Blacklist doesn't exist in GPO error message

[Andrew-Griggs]

Hi all, I'm testing various configurations and I can't seem to get the blacklist working. Every update cycle throws the following error:

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21/06/2024 - CHECK FOR APP UPDATES (System context - Connected user)

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18:52:53 - WAU Policies management Enabled.
18:52:53 - Notification Level: Full. Notification Language: English
18:52:53 - Checking internet connection...
18:52:53 - Connected !
18:52:53 - Winget Version: v1.7.11261
18:52:53 - WAU current version: 1.20.1
18:52:53 - WAU AutoUpdate is Enabled.
18:52:54 - WAU is up to date.
18:52:54 - WAU uses External Lists from: GPO
18:52:54 - WAU uses Black List config
18:52:54 - Critical: Blacklist doesn't exist in GPO, exiting...

I can't see what I'm missing in my config though, here's the policies downloaded from Intune:

What am I missing? Interestingly, if I switch to a whitelist approach everything works perfectly.

[Romanitho]

@KnifMelti any idea ?
I have used blacklist without any pb. I'll check when I have few minutes

[KnifMelti]

Here's my run with Black List in GPO (after via _WAU-mods.ps1 enabling and running the task Winget-AutoUpdate-Policies everytime WAU runs. As standard it only runs once a day at 06:00 evaluating the settings in GPO) with the latest WAU.
Nothing wrong with it.

Can it be you're using the fork https://github.com/Weatherlights/Winget-AutoUpdate-Intune?
In that case you should ask about this in that repo.

[Andrew-Griggs]

I'm referring to this Configurator:

I'm not using that fork, I've got all files direct from here: https://github.com/Romanitho/Winget-AutoUpdate

[KnifMelti]

Then, when you have the GPO in registry, run the task Winget-AutoUpdate-Policies (it only runs once a day at 06:00).
That should create an registry entry in the WAU uninstall section an a text file under logs
When WAU is run after that things should work.
@Romanitho is the creator of this handling.

[KnifMelti]

IE (at my computer now):

• WAU-Policies.ps1 is run by the task Winget-AutoUpdate-Policies (it only runs once a day at 06:00 or later if that time is missed)
• WAU-Policies.ps1 checks if HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Romanitho\Winget-AutoUpdate\WAU_ActivateGPOManagement = 1
• If true then HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Winget-AutoUpdate\WAU_RunGPOManagement is set to 1
• The result is saved to logs\LatestAppliedSettings.txt
• Winget-Upgrade.ps1 takes care of the list in GPO

[KnifMelti]

Your policies registry should look something like this (and your BlackList folder like you have it):

Your settings registry should look something like this:

[KnifMelti]

Found the culprit!
It's because you only have 1 entry in the blacklist...
...add another and it's fine - and report a bug, please!

[KnifMelti]

The solution is to in Winget-Upgrade.ps1 avoid the $toUpdate/$toSkip.GetUpperBound(0) and use this snippet instead (Create issue from discussion):

if ($UseWhiteList) {
    if (-not $toUpdate) {
        Write-ToLog "Critical: Whitelist doesn't exist in GPO, exiting..." "Red"
        New-Item "$WorkingDir\logs\error.txt" -Value "Whitelist doesn't exist in GPO" -Force
        Exit 1
    }
    foreach ($app in $toUpdate) { Write-ToLog "Include app ${app}" }
}
else {
    if (-not $toSkip) {
        Write-ToLog "Critical: Blacklist doesn't exist in GPO, exiting..." "Red"
        New-Item "$WorkingDir\logs\error.txt" -Value "Blacklist doesn't exist in GPO" -Force
        Exit 1
    }
    foreach ($app in $toSkip) { Write-ToLog "Exclude app ${app}" }
}

[KnifMelti]

PR #648