Unable to install GitHub for Windows

Question

I\'m trying to install github for windows when I received this error:

Application cannot be started. Contact the application vendor.

The error

Answer 1

It worked fine for me. Really deleting the directory worked fine.

If you have problems locating the directory copy directly %LocalAppData%\Apps\2.0 on the explorer window. Delete every folder you find there and it will work.

Great response as it was really annoying for me.

Answer 2

The problem we had was that a third-party security application that controlled our corporate firewall on each device was blocking ClickOnce from accessing dfshim.dll over WiFi, so one potential solution for us was to have our inspectors start the .NET application while connected via ethernet and then after the app was booted up they could go out and perform their inspections.

Answer 3

After contacting support, they emailed me and helped me work through the problem preventing GitHub for windows from installing.

This is a problem with the ClickOnce Application Cache.

1. Before proceeding make sure that you have connectivity.
2. Sometimes Firewall may be blocking this *.application
3. So turn off you firewall for private and public profile and then retry.
4. If the issue persists, you can use the process specified below.

1. Hold down the Windows key and type R.
2. Type in rundll32 %SystemRoot%\system32\dfshim.dll CleanOnlineAppCache in the run dialog and hit Enter.

Then try installing the application.

If that doesn't work, there's a more manual approach to ensuring the cache is cleared - you can delete the ClickOnce Application folder directly. On Windows Vista or higher, this will be the %LocalAppData%\Apps\2.0 directory. Simply delete the %LocalAppData%\Apps\2.0 directory and restart github for windows.

If nothing seems to happen after running the installer, you may need to restart Windows, or explorer.exe (if using the .msi installer, the app may be in: %LocalAppData%\GitHubDesktop)

Answer 4

For Windows 8.1 64-Bit,

1. Go to file Explorer (Shortcut: windows key + E).
2. Paste this " %LocalAppData%\Apps" (without inverted commas) in you file explorer panel (which displays your current location in file explorer.
3. Press Enter key.
4. Delete the folder named 2.0 .

In my case, this worked without a glitch. I Hope this helps you

Answer 5

I had this issue today on Windows 10 so the issue is still there. The solution provided by @JoeC above solved my issue. The error I received was:

PLATFORM VERSION INFO
    Windows             : 10.0.10586.0 (Win32NT)
    Common Language Runtime     : 4.0.30319.42000
    System.Deployment.dll       : 4.6.1038.0 built by: NETFXREL2
    clr.dll             : 4.6.1063.1 built by: NETFXREL3STAGE
    dfdll.dll           : 4.6.1038.0 built by: NETFXREL2
    dfshim.dll          : 10.0.10586.0 (th2_release.151029-1700)

SOURCES
    Deployment url          : http://github-windows.s3.amazonaws.com/GitHub.application

ERROR SUMMARY
    Below is a summary of the errors, details of these errors are listed later in the log.
    * Activation of http://github-windows.s3.amazonaws.com/GitHub.application resulted in exception. Following failure messages were detected:
        + The referenced assembly is not installed on your system. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800736B3)

COMPONENT STORE TRANSACTION FAILURE SUMMARY
    No transaction error was detected.

WARNINGS
    There were no warnings during this operation.

OPERATION PROGRESS STATUS
    * [2016-02-01 06:29:55] : Activation of http://github-windows.s3.amazonaws.com/GitHub.application has started.

ERROR DETAILS
    Following errors were detected during this operation.
    * [2016-02-01 06:29:56] System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException
        - The referenced assembly is not installed on your system. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800736B3)
        - Source: System.Deployment
        - Stack trace:
            at System.Deployment.Internal.Isolation.IStore.GetAssemblyInformation(UInt32 Flags, IDefinitionIdentity DefinitionIdentity, Guid& riid)
            at System.Deployment.Internal.Isolation.Store.GetAssemblyManifest(UInt32 Flags, IDefinitionIdentity DefinitionIdentity)
            at System.Deployment.Application.ComponentStore.GetAssemblyManifest(DefinitionIdentity asmId)
            at System.Deployment.Application.ComponentStore.GetSubscriptionStateInternal(DefinitionIdentity subId)
            at System.Deployment.Application.SubscriptionStore.GetSubscriptionStateInternal(SubscriptionState subState)
            at System.Deployment.Application.SubscriptionStore.CheckAndReferenceApplication(SubscriptionState subState, DefinitionAppId appId, Int64 transactionId)
            at System.Deployment.Application.DownloadManager.DownloadDeploymentManifestDirectBypass(SubscriptionStore subStore, Uri& sourceUri, TempFile& tempFile, SubscriptionState& subState, IDownloadNotification notification, DownloadOptions options, ServerInformation& serverInformation)
            at System.Deployment.Application.DownloadManager.DownloadDeploymentManifestBypass(SubscriptionStore subStore, Uri& sourceUri, TempFile& tempFile, SubscriptionState& subState, IDownloadNotification notification, DownloadOptions options)
            at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationActivator.PerformDeploymentActivation(Uri activationUri, Boolean isShortcut, String textualSubId, String deploymentProviderUrlFromExtension, BrowserSettings browserSettings, String& errorPageUrl)
            at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationActivator.ActivateDeploymentWorker(Object state)

COMPONENT STORE TRANSACTION DETAILS
    No transaction information is available.

Answer 6

I see answers here and understand that i did dumb thing. I just made small script that copied all tmp files during installation.

Made small Windows copygithub.cmd file:

:loop

xcopy  C:\Users\Stall\AppData\Local\Temp\Deployment C:\github /y /h /i /s

goto loop

Its just a copy in a loop. Start it before install github. And close after you receive an error.

Once it get a fail, all files are erased. So i didn't want to miss any file. This copy is in infinity loop. So you should stop it after you got error.

It does not solve issue, but i received working github. That's what i wanted.