"Update Failed: .../data/_/doc-html/types/LayeredSpriteVariations.html has unexpected content"

[Jackentosh]

Happy New Year!

Just got home after leaving my headless Space server running for 14 days. Saw that it needs updated from 2.0.23 to 2.0.28, and tried to update it normally but I am getting the following error:

Update failed: Checking update packages failed: File C:/ProgramFiles/Factorio/Data/_/doc-html-types-LayueredSpriteVariations.html has unexpected content.

I have seen previous posts about a similar message, but all recommendations are to run a fresh install on the new version. If that is the case, how do I update and transfer my save from the old install to the fresh install?

Thanks!

[Loewchen]

This is usually caused by an anti virus program messing with the update process. Your installation is now missing files the updater expects to exist, you can copy over the missing files from an installer of your current installation, reinstalling the latest version and moving the save and settings files over will be faster though.

[Jackentosh]

This is usually caused by an anti virus program messing with the update process. Your installation is now missing files the updater expects to exist, you can copy over the missing files from an installer of your current installation, reinstalling the latest version and moving the save and settings files over will be faster though.

Why do the settings files have to be moved? What is the best way to do this? Are you referring to the server-settings.json?

[brevven]

Hello again, Loewchen

I get this type of error too if I every time try to update the non-Steam version. This did not happen before Space Age.

As a modder this is very unfortunate, because I either have to download/extract/install a 4GB file each time, or I have to use the Steam version, which takes a few seconds to start every time I restart Factorio for Steam reasons (and those seconds add up quickly when modding, since I often have to restart several times per minute).

Is there anything I can change on my system to get the updates for the non-steam version working? For active antivirus, I simply use Windows 11 built-in "Virus & Threat protection".

Thanks for any guidance you can provide.