{"id":23997,"date":"2021-05-06T20:32:55","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T15:02:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=23997"},"modified":"2023-08-05T23:21:33","modified_gmt":"2023-08-05T17:51:33","slug":"cannot-install-notepad-plugins-fix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/cannot-install-notepad-plugins-fix\/","title":{"rendered":"[Fix] Cannot Install Notepad++ Plugins – Installation Failed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Notepad++ is one of the excellent open-source text editors available. Many users replace the plain old Notepad with Notepad++<\/a>, as the latter has a lot of features and is also lightweight. You may be knowing that the functionality of Notepad++ can be extended by installing third-party plugins into it using the built-in Plugins Admin feature.<\/p>\n

On some computers, you may be unable to install any plugins using the Plugins Admin feature. When trying to install a plugin, it restarts Notepad but does not install the chosen plugin even though you’ve tried both x86 and 64-bit versions. On some versions you may see the following error:<\/p>\n

Installation Error: Installation of plugin failed<\/pre>\n
This issue may persist even if the
\nWe’ll see how to resolve the Notepad++ plugins installation issue.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
Expected behavior during plugin installation<\/strong><\/div>\n
When you attempt to install a Notepad++ plugin via Plugins Admin dialog, the following happens:<\/p>\n
    \n
  1. The user sees the “Notepad++ is about to exit” prompt.<\/li>\n
  2. Notepad++ starts the command-line updater gup.exe<\/code> elevated (run as admin) after getting the UAC consent from the user.<\/li>\n
  3. The current instance of Notepad++ is closed.<\/li>\n
  4. The command-line updater module (gup.exe<\/code>) downloads the chosen extension from the source website in the background, and the extension file (.dll) is copied to the Plugins folder.<\/li>\n
  5. Notepad++ process is launched again.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    When the user clicks on the Plugins menu or opens the Plugins Admin page, the chosen plugin should show up in the Installed list.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
    [Fix] Cannot Install Notepad++ Plugins<\/h2>\n
    First, make sure if you’re using the latest version of Notepad++. If you’re running an outdated version, install the latest version from https:\/\/notepad-plus-plus.org\/<\/code><\/p>\n
    If that doesn’t resolve the issue, one of the following fixes should help you install Notepad++ plugins successfully.<\/p>\n
    1) Configure your Proxy server or Firewall accordingly<\/h3>\n
    The Notepad++ plugin installation may silently fail if the firewall or proxy server is not allowing the outbound connection by WinGup (gup.exe<\/code>).<\/p>\n
    WinGup for Notepad++ is a Generic Updater whose purpose is to provide a ready-to-use and configurable updater that downloads an update package then installs it. WinGup is capable of dealing with http<\/code> protocol and process XML data. For more information, check out the project’s GitHub page<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
    Make sure that your proxy\/firewall allows outbound access for gup.exe<\/code>. The module is located under the Notepad++\\Updater<\/code> directory. Unless you’re using the portable copy of Notepad++, and the typical paths (for installed versions) are below:<\/p>\n
    C:\\Program Files\\Notepad++\\updater\\GUP.exe\r\n\r\nC:\\Program Files (x86)\\Notepad++\\updater\\GUP.exe<\/pre>\n
    When Windows Firewall blocks this file, and logging is enabled using security policy, the dropped connection entry appears like this in pfirewall.log<\/code>:<\/p>\n
    \"notepad++<\/p>\n
    (The Remote IP, in this case, is 13.234.210.38<\/code> which resolves to github.com where most Notepad++ plugins are hosted.)<\/em><\/p>\n
    So, if you’re the administrator of your computer or network, make sure to allow WinGup to access the internet.<\/p>\n
    Proxy server<\/strong><\/p>\n
    If your network uses a proxy server, make sure you enter the details via the ?<\/code> menu option in Notepad. Click on the ?<\/code> menu and select Set Updater Proxy…<\/strong><\/p>\n
    You’ll need to do this when Notepad++ is elevated (run as administrator). Or else, it shows the message “Please relaunch Notepad++ in Admin mode to configure proxy<\/strong><\/em>.”<\/p>\n
    \"notepad++<\/p>\n
    The entry is updated into the file named gupOptions.xml<\/code> under Notepad++\\updater<\/code> directory. Alternately, using Notepad (run as administrator), you may edit the file manually and type in the proxy server configuration directly.<\/p>\n
    \"notepad++<\/p>\n
    Assuming that your proxy or firewall is reconfigured correctly, restart Notepad++ and try installing the plugin(s) now. Unlike earlier versions, it should work even without TLS 1.0 & TLS 1.1 options enabled in Internet Explorer Options.<\/p>\n
    \n
    Proxy error?<\/h4>\n
    Note that if your company’s proxy requires Windows authentication, Notepad++ doesn’t support it.\u00a0If it throws the error code Received HTTP code 407 from proxy after CONNECT<\/code>, it means that the proxy requires authentication. Unfortunately, Notepad++ (the latest version is 7.9.5<\/code> as of this writing) doesn’t support proxy authentication.<\/p>\n
    \"tipsAlternatively, you may disconnect from your company network, connect to the internet via mobile WiFi or USB tethering. Then, try to install the plugin.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
    \n
    2) Install Notepad++ Plugins manually<\/h3>\n
    If reconfiguring the proxy or firewall still doesn’t let you install plugins via the Plugins Admin option, you may install them manually. Before 2015, Notepad++ plugins were hosted at sourceforge.net<\/code>. After that, GitHub is now the central platform for development and bug reporting. Still, some plugins are hosted at sourceforge.net<\/code>.<\/p>\n
      \n
    1. Visit the following official Notepad++ GitHub page, which lists all the plugins. You can get the direct download links (for both x86 and x64) for every Notepad++ plugin available.\n
      GitHub - notepad-plus-plus\/nppPluginList: The official collection of Notepad++ plugins:\r\nhttps:\/\/github.com\/notepad-plus-plus\/nppPluginList<\/pre>\n
      Let’s say you want to install the Compare plugin. The direct download URL for the current version is below:<\/p>\n
      https:\/\/github.com\/pnedev\/compare-plugin\/releases\/download\/v2.0.1\/ComparePlugin_v2.0.1_x86.zip  [32-bit]\r\n\r\n(or)\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/github.com\/pnedev\/compare-plugin\/releases\/download\/v2.0.1\/ComparePlugin_v2.0.1_X64.zip  [64-bit]<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n
    2. Download the above zip file and extract the contents to a folder.<\/li>\n
    3. Visit the plugin homepage. For the Compare<\/strong> plugin, the homepage is https:\/\/github.com\/jsleroy\/compare-plugin
      \n<\/code>
      \nNote: You can also find the homepage of the plugin via Plugins Admin.<\/em>
      \n\"notepad++<\/li>\n
    4. From that page, note down the installation instructions for this plugin and follow the steps exactly as given. The official instructions say:\n
      \"To install the plugin manually for usage with Notepad++, copy ComparePlugin.dll and ComparePlugin subfolder into the plugins directory (Notepad++ installation dir)\\Notepad++\\Plugins. The ComparePlugin subfolder contains the libs libgit2.dll and sqlite.dll for the Diff against Git and SVN (please use the correct library versions - x86 or x64).\"<\/pre>\n
      Hold on! There is a small change on the plugins path in the recent versions of Notepad++. Read below.<\/h4>\n
      \n
      Caveat!<\/h3>\n