Shimgen not creating shims, with error 'Could not execute CVTRES.EXE.'

[Balfa]

What You Are Seeing?

I am seeing all packages (that otherwise install successfully) not have shims created for them.

What is Expected?

The packages get shims created in C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin so that they can be executed easily from anywhere.

How Did You Get This To Happen? (Steps to Reproduce)

1. I ran this command choco install make -dv
2. The package was downloaded correctly but no shim was created.
3. I can run C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\lib\make\tools\install\bin\make.exe and get correct output: make: *** No targets specified and no makefile found. Stop.
4. But I cannot just run make.exe or make from any location: make.exe: The term 'make.exe' is not recognized as a name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or executable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.

System Details

• OS Build (In PowerShell run [System.Environment]::OSVersion.version.tostring()): 10.0.19045.0
• Windows PowerShell version (Run: $PSVersionTable): 7.2.6
• Chocolatey version (Run choco --version): 1.1.0

Output Log

See https://gist.github.com/Balfa/fc254362476f406b226162d791d23c21

┆Issue is synchronized with this Gitlab issue by Unito
┆Link To Issue: https://gitlab.com/chocolatey/collaborators/shimgen/-/issues/39

[corbob]

It looks like perhaps your .net framework install is corrupted somehow. One of the answers to a similar issue on stackoverflow hinted at a repair tool from Microsoft, or perhaps running sfc /scannow since the framework is built into windows.

[Balfa]

I tried sfc /scannow, I tried the .NET Framework Repair Tool, I tried copying cvtres.exe & cvtres.exe.config from C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319 to C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727, and I tried a Visual Studio Installer Repair. Nothing helped :(

[corbob]

🤔 I'm not sure where else to look with this. I'm seeing no issues on Windows 10 21h2, 22h1, and 22h2 (10.0.19043-19045), nor in Windows 11..

This seems very unlikely, but perhaps it's something to do with 32 vs 64 bit... Could you try launching C:\Windows\SysWOW64\cmd.exe as an administrator and then running C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\tools\shimgen.exe --path="..\\lib\make\tools\install\bin\make.exe" --output="C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin\make.exe" --iconpath="C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\lib\make\tools\install\bin\make.exe" to see it it works? If that works, then try removing the file C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin\make.exe before running the choco install make command again (you may need to uninstall make or force the install with --force).

[Balfa]

No dice :/

# C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\tools\shimgen.exe --path="..\\lib\make\tools\install\bin\make.exe" --output="C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin\make.exe" --iconpath="C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\lib\make\tools\install\bin\make.exe"
[WARN ] Could not extract icon from associated program. Using default. Error:
  Selected Icon is invalid
Microsoft (R) Visual C# Compiler version 4.8.4084.0

for C# 5
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.



This compiler is provided as part of the Microsoft (R) .NET Framework, but only supports language versions up to C# 5, which is no longer the latest version. For compilers that support newer versions of the C# programming language, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=533240

error CS0016: Could not write to output file 'c:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin\make.exe' -- 'Could not execute CVTRES.EXE.'


[ERROR] ShimGen had an issue creating 'C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin\make.exe'. Please check the logs above.

It's a work laptop with some restricted privileges, so I feel like it might be related to that, but I wish I could see even which CVTRES.EXE it was trying to execute, and with what parameters...
When I run C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\cvtres.exe from the same prompt, a blank terminal window appears and disappears in the blink of an eye

[github-actions]

Is this still relevant? If so, what is blocking it? Is there anything you can do to help move it forward?
This issue will be closed in 14 days if it continues to be inactive.

[Balfa]

This is still ongoing. My workaround is to create symbolic links in git bash:

cd /c/ProgramData/chocolatey/bin/ 
ln -s /c/ProgramData/chocolatey/lib/azcopy10/tools/azcopy/azcopy.exe

These work for most scenarios but (as pointed out by the chocolatey documentation) are not as universally applicable as shimgen.
For example, it doesn't work for hurl because it expects to be executed from its install directory