I created a tutorial based on @Farzad_Bagheri solution. Hopefully it is clear enough for people to solve the issue.
Hey @herberthippo and everyone!
Thank you for your patience while we investigated reports of Fab failing to launch. We’ve identified that this can be caused by stale or orphaned install records left behind in Epic’s local manifest data, which can interfere with Fab’s launch process.
We’ve put together a manual fix. Here’s how to use it:
Before you start:
- Fully close the Epic Games Launcher and Fab, including any background processes (check Task Manager to confirm nothing named “EpicGamesLauncher” or “Fab” is still running).
- We recommend backing up any files the script identifies before deleting them, just in case.
Step 1 - Run the diagnostic script
Open PowerShell (not Command Prompt) and paste in the following command:
$pd=if($env:ProgramData){$env:ProgramData}else{'C:\ProgramData'};$ii=Join-Path $pd 'Epic\EpicOnlineServicesShared\InstallHelper\InstalledItems';$lm=Join-Path $pd 'Epic\EpicGamesLauncher\Data\Manifests';$G=@{};$add={param($d,$f,$e)if([string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($d)){return};$k=$d.TrimEnd('\').ToLowerInvariant();if(-not $G[$k]){$G[$k]=[pscustomobject]@{Dir=$d;Files=@();Exes=@()}};$G[$k].Files+=$f;if($e){$G[$k].Exes+=[string]$e}};if(Test-Path -LiteralPath $ii){Get-ChildItem -LiteralPath $ii -Filter *.egi -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue|%{try{$r=(((Get-Content -LiteralPath $_.FullName -Raw|ConvertFrom-Json).PSObject.Properties)|Select-Object -First 1).Value}catch{return};if($r.state -eq 'Installed'){& $add $r.dir $_.FullName $r.manifestData.launchExe}}};if(Test-Path -LiteralPath $lm){$fl=@(Get-ChildItem -LiteralPath $lm -Filter *.item -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue);$pdir=Join-Path $lm 'Pending';if(Test-Path -LiteralPath $pdir){$fl+=@(Get-ChildItem -LiteralPath $pdir -Filter *.item -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)};$fl|%{try{$d=Get-Content -LiteralPath $_.FullName -Raw|ConvertFrom-Json}catch{return};& $add $d.InstallLocation $_.FullName $d.LaunchExecutable}};foreach($k in $G.Keys){$o=$G[$k];$inst=$false;if(Test-Path -LiteralPath $o.Dir){foreach($e in $o.Exes){if($e -and (Test-Path -LiteralPath (Join-Path $o.Dir ($e -replace '/','\')))){$inst=$true}};if(-not $inst -and (Test-Path -LiteralPath (Join-Path $o.Dir '.egstore'))){if(Get-ChildItem -LiteralPath (Join-Path $o.Dir '.egstore') -Filter *.manifest -File -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue|Select-Object -First 1){$inst=$true}}};if($inst){continue};$o.Files|%{$_}}
This will output a list of file paths (if any) that correspond to stale, orphaned install records.
Step 2 - Delete the listed files
If the script returns one or more file paths, manually delete each file listed. If it returns nothing, this particular fix doesn’t apply to your setup, please let us know in this thread so we can look into other causes.
Step 3 - Relaunch
Restart the Epic Games Launcher and try launching Fab again.
I gave this a try but the issue still remains for me.
When I ran the command, I had a lot of files that came up that I removed. I made sure the launcher was completely closed before doing so. I relaunched the launcher and the plugins were not initially installed. I tried to install Fab from the epic launcher but it didn’t appear to do anything (nothing showed in the downloads) then after a short while both Bridge and Fab showed as installed, however, they are not within the plugins folder and not available when I launch a project. When I try to remove them I get that same error message of update failed/installed failed
I ran the powershell command again and no files came up this time
Gave my pc a restart - no luck
I then tried verifying the 5.8 install
After verifying, still no luck and I ran the command again and no files show
Might just try a complete re-install of UE5.8 and the launcher next unless there is anything else I could try.
Just wanted to provide an update, Fab and Bridge both have installed now and are working.
I ended up uninstalling ue5.8, running the powershell command again and noticed some more files this time which I deleted.
Re-installed 5.8 and both Fab and Bridge installed without issue
Thanks for the help with this!
that’s great news! Thanks for letting us know.
Thanks! Finally, it works for me.
Update.
After uninstalling UE 5.8, you also need to delete the engine installation folder (UE_5.8) before running the script for it to work properly.
It worked for me as well. Thank You.
It started reinstalling again…but i can access fab now.
I have the same problem. That diagnostic PowerShell script didn’t list any files. And I don’t want to uninstall the editor, because then I’d have to spend several hours downloading it again on my extremely slow internet connection.
Is there another way to solve this?
It worked for 5.8, but 5.7 still has the same issue. I may have to reinstall. I’ll update at a later time. Overall, thank you, thank you, thank you!
Can confirm 5.7 plugin is completely broken now on my new project, even though it was installed and working previously on a different project on the same engine build.
Powershell script didn’t return any results for 5.7.4. Even when I go to remove it, It’ll generate this and if I try to view it in the EGL under my library the plugin attempts to redirect but leads to a 404 page.
Pressing the Install to Engine button does nothing and doesn’t even attempt to download either.
ok
Hi everyone,
An EGL version 20.2.2 went out this morning and our team expects this update will fix the above reported issue. Please update your EGL and let us know if you are continuing to run into this issue.
This is now working as intended with the version below. I had to uninstall the Fab Plugin from the related engine version then reinstall EGL to get the plugin to popup in editor. Thanks @ElenaNizhnik
20.2.4-57342884+++UE5+Release-Distro-5.5
Yah, it did also fix running the script than deleting all the listed files, now the Fab shows up in UE 5.8.2, I was never able to see it before, was using UE5.7 to download assets and migrate to the other projects.
@ElenaNizhnik any chance from some to look into the plugin update issue?
I was really hopping this would also “magically” fix that as well but absolutely no, updates still just don’t do anything.
Maybe we have the thread in the wrong place? Sure if this thread isn’t the right place, maybe a direction at least would be nice
Thanks
Hey @Swornh - sure thing. And to confirm the issue is still that the plugins wont update?
@ElenaNizhnik Yes, if I open it right now, it show me it has an update, but clicking on update does absolutely nothing.
it had a much bigger list before, this is just after I reinstall everything some weeks ago.
Let me know if there is any thing I can grab from files/logs, etc that can help with this, or if we would continue ina different thread to not polute this one
Thanks for sharing that. Will triage with the team and let you know once i have an answer.
What OS is your device on?