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hermes - ✅(Solved) Fix [Bug]: hermes update fails on Windows with Access is denied (os error 5) during uv pip install. [2 pull requests, 1 participants]

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NousResearch/hermes-agent#23327•Fetched 2026-05-11 03:29:57
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grizdumgrizdum
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Error Message

did a hermes update and got a lot of "Access is denied. (os error 5)" and "raise CalledProcessError(retcode, process.args,

Additional Logs / Traceback (optional)

Root Cause

Root Cause Analysis (optional)

Fix Action

Fixed

PR fix notes

PR #23353: fix(update): rename hermes.exe before uv/pip install on Windows

Description (problem / solution / changelog)

What does this PR do?

Fixes hermes update failing on Windows with Access is denied (os error 5) when uv pip install -e . tries to overwrite the active hermes.exe in venv/Scripts/.

Windows holds a file lock on any running .exe, preventing it from being overwritten. The fix renames hermes.exe to hermes.exe.old before the install step — Windows allows renaming an open executable in place, which releases the write lock so the installer can write a fresh hermes.exe. The .old file is cleaned up in a finally block after the install completes (success or failure).

Two helper functions added:

  • _rename_active_windows_exe() — renames venv/Scripts/hermes.exe to .old before install; no-op on non-Windows
  • _cleanup_windows_exe_old() — removes the .old backup; called in finally so it always runs

No-op on Linux/macOS. No behavior change on non-Windows platforms.

Type of Change

  • 🐛 Bug fix (non-breaking change that fixes an issue)

References

Fixes #23327

Checklist

  • I've read the Contributing Guide
  • My commit messages follow Conventional Commits
  • My PR contains only changes related to this fix

Changed files

  • hermes_cli/main.py (modified, +104/-273)

PR #23408: fix(update): rename hermes.exe before uv/pip install on Windows

Description (problem / solution / changelog)

What does this PR do?

Fixes hermes update failing on Windows with Access is denied (os error 5) when uv pip install -e . tries to overwrite the active hermes.exe in venv/Scripts/.

Windows holds a file lock on any running .exe, preventing it from being overwritten. The fix renames hermes.exe to hermes.exe.old before the install step — Windows allows renaming an open executable in place, which releases the write lock so the installer can write a fresh hermes.exe. The .old file is cleaned up in a finally block after the install completes (success or failure).

Two helper functions added to hermes_cli/main.py:

  • _rename_active_windows_exe() — renames venv/Scripts/hermes.exe to .old before install; no-op on non-Windows
  • _cleanup_windows_exe_old() — removes the .old backup; called in finally so it always runs

No-op on Linux/macOS. No behavior change on non-Windows platforms.

Type of Change

  • 🐛 Bug fix (non-breaking change that fixes an issue)

References

Fixes #23327

Checklist

  • I've read the Contributing Guide
  • My commit messages follow Conventional Commits
  • My PR contains only changes related to this fix

Changed files

  • hermes_cli/main.py (modified, +91/-41)

Code Example

Report     https://paste.rs/4JMDs
  agent.log  https://paste.rs/z6nKA

---
RAW_BUFFERClick to expand / collapse

Bug Description

This is the hermes beta windows version running in powershell.

did a hermes update and got a lot of "Access is denied. (os error 5)" and "raise CalledProcessError(retcode, process.args, subprocess.CalledProcessError: Command '['C:\Users\******\.local\bin\uv.EXE', 'pip', 'install', '-e', '.']' returned non-zero exit status 2."

my wsl hermes told me: Cause: Windows prevents overwriting hermes.exe while the process is active. Fix: hermes_cli/main.py needs to rename the active hermes.exe before calling the installer.

Steps to Reproduce

run hermes update in powershell.

Expected Behavior

Just a nice update without any problems.

Actual Behavior

Lot's of access is denied.

Affected Component

Setup / Installation

Messaging Platform (if gateway-related)

No response

Debug Report

Report     https://paste.rs/4JMDs
  agent.log  https://paste.rs/z6nKA

Operating System

windows 11

Python Version

3.11.15

Hermes Version

v0.13.0 (2026.5.7)

Additional Logs / Traceback (optional)

Root Cause Analysis (optional)

No response

Proposed Fix (optional)

No response

Are you willing to submit a PR for this?

  • I'd like to fix this myself and submit a PR

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#installation#embedding generation#cache error#pipeline error#runtime error

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