From 7e55b934ea251ca2496125fb89b337062c85a6ed Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Dana Moverman <dana@added-value.co.il>
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2026 18:35:47 +0300
Subject: [PATCH] fix(install): kill gateway running from venv before
 recreating it (Windows)

The Windows venv-recreate guard only runs `taskkill /IM hermes.exe`, but the
gateway that a scheduled task or watchdog autostarts runs as
`pythonw.exe -m hermes_cli.main gateway run` straight out of venv\Scripts\.
Its image name is python/pythonw, so taskkill never matches it; it keeps the
venv's native extensions (e.g. tornado\speedups.pyd) loaded, and the following
Remove-Item fails with "Access to the path is denied" -- aborting boot at the
venv stage so the desktop app never loads.

Additionally stop any process whose executable lives under this venv, matched
by path so the image name is irrelevant and a global/system python outside the
venv is never touched.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 scripts/install.ps1 | 29 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++---
 1 file changed, 26 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/scripts/install.ps1 b/scripts/install.ps1
index 691f7b912a4..67800fca938 100644
--- a/scripts/install.ps1
+++ b/scripts/install.ps1
@@ -1562,13 +1562,36 @@ function Install-Venv {
     
     if (Test-Path "venv") {
         Write-Info "Virtual environment already exists, recreating..."
-        # On Windows, native Python extensions (e.g. _bcrypt.pyd) are loaded as
-        # DLLs by any running hermes process. Windows denies deletion of loaded
-        # DLLs, so kill any hermes.exe tree before removing the venv.
+        # On Windows, native Python extensions (e.g. _bcrypt.pyd, tornado's
+        # speedups.pyd) are loaded as DLLs by any running hermes process.
+        # Windows denies deletion of loaded DLLs, so every process running out
+        # of this venv must be stopped before removing it -- otherwise
+        # Remove-Item fails with "Access to the path '...' is denied" and the
+        # whole install/update aborts at this stage.
         if ($env:OS -eq "Windows_NT") {
             $myPid = $PID
             Write-Info "Stopping any running hermes processes before recreating venv..."
+            # The launcher CLI (hermes.exe) plus its child tree.
             & taskkill /F /T /IM hermes.exe /FI "PID ne $myPid" 2>$null | Out-Null
+            # taskkill /IM hermes.exe is NOT enough: the gateway/agent that a
+            # scheduled task or watchdog autostarts runs as
+            # `pythonw.exe -m hermes_cli.main gateway run` straight out of
+            # venv\Scripts\, so its image name is python/pythonw, not hermes.exe.
+            # That process holds the venv's .pyd files open and re-triggers the
+            # access-denied failure. Kill anything whose executable lives under
+            # THIS venv, matched by path so the image name does not matter and a
+            # global/system python outside the venv is never touched.
+            $venvRoot = (Join-Path $InstallDir "venv")
+            try {
+                Get-CimInstance Win32_Process -ErrorAction Stop |
+                    Where-Object { $_.ProcessId -ne $myPid -and $_.ExecutablePath -and $_.ExecutablePath -like "$venvRoot\*" } |
+                    ForEach-Object {
+                        Write-Info "  stopping PID $($_.ProcessId) ($($_.Name)) running from venv"
+                        Stop-Process -Id $_.ProcessId -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
+                    }
+            } catch {
+                Write-Warn "Could not enumerate venv processes: $($_.Exception.Message)"
+            }
             Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 800
         }
         Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "venv"