Troubleshooting GlobalSearch Extensions

Problem

GlobalSearch Extensions is the go-between application that talks to the client and server to allow the use of peripheral hardware or software with the web interface, such as using TWAIN enable scanners to interface with the GlobalCapture Scan Station, or printing documents to a PDF from the web viewer.

There can be issues with GlobalSearch Extensions, however, though most are fairly routine and easily fixable. We've outlined a couple of the most common issues below.

CORS-related error message

Google Chrome <v107

A recent update to Google Chrome and MS Edge introduced an issue where the GlobalSearch Web Client may throw a CORS-related error message when trying to connect to GlobalSearch Extensions. The current workaround is to browse to "chrome://flags" and set the flag "Block insecure private network requests." to "Disabled".

https://developer.chrome.com/blog/private-network-access-update/

Google Chrome v108+

The most recent update to Google Chrome has removed the previous “Block insecure private network requests.” flag and replaced it with “Treat insecure origin as secure”.

chrome://flags/#unsafely-treat-insecure-origin-as-secure

Now in addition to enabling the flag you will also have to whitelist the addresses involved.

Please note that you will have to relaunch Google Chrome any time that you make changes to the chrome://flags page before the changes are applied.

I Can Only See "Scan" in my Extensions Web Page

This is likely an issue with your API address. Correcting this should be fairly simple.

I Can't Scan - Unable to Connect to GlobalSearch Extensions

There's a very good chance that your scanner isn't using ports consistently. Correcting this is fairly straight forward.

1. Check the ports that GlobalSearch Extensions is using.This can be found in the Extensions Settings -→ Ports 

   1. Default ports are 9080 and 9443 for http and https, respectively. 

   2. These ports cannot be manually edited. Please select 'Connect' to sync the ports to GlobalSearch. Please also make sure the browser pop up blocker is not blocking this action. 

   

2. Find your "Scan" Module in the GlobalSearch Extensions Menu

   1. The scan option is built-in and cannot be toggled on/off.
      

      

       

3. Navigate to "Scan" on the left menu column

   1. Providing your scanner is supported and TWAIN Drivers have been installed, you should see your scanner showing up here. You'll be able to configure its TWAIN profile through here as well.
      

      

4. Navigate to your GlobalCapture Scan Station and hit the "settings" gear in the top right

5. Hit "Scanner"

6. If you see an orange error, there's a good chance we have some potential port conflicts
   

   

7. As in the error above, we can see that both the ports are wrong, and SSL is enabled, which is NOT enabled in our extensions menu 

8. If the ports are incorrect, make the requisite changes, as well as turning SSL on or off as necessary for your environment. 

9. Hit save and refresh the page

10. If everything is done correctly, next time the scanner options are opened, you should see this:
    

    

11. At this point, your scanner should be properly configured to use with GlobalCapture.

Rotating Ports

If you’ve gone through a recent update it’s possible the GlobalSearch Extensions port number has changed.

This is because extensions is designed to use an available port. If you had 9080 it may have switched to 9081. This is easy to correct.

Signs of an incorrect port.

1. Scan is missing.

1.  You click the puzzle piece and it asks you to download extensions again.

1. Go into your web browser. Google Chrome is this example. Press F12 or go into developer tools.
2. Look for a tab called application. If you don’t see this tab press the double arrow to find it.

3. Go to Storage, local storage, select the name of your computer.
4. You will see on the right the SSL and non SSL port numbers for extensions.
5. You need to update those ports to mark the ports in the extensions menu.
6. To get to the extensions menu go to the bottom right of your screen. Right click on the orange puzzle piece.

7. Select Global Search extensions. It will open in the web browser.
8. My port is 9101, http://localhost:9101/#/appsettings.
9. You can go into settings, Ports and see both ports.
10. If you have updated the ports in your web browser application section and you still can’t try clicking connect here. Then closing out of the web browser and going back in.
11. You should be able to scan now.

12. Information on port bindings file location on a local machine. C:\ProgramData\Square_9_Softworks\GlobalSearch_Extensions\Port_Bindings

You shouldn’t need to go here. But port bindings can be deleted from this folder.

GlobalSearch Extensions Quit and Won't Start

If Extensions quits out and won't restart, it's possible that its helper application, web helper, has hung.

To restart web helper, you'll have to terminate web helper in Task Manager. Do the following:

1. Open Task Manager

2. Look for a process named "Square9.ExtensionsWebHelper.exe" and terminate the process

3. Attempt to restart GlobalSearch Extensions

I'm having Issues With GlobalSearch Extensions - How Can I Do Complete Clean Re-Install?

The important thing to know about GlobalSearch Extensions is that it is an application that operates independently on a user-by-user basis. The application will need to be installed for each user, even if they share a machine. The user running the installation will need rights to write to their temporary directory. It may be necessary to run this installation with temporary administrative permissions.

To Cleanly Uninstall Extensions Do the Following:

1. From the Task tray, right click the GlobalSearch Extensions Icon and hit "Show Location" - this will bring you to the GlobalSearch Extensions directory in your Temporary directory

2. Back out one folder level. You will likely see a lot of directories in here with strange names like "glob...tion_dae1244566..." keep this directory open in the background

3. Turn off the application by right clicking the icon in the system tray and hitting "exit"

4. Ensure the Square9.ExtensionsWebHelper process is terminated through task manager

5. Go into the "Add or Remove Programs" menu in the Control Panel

6. Select GlobalSearch Extensions and when prompted, select "Remove this Application"

7. Once the uninstallation is done, you will need to check the user's temporary directory to ensure all temp files have been deleted.

8. Open your file explorer Window that you had navigated to in Steps 1 & 2

   1. If you have closed this window, you can manually navigate to this directory by going into C:\Users\YOURUSER\AppData\Local\Apps\2.0

   2. In the 2.0 Directory, you should see a randomly named alphanumeric directory. Enter it, and into the subdirectory within it. This will bring you to the temporary directory that houses GlobalSearch extensions.

9. There should no longer be any Files that start with "glob..." - if there are, delete them completely

10. Navigate to C:\Users\YOURUSER\AppData\Local\Square_9_Softworks

11. Delete the GlobalSearch_Extensions directory

At this point Extensions should have been completely uninstalled. You should now be able to do a fresh, new install, using the directions as follows.

Properly Installing GlobalSearch Extensions

1. Download the setup media from your GlobalSearch webpage.

2. Right click and run the media

3. The installer should download several files, including a QBFC file and the Extensions media

4. Let these run and install

5. Towards the end of the install, a console window should pop up very briefly and quickly disappear. This is the Square9.cert application - if the installation errors out on this step, there are likely permissions issues.

6. Once that has been done, the installation should complete.

7. Providing the application boots, the first order of business should be to right click on the application in the system tray and hit "GlobalSearch Extensions" which will bring you to a local website where the user in question should enter their username, password and domain. Also take the time to ensure the URL to the API is correct, as it may be erroneously set to "localhost" instead of the server name. 

8. Once that is done, your user should be able to see extensions on the extension webpage.

GlobalSearch Extensions does not have all of the extensions listed?

This issue is caused by GlobalSearch Extensions running in GlobalCapture Web mode instead of GlobalSearch Web mode. 

Switching GlobalSearch Extensions mode

1. Completely exit GlobalSearch Extensions

2. Open Settings.config in "%localappdata%\Square_9_Softworks\GlobalSearch_Extensions\Settings.config

3. Update the "Mode" to match what you require (GSW for GlobalSearch Web mode and GCW is for GlobalCapture Web mode, most people will be using GSE in GSW mode.)

4. Relaunch GlobalSearch Extensions

5. Now when you navigate to the settings page you should have a complete list of the available extensions.

You can check what mode GlobalSearch extensions is operating in by checking the Settings.config file located in %localappdata%\Square_9_Softworks\GlobalSearch_Extensions\Settings.config. There should be a "Mode" key on the other side of the colon will be the mode that GSE is operating in, if it is GCW you likely need to change it to GSW in order to get all extensions available.

GlobalCapture Scan Station Often needs to be reconnected

Because of issues outlined earlier on this page (CORS) many versions of the GlobalSearch Web client will default to the non-SSL GlobalSearch Extensions port when the GlobalSearch Web client is loaded on http. If you are using GlobalSearch Extensions with SSL for GlobalCapture Scan Station this can result in the extensions intermittently getting disconnected whenever you load a GlobalSearch page.

Extensions error:

Square9.LoginAgent.ClientUpdate.Exceptions.UpdateInProgressException: Lock file already exists. An update may already be in progress.

1. This error comes from the extensions log file.

   1. Logfile log.txt location example: C:\Users\JOE\AppData\Local\Square_9_Softworks\GlobalSearch_Extensions\log.txt

2. Lock file square9.loginclient-update.lock location that is causing the error.

   1. %localappdata%\Apps\Square9_Apps\square9.loginclient-update.lock
      Example: C:\Users\JOE\AppData\Local\Apps\Square9_Apps\square9.loginclient-update.lock

3. Close GlobalSearch Extensions from the tray menu at the bottom right of your screen. End in task manager if it won’t close.

4. Uninstall GlobalSearch Extensions from control panel.

5. Delete the lock file: square9.loginclient-update.lock.

6. Reinstall GlobalSearch Extensions.

7. You should not get the normal authentication menus and login prompt. If you don’t try disabling the browsers pop up blocker.

Changed your active directory password and are unable to login to GlobalSearch extensions.

1. Reboot your computer first. When the computer comes back up you should get a prompt to login to GlobalSearch extensions.

2. 

3. If you don’t get a login prompt but instead extensions errors. You can clear out the local users temporary files.

4. Exit out of GlobalSearch extensions if running. Go to, C:\Users\Square 9\AppData\Local\Square_9_Softworks.

5. Delete the entire folder: GlobalSearch_Extensions.

6. Go to the GlobalSearch extensions icon double click.

7. It will load the web menu for extensions. You will need to re-enter the correct API address along with user name and password.

8. If the web menu doesn’t load, click on extensions in your Windows tray.

9. 

   

   Click GlobalSearch Extension and go into the web menu.

10. You will need to reenter to login information and your domains API information under authenticaton.

11. 

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