Confluence 9.2.25 to 9.2.26 upgrade fails with “error parsing your installation directory”

Question

Hi Team,

We are a third-party patch provider, similar to PatchMyPC or ManageEngine, providing similar patching services to our customers. For more details, you may refer to Adaptiva Autonomous Patch.

We are currently evaluating the latest version of Confluence 9.2.26 for inclusion in our patch catalogue.

* We tested the upgrade from Confluence 9.2.25 to 9.2.26 on Windows.
* The silent/unattended upgrade fails.

* The previous 9.2.25 version was installed through the UI installer using the default settings.
* The installation directory and required files such as .install4j, install.reg, and pom.properties are present.
* pom.properties correctly identifies the installed version as 9.2.25.
* A fresh installation of Confluence 9.2.26 works successfully.
* The issue occurs only when upgrading the existing 9.2.25 installation, both silently and through the UI.

Could you please advise what could be causing this installation-directory parsing error during the 9.2.25 → 9.2.26 upgrade, and whether there are any additional logs or files we should check?

Please let us know if you require any additional information about our use case.

Viswanathan Ramachandran · Answer

I'm sure you must have checked the installation directory has full permissions?

Are you running the installer outside of the installation directory ?

what does your logs say?

If you have tried everything, the best is to reach out to Atlassian support with the support zip.

Tomislav Tobijas · Answer

Hmm @Meta Team, I'm no expert in upgrades (and haven't done them in a while), but you could try the following: Troubleshooting and Resolution Steps To ensure the installer can successfully interact with the 9.2.25 installation directory during the upgrade to 9.2.26, please verify the following before executing the silent or UI installer: 1. Verify Service Termination Ensure the Confluence service (e.g., Atlassian Confluence) is completely stopped via the Windows Services management console (services.msc) before the upgrade initiates. 2. Terminate Orphaned Processes "Zombie" processes often remain active in the background and lock the directory. Open Task Manager and navigate to the Details tab. Look for any instances of java.exe or tomcat.exe. Right-click and select End Process Tree to ensure all child processes are closed. Verify no processes are running from the . 3. Identify Locked Files If the silent installer still fails, you can use Microsoft Sysinternals Process Explorer to identify exactly what is blocking the directory: Press Ctrl+F and search for your Confluence installation directory path. Review the results to see which process ID (PID) is holding a handle on those files and terminate it. 4. Post-Upgrade Verification Once the processes are cleared, run the installer as an Administrator. Monitor the /logs/atlassian-confluence.log for the "Starting Confluence" message to confirm the upgrade initialized correctly. Are you able to capture the exact error string from the installer logs (usually found in the .install4j folder or %TEMP%) when the silent upgrade fails? Note that this is mainly AI-generated ⚠️ Do you have a valid license for your 9.2.25 version? If so, you should be able to reach out to Atlassian Support to share the support zip with them and ask them to help troubleshoot it. 🎟️ Cheers, Tobi

Meta Team · Answer

Please note we have tested this upgrading scenarion using UI as well with default settings but the same error message was shown