Resolving issues with TruGrid Windows Connector Installation

How to fix installation issues with Windows Connector

In some cases, A ClickOnce application (such as TruGrid Connector) fails to install with the following error:

The error occurs during the download/patching phase of installation, even after uninstalling the application or deleting its app data folders.

Important: This error is one of the symptoms that might cause issues with the installation, most of these issues can be resolved by using the script provided in the Resolution section of this article.

While this article is written with this error in mind, the script can help with a wide variety of issues with Windows Connector.

Cause

The Windows ClickOnce component store has become corrupted. This store is shared across all ClickOnce applications and is not cleaned up by simply removing individual app folders or registry entries. The corrupted store prevents Windows from creating a valid installation path for the application.

Resolution

Important: Run the script as your normal logged-in user, not as Administrator. ClickOnce stores are per-user, so running as Admin would clean the wrong profile.The script is also available as a part of the TruGrid SecureRDP Toolkit.

Step 1 — Run the Cleanup Script

@echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
echo ============================================
echo  TruGrid Connector Cleanup
echo ============================================
echo.

echo [Registry]
echo.

reg query "HKCU\Software\Classes\.tgrdp" >nul 2>&1
if %errorlevel%==0 (
    echo   Removing: HKCU\Software\Classes\.tgrdp
    reg delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\.tgrdp" /f
) else (
    echo   Not found, skipping: HKCU\Software\Classes\.tgrdp
)

reg query "HKCU\Software\Classes\Trugrid.Shortcut" >nul 2>&1
if %errorlevel%==0 (
    echo   Removing: HKCU\Software\Classes\Trugrid.Shortcut
    reg delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\Trugrid.Shortcut" /f
) else (
    echo   Not found, skipping: HKCU\Software\Classes\Trugrid.Shortcut
)

echo.
echo [ClickOnce Cache]
echo.

if not exist "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Apps\2.0" (
    echo   Not found, skipping: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Apps\2.0
    goto :filesystem
)

echo   Scanning ClickOnce cache for non-TruGrid apps...
set "SAFE_TO_NUKE=1"

for /r "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Apps\2.0" %%f in (*.manifest *.application) do (
    echo %%~nxf | findstr /i "trugrid trug tg\." >nul 2>&1
    if errorlevel 1 (
        findstr /i "trugrid" "%%f" >nul 2>&1
        if errorlevel 1 (
            set "SAFE_TO_NUKE=0"
        )
    )
)

if "!SAFE_TO_NUKE!"=="1" (
    echo   All ClickOnce content is TruGrid-related.
    echo   Removing: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Apps\2.0
    rmdir /s /q "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Apps\2.0"
) else (
    echo   WARNING: Non-TruGrid ClickOnce apps detected.
    echo   Skipping removal to protect other applications.
    echo   Please contact TruGrid support for manual cleanup.
)

:filesystem
echo.
echo [File System]
echo.

if exist "%LOCALAPPDATA%\TruGrid" (
    echo   Removing: %LOCALAPPDATA%\TruGrid
    rmdir /s /q "%LOCALAPPDATA%\TruGrid"
) else (
    echo   Not found, skipping: %LOCALAPPDATA%\TruGrid
)

if exist "%LOCALAPPDATA%\TruGrid Connector" (
    echo   Removing: %LOCALAPPDATA%\TruGrid Connector
    rmdir /s /q "%LOCALAPPDATA%\TruGrid Connector"
) else (
    echo   Not found, skipping: %LOCALAPPDATA%\TruGrid Connector
)

if exist "%APPDATA%\TruGrid" (
    echo   Removing: %APPDATA%\TruGrid
    rmdir /s /q "%APPDATA%\TruGrid"
) else (
    echo   Not found, skipping: %APPDATA%\TruGrid
)

if exist "%APPDATA%\TruGrid Connector" (
    echo   Removing: %APPDATA%\TruGrid Connector
    rmdir /s /q "%APPDATA%\TruGrid Connector"
) else (
    echo   Not found, skipping: %APPDATA%\TruGrid Connector
)

echo.
echo ============================================
echo  Cleanup complete.
echo ============================================
echo.
pause

Copy paste the above text into a Text editor on your PC, then, save the file as "All files" and make sure it has a .bat extension. The script performs the following actions:

Deletes the ClickOnce app store (%LocalAppData%\Apps\2.0)
Deletes the local Deployment folder (%LocalAppData%\Deployment)
Removes the ClickOnce SideBySide registry key under HKCU
Clears the ClickOnce online application cache via dfshim

Step 2 — If the Issue Persists

If the error continues after running the script:

Check path length — If the Windows user profile path is unusually long (e.g., deeply nested or with a long username), the resulting ClickOnce install path may exceed the 260-character Windows limit. Shortening the profile path or username can resolve this.
Test with a new user profile — Create a new local Windows user, log in, and attempt the installation. If it succeeds, the original user profile's component store is irrecoverably corrupted and the new profile should be used going forward.

Applies To

Windows 10 / Windows 11
Windows Server 2016, 2019, 2022, 2025
Any ClickOnce-deployed .NET Framework application

Updated on: 15/05/2026

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