AE 2024 Duplicating Extensions

@ErinF @RohitSahu I wanted to check in on this again, as I haven't heard anything via email. Thanks

@RohitSahu Just sent over an email. Thanks for looking in to this.

Hi @Cameron J , I am from the enginneering team and looking into your issue. Can you provide us the CEP extension which you are trying to install along with the logs using log collector tool. Please also share the CEP11-AEFT.log file. You can email me these on rosahu@adobe.com. Zip files might not get delivered as attachment over the email, you can use Google Drive, Dropbox, etc. and share the link on the email. Also can you let us know what command you are executing and whether in admin or non-admin mode?

Ok @ErinF , I have something a bit more definitive for you.

The root cause of the extension not opening is due to ERROR Signature verification failed for extension, coming from the CEP11-AEFT.log in the %temp% directory.

I downloaded ZXPSignCmd to check this out, and sure enough when running the -verify option on the extension folder, I get: Error - Failed to verify signature. Signature might have been tampered with.

However - when I run ZXPSignCmd -verify on our .zxp distributable itself, I get: Signature verified successfully. It also has a valid timestamp.

So, something must happen to the signature when using UPIA /install, since the ZXP is verified before install, but the extension folder cannot be verified after install. Then, after opening AE as admin, and then running the extension (which now opens successfully), I can run ZXPSignCmd on the extension root folder and it returns successful.

Checking File Properties for both the extensions root folder and the META-INF/signatures.xml, they seem to have the same permissions before and after running AE as Admin.

I would've thought it was an issue with our signing process, but the fact that it is working on MacOS, and not all Windows users are experiencing this issue, makes me think it's something to do with UPIA? Really not sure though. Please let me know if I can provide any more info, or if the engineering team is looking at this. I'm considering reverting our Windows installer back to ExMan in the meantime if we can't figure it out, since ExMan seems to install correctly.

Thanks again for your support on this!

Hey Erin,

A couple things to note: 

You asked previously if users were able to uninstall our plugin and reproduce the problem a second time if they go to install it again?

--> Yes, it seems after reinstalling a second time, they will have to run AE as Admin again.

Also, I had a user run the UPIA /install command directly, and it still wouldn't work.

Is there a chance there's an issue with our zxp or something? We haven't changed anything with the signing process, only the method of installation (ExMan -> UPIA). Was there any word from the engineers?

Side note - is this the best place to continue discussion of this, or would you prefer another forum?

This is the best forum for this particular product (UPIA). If it turns out that only After Effects is at fault, perhaps somewhere else!

Actually if you're in an After Effects Beta or Prerelease program and surface it there it wouldn't hurt... (it might get forwarded back to me, eventually...) ... and the behavior may be different in Beta or Prerelease versions of AE.

Thanks @ErinF . I also just got some reports about our plugin working correctly in 24.0.0, but then after updating to 24.0.1, the panel doesn't open, until running AE as admin again. So potentially some permission for the extension is lost between the minor update? Just wanted to pass that along as well. Let me know what the engineering team says, and thanks for your support. 

Side note - is this the best place to continue discussion of this, or would you prefer another forum?

I talk with Anastasiy of the Extension Manager on a regular basis - he uses ExManCmd and UPIA "under the hood" of his GUI tool, so it's unsurprising it faces the same issues.

As for the permissions - I did work with the engineering team for a little while to clarify if the commands need to be run as admin or not ("sudo") and explained the user expectations there.

Anyhow, plugin installation permissions seems to be a perenial battle with OS updates. Some years it's more difficult with Windows, sometimes macOS introduces a new monkey wrench... 

I'll forward your question to the engineers.

Thanks @ErinF . I will check with some of the users experiencing this and see if they get back to me. Not sure when that will happen.

In the meantime - Is the engineering team aware of any changes between ExMan and UPIA that would cause something like this? Our same zxp, installed with ExMan, works fine, while installed with UPIA requires that a non-trivial subset of users run AE as administrator for the panel to show up. UPIA /list all also shows that the plugin is installed, it just doesn't open. Also, the ZXP installer from https://install.anastasiy.com/ seemed to have the same issue.

I'm trying to think back to when I was testing these installers on my Windows machine. I think I noticed that when running from the command line, upia /install didn't seem to require admin permissions - as in, didn't prompt the user with a popup dialog requiring the approval of the changes being made. While, I believe ExMan did require them. Not sure if that's relevant, since upia is packaged with CC.

I distributed some installers using UPIA, but have found that a subset of Windows users are not able to open the plugin, until they run After Effects as an Admin (i.e. "Run as Administrator"). From this point on, the plugin is functional, even if re-opening AE normally (not as Admin).

By @Cameron J

I'm glad you had some success so far!

I don't know the cause of the issue, I'm only familiar with the troubleshooting steps involved.

If you're in touch with some of the users who had this problem, are they able to uninstall your plugin and reproduce the problem a second time if they go to install it again?

The first thing the Engineering team will try to do is reproduce the problem, and they will ask for log files that will tell the system specs.

Your affected users will need to install this log collector tool.

In order to investigate the issue, use a file sharing service of your choice (Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.) and share the following details:

1. If your plugin is from Adobe’s marketplace (the Exchange), provide a link to the listing. If it’s not from Adobe’s marketplace, engineering will need a copy of the plugin installer.
        1a. Please list the names of your plugin(s).
2. The log file(s) you collected. The log collector outputs a ZXP.
        2a. It’s very helpful to include the file name of the ZXP in the body of your email.
3. Email and share the above to ccintrev@adobe.com and CC finnegan @ adobe . com

Note that ZXP files tend to get lost in the spam filter. If you’ve sent everything and it’s been a few days with no response, email again with no attachments.