Can't install Rtools40 on Windows server for multiple users

[bharris-fs]

I and various colleagues are running R on a Windows 10 server. One of us installed Rtools40 according to the instructions on https://cran.r-project.org/bin/windows/Rtools/, tried the tests, and it worked.

Then I tried to do the same thing, but it failed. I created a .Renviron, but $RTOOLS40_HOME was empty. I can't re-run the installer, because it finds Rtools40 already installed and exits.

Is there a preferred way to proceed on a server with multiple people needing access to Rtools40? Should I just set RTOOLS40_HOME manually? IF the manual method is the preferred approach, I'll try it again and report back, for it didn't work for me.

In my imagination, it would be nice for the installer, should it find an existing Rtools40, would inform the user that it would not upgrade the program and then would do any other work such as setting R40TOOLS_HOME before exiting.

OTOH, if I'm doing something else wrong, please let me know.

[jeroen]

Thanks for the report.

Does the user who installed rtools40 have admin privileges? When you install rtools40 as a user with admin rights, the RTOOLS40_HOME variable is written to HKLM and available to all users.

OTOH if rtools40 is installed by a user without admin rights, the RTOOLS40_HOME variable is written to HKCU and only available to the current user.

If that is not the case there may be a bug. It is difficult to test for these things.

Does setting the RTOOLS40_HOME variable manually in your ~/.Renviron file fix the problem or are there other issues?

[bharris-fs]

First, yes, the user who installed this ran with admin privileges, as did I.

Second, I see InstallPath set to "C:\rtools40 in HKLM > SOFTWARE > R-core > Rtools > 4.0.0, along with FullVersion set to "4.0.0.28". In HKCU > SOFTWARE, I see nothing related to R..

Third, I edited my ~/.Renvirons file to be now

RTOOLS40_HOME="c:/rtools40" PATH="${RTOOLS40_HOME}\usr\bin\${PATH}

and restarted R from the Cygwin command line (I'm running CRAN R, not any Cygwin version, though).

When I run R or R --vanilla or R --no-save, I get the same result:
stdin is not a tty

Now that I see it , I recall seeing it last week, too, so it's not from adding the definition of RTOOLS40_HOME to my .Renvirons. From a bit of Googling, it sounds like it's not an uncommon problem across a variety of software. Unless you happen to know what could have gone wrong with my R installation to cause this, I think I have some study to do.

[jeroen]

Can you please try to start R from the start menu, to make sure you start the correct R?

The environment variable should be set here: https://github.com/r-windows/rtools-installer/blob/master/rtools64.iss#L50

[bharris-fs]

I did, and that started 4.0.0 (2020-04-24).

I tried the Sys.which("make") command and got "c:\rtools40\usr\bin\make.exe". So far, so good.

I tried installing jsonlite and got "ERROR: cannot remove earlier installation, is it in use? " followed by a number of permission denied warnings.

Instead of fixing that, I tried install.packages("ABCanalysis", type = "source"). That also installed plotrix, and both seemed to install with no warnings, errors, or non-zero exit status messages.

I also checked type R and which R from Cygwin Bash and got /cygdrive/c/c/R/R-4.0.0/bin/x64/R both times. I also still get the "stdin is not a tty".

At least when I run ESS or Org-mode in Emacs, I get R 4.0.0. I'll put the stdin problem on a list to fix someday soon.

Thanks! Would you consider documenting the fix you suggested--defining RTOOLS40_HOME in .Renviron--in the documentation for others running on a server?

[jeroen]

You might have to install winpty in cygwin to start R from the cygwin shell, but that is completely unrelated.

I want to understand why your system does not have RTOOLS40_HOME. Is the RTOOLS40_HOME variable defined in HKCU like here? https://github.com/r-windows/rtools-installer/blob/master/rtools64.iss#L60

Maybe the installer is installing as regular user, even though the user is admin.

[bharris-fs]

I searched for winpty in Cygwin setup and found nothing. I found rprichard/winpty#64, but I'd rather not go through the process of building, installing, and updating Cygwin packages outside of Setup.

I may not be sufficiently schooled in registry work to help as much as you'd like. I searched on RTOOLS40_HOME and came up with 19 results. Only one had that in the Name field, though: right-clicking and then editing showed that Value name: as RTOOLS40_HOME and Value data: as C:\rtools40 . The Type field showed REG_EXPAND_SZ.

I can check with some colleagues to see if they see something I'm missing, too.