git.exe" config -f config core.autocrlf true

After I killed that process, the installer continued and then exited after I clicked the "Finish" button on the final pane.

I expected, if that installer is intended only for system (not user) installations, that it would prompt for elevated privileges. If it may be used for user installations, I expect it not to try to modify a system configuration file at C:\ProgramData\Git\config.

When I explicitly ran the installer as administrator, it completed without hanging and modified the system configuration file.

Cause of hanging

It appears that the cause of the installer hanging is git config waiting on input. When I used the Command Prompt to run the command line above in the correct directory, git config asked to retry (because it lacked privileges to modify the config file) and waited for a response:

C:\ProgramData\Git>"C:\Users\stan.west\AppData\Local\Programs\Git\mingw64\bin\git.exe" config -f config core.autocrlf true
Rename from 'C:/ProgramData/Git/config.lock' to 'C:/ProgramData/Git/config' failed. Should I try again? (y/n)

That left a new file C:\ProgramData\Git\config.lock. When I ran the above command thereafter, git config instead printed an error message and terminated immediately:

C:\ProgramData\Git>"C:\Users\stan.west\AppData\Local\Programs\Git\mingw64\bin\git.exe" config -f config core.autocrlf true
error: could not lock config file config: File exists

That suggests that a second run of the installer would appear to succeed, although it would have failed to alter the system configuration file.

Installer log

When I ran the installer with /log=<file> (and with no lingering config.lock file), the installer hung after writing the "Installation process succeeded" line and continued after I killed the git config subprocess. The tail of the log is as follows:

2018-07-26 14:48:29.405   Creating the icon.
2018-07-26 14:48:29.410   Successfully created the icon.
2018-07-26 14:48:29.475   Installation process succeeded.
2018-07-26 14:53:05.840   Extracting temporary file: C:\Users\STAN~1.WES\AppData\Local\Temp\1\is-6364K.tmp\edit-git-bash.exe
2018-07-26 14:53:06.861   Line 2155: Executing C:\Users\stan.west\AppData\Local\Programs\Git\post-install.bat
2018-07-26 14:53:07.712   Line 2163: post-install scripts run successfully:
                          "running post-install"
                          'C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts' -> '/etc/hosts'
                          'C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\protocol' -> '/etc/protocols'
                          'C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\services' -> '/etc/services'
                          'C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\networks' -> '/etc/networks'
                          
2018-07-26 14:53:08.598   Need to restart Windows? No
2018-07-26 14:53:18.116   Deinitializing Setup.
2018-07-26 14:53:18.131   Log closed.

[kstrophus]

I have the same issue. The installer hangs and never completes. Windows 7 and Git 2.22. Using the log option produces this output and stops progressing (but a new "git" process pops into my task manager):

2019-07-22 14:14:06.800 Installation process succeeded.
2019-07-22 14:14:06.956 Extracting temporary file: C:\Users\JCC3B~1.GRO\AppData\Local\Temp\is-IUF49.tmp\programdata-config.template

[dscho]

I don't even know how the installer can be started without requiring elevation. In my case, it always does.

[the-j0k3r]

To any one interested in a workaround read #2158 (comment)

It worked for me. =)

[stanwest]

Pull request #2358, specifically commit 5a95abc, seems to have resolved the root cause of this issue—that an installation step tried unsuccessfully to modify C:/ProgramData/Git/config and asked whether to try again, although no one was there to respond.

Also, I found that to reproduce this issue, the directory C:\Program Files\Git (or C:\Program Files (x86)\Git for 32-bit, I imagine) must not exist. When I ran the installer with that directory present (and without administrative privileges), the installer failed early, displaying the message:

Setup was unable to create the directory "C:\Program Files\Git\tmp".

Error 5: Access is denied.

(The message is similar with Git-2.26.0-64-bit.exe but with dev instead of tmp.) When the Git directory is missing, the installation path defaulted to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Git, and the installer was able to install the program files before hanging.

Although the installer for version 2.26.0 similarly does not prompt me for elevated privileges, I'm closing this issue because its root cause appears resolved.