Package causing error on app open

[whospsycho]

Hi, I'm having an issue where whenever I build my application into a ZIP or a DMG for macOS/darwin and I open the application, it returns the error:

Error: Cannot find module 'update-electron-app'
Require stack:
- /Users/user/Documents/Appname/electron/out/Appname-darwin-arm64/Appname.app/Contents/Resources/app.asar/.vite/build/main.js
- 
at Module._resolveFilename (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1232:15)
at s._resolveFilename (node:electron/js2c/browser_init:2:123740)
at Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1058:27)
at c._load (node:electron/js2c/node_init:2:16955)
at Module.require (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1318:19)
at require (node:internal/modules/helpers:179:18)
at Object.<anonymous> (/Users/user/Documents/Appname/electron/out/Appname-darwin-arm64/Appname.app/Contents/Resources/app.asar/.vite/build/main.js:1:208)
at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1484:14)
at Module._extensions..js (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1564:10)
at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1295:32)

My forge config:

const config: ForgeConfig = {
  packagerConfig: {
    asar: true,
    icon: "./src/assets/logo.ico",
    protocols: [
      {
        name: "Appname",
        schemes: ["appname"]
      }
    ]
  },
  rebuildConfig: {},
  makers: [
    {
      name: "@electron-forge/maker-squirrel",
      config: (arch: any) => ({
        loadingGif: "./src/assets/loading.gif",
        iconUrl: "https://s3.appname.com/static/appname-logo.svg",
        setupIcon: `./src/assets/logo.ico`,
        remoteReleases: `https://s3.appname.com/appname/releases/win32/${arch}`,
      }),
    },
    {
      name: "@electron-forge/maker-zip",
      config: {
        platform: "darwin",
      }
    }
  ],
  publishers: [
    {
      name: '@electron-forge/publisher-s3',
      config: {
        bucket: 'Appname',
        keyResolver: (fileName: any, platform: any, arch: any) => {
          return `Appname/releases/${platform}/${arch}/${fileName}`
        },
        public: true,
        region: 'auto',
        accessKeyId: process.env.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID,
        secretAccessKey: process.env.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY,
        endpoint: process.env.AWS_ENDPOINT_URL,
        folder: 'Appname'
      }
    }
  ],
  plugins: [
    new VitePlugin({
      // `build` can specify multiple entry builds, which can be Main process, Preload scripts, Worker process, etc.
      // If you are familiar with Vite configuration, it will look really familiar.
      build: [
        {
          // `entry` is just an alias for `build.lib.entry` in the corresponding file of `config`.
          entry: "src/main.ts",
          config: "vite.main.config.ts",
        },
        {
          entry: "src/preload.ts",
          config: "vite.preload.config.ts",
        },
        {
          entry: "src/webviewpreload.ts",
          config: "vite.preload.config.ts",
        }
      ],
      renderer: [
        {
          name: "main_window",
          config: "vite.renderer.config.ts",
        },
      ],
    }),
    // Fuses are used to enable/disable various Electron functionality
    // at package time, before code signing the application
    new FusesPlugin({
      version: FuseVersion.V1,
      [FuseV1Options.RunAsNode]: false,
      [FuseV1Options.EnableCookieEncryption]: true,
      [FuseV1Options.EnableNodeOptionsEnvironmentVariable]: false,
      [FuseV1Options.EnableNodeCliInspectArguments]: false,
      [FuseV1Options.EnableEmbeddedAsarIntegrityValidation]: true,
      [FuseV1Options.OnlyLoadAppFromAsar]: true,
    }),
  ],
};

export default config;

I'm running on macOS Monterey 12.5 and Bun 1.1.33.
I've tried multiple times to remove all node_modules, reinstall them, update them, etc, but nothing seems to fix my problem.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

[edymusajev]

Same issue, I haven't touched this code in my app for months but now suddenly it breaks the app

[edymusajev]

@whospsycho I got a temporary solution that works for me

It's related to the issues mentioned here:

• Forge make combined with vite is creating an incomplete asar forge#3738
• Error: Cannot find module ´electron-squirrel-startup´ - Vite or Vite with Typescript on execute .exe forge#3714

I followed these steps (some of these might be unneeded, not sure):

1. Make sure "electron-squirrel-startup" and "update-electron-app" is in devDependencies and not dependencies
2. downgrade all electron-forge packages to 7.4.0
3. change electron-squirrel-startup in your main.ts:

Before:

// Handle creating/removing shortcuts on Windows when installing/uninstalling.
if (require("electron-squirrel-startup")) {
  app.quit();
}

Modify to:

// @ts-expect-error no types
import started from "electron-squirrel-startup";

// Handle creating/removing shortcuts on Windows when installing/uninstalling.
if (started) {
  app.quit();
}

[whospsycho]

@edymusajev Your fix seems to have worked perfectly, although I left out the downgrading electron-forge step. Thanks for your help! I'll leave this issue open for the time being.

[hichemfantar]

You you can do this instead of downgrading.
temp workaround is to disable asar by modifying the following properties in forge.config.ts

const config: ForgeConfig = {
  packagerConfig: {
    asar: false,
  },
  plugins: [
    new FusesPlugin({
      [FuseV1Options.OnlyLoadAppFromAsar]: false,
    }),
  ],
};

[abhijith-rubrik]

+1

[WilliamColton]

I also encountered this issue, but I resolved it by changing the import statement to:

import { updateElectronApp } from "update-electron-app";
import started from "electron-squirrel-startup";

updateElectronApp({})

if (started) {
    app.quit();
}

I hope this helps you as well!