Difficulties Reinstalling Folding@home on Windows

[kingseamus]

I have a new PC that I'd love to put to work folding virtual proteins.

I used F@H a few weeks ago and tried to get it going again yesterday. F@H on my PC seemed inoperable, however, and files seemed missing (couldn't find uninstall for instance).

Tried deleting all F@H files but when I attempt to reinstall, I quickly get the following notice: "Failed to install files. Most likely some software, possibly Folding@home is currently using one or more files that the installer is trying to upgrade. Please stop all running Folding@home software and quite any applications that are using files from the Folding@home installation. Note, complete shutdown can take a little while after the application has closed."

Not sure why I keep getting this message as I seem to have gotten rid of all of the F@H data and have restarted my computer multiple times. I'm guessing there are still some hidden F@H files on my computer interfering with the re-installation process?

[Jesse_V]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

That's definitely a rare error message. I would suggest deleting the F@h files by going to C:\Users\YOUR_NAME\AppData\Roaming and delete the FAHClient directory. (The AppData folder might be hidden, so if you don't see it, just add "AppData" to the path at the top of the screen) After you've deleted the directory, try the installation again.

[kingseamus]

Thanks for the recommendation, Jesse! Unfortunately, looks like I just can't make Fah disappear from my system. I still see FAHClient under Program Files (x86), and when I try to delete it, I get the message "The action can't be completed because the folder or a file in it is open in another program. Close the folder or file and try again."

Task Manager doesn't show anything to be running, however. Any ideas how I might resolve this?

[ajm]

When FAH is running, there are several instances of it in the Task Manager and they are not all visible in the Apps.
You have FAHClient in the apps, but also in the Background processes.
In the Background processes too, you'll have one or more instances of FahCore_a7 and FAHCoreWrapper and one of FahCore_22. All this must be stopped.

[PantherX]

If you see any of these processes in Task Manager (Details tab), terminate them:
FahCore_a7
FahCore_22
FAHClient
FAHControl
FAHViewer
FAHCoreWrapper

[kingseamus]

Thanks ajm and PantherX. I'm embarrassed to say that I hadn't realized that I could expand the Task Manager and view Background processes and Details.

Frustratingly, the above listed processes "FahCore-a7, FahCore_22, FAHClient, etc." are not visible under Background processes or the Details tab of Task Manager. My PC nonetheless still seems to think that F@H is still in-use, as it won't let me delete the FAHClient folder in Program Files (x86).

I wonder if there might be some additional F@H process at work that I'm just not recognizing?

[PantherX]

AFAIK, those should be the only processes that F@H use. It is possible that you may have an anti-virus/anti-malware application that has locked those files. What happens if you perform a reboot of your system: https://www.howtogeek.com/349114/shutti ... g-it-does/

If that doesn't work, you could try safe mode but if you have to resort to that, I would be concerned as to what's happening to the system as this is not normal behavior: https://www.howtogeek.com/107511/how-to ... -easy-way/

[kingseamus]

Thanks PantherX. Yep, tried restarting numerous times already but I have not yet tried Safe Mode. Will give that a go.