Electron-builder: resource busy or locked. Failed to create installer - electron

Question

I have a little test electron app named hello world. I am trying to build it and generate a windows installer using electron-builder. My package.json is as follows.
{
"name": "hello-world",
"productName": "Hello World",
"version": "1.0.0",
"description": "Second attempt at an electron app",
"main": "main.js",
"dependencies": {},
"devDependencies": {
"electron": "^9.1.1",
"electron-builder": "^22.8.0"
},
"scripts": {
"start": "electron .",
"pack": "electron-builder --dir",
"dist": "electron-builder",
"test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
},
"author": "Computronics",
"license": "MIT",
"build": {
"appId": "com.hello.world",
"win": {
"target": "nsis"
}
}
}
When I run npm run dist it outputs this.
> hello-world#1.0.0 dist C:\Users\computronics\source\repos\electrontests\hello world
> electron-builder
• electron-builder version=22.8.0 os=10.0.18362
• loaded configuration file=package.json ("build" field)
• writing effective config file=dist\builder-effective-config.yaml
• packaging platform=win32 arch=x64 electron=9.1.2 appOutDir=dist\win-unpacked
⨯ EBUSY: resource busy or locked, rename 'C:\Users\computronics\source\repos\electrontests\hello world\dist\win-unpacked\electron.exe' -> 'C:\Users\computronics\source\repos\electrontests\hello world\dist\win-unpacked\Hello World.exe' stackTrace=Error: EBUSY: resource busy or locked, rename 'C:\Users\computronics\source\repos\electrontests\hello world\dist\win-unpacked\electron.exe' -> 'C:\Users\computronics\source\repos\electrontests\hello world\dist\win-unpacked\Hello World.exe'
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
npm ERR! errno 1
npm ERR! hello-world#1.0.0 dist: `electron-builder`
npm ERR! Exit status 1
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Failed at the hello-world#1.0.0 dist script.
npm ERR! This is probably not a problem with npm. There is likely additional logging output above.
npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR! C:\Users\computronics\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache\_logs\2020-07-31T19_00_12_846Z-debug.log
The contents of the log file is as follows:
0 info it worked if it ends with ok
1 verbose cli [
1 verbose cli 'C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe',
1 verbose cli 'C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\bin\\npm-cli.js',
1 verbose cli 'run',
1 verbose cli 'dist'
1 verbose cli ]
2 info using npm#6.14.6
3 info using node#v12.18.3
4 verbose run-script [ 'predist', 'dist', 'postdist' ]
5 info lifecycle hello-world#1.0.0~predist: hello-world#1.0.0
6 info lifecycle hello-world#1.0.0~dist: hello-world#1.0.0
7 verbose lifecycle hello-world#1.0.0~dist: unsafe-perm in lifecycle true
8 verbose lifecycle hello-world#1.0.0~dist: PATH: C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\npm-lifecycle\node-gyp-bin;C:\Users\computronics\source\repos\electrontests\hello world\node_modules\.bin;C:\Program Files\Microsoft VS Code\bin;C:\Windows\System32;C:\Program Files\Git\cmd;C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7-preview\preview;C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin;C:\Program Files\dotnet\;C:\Program Files\nodejs\;C:\Users\computronics\.dotnet\tools;
9 verbose lifecycle hello-world#1.0.0~dist: CWD: C:\Users\computronics\source\repos\electrontests\hello world
10 silly lifecycle hello-world#1.0.0~dist: Args: [ '/d /s /c', 'electron-builder' ]
11 silly lifecycle hello-world#1.0.0~dist: Returned: code: 1 signal: null
12 info lifecycle hello-world#1.0.0~dist: Failed to exec dist script
13 verbose stack Error: hello-world#1.0.0 dist: `electron-builder`
13 verbose stack Exit status 1
13 verbose stack at EventEmitter.<anonymous> (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\npm-lifecycle\index.js:332:16)
13 verbose stack at EventEmitter.emit (events.js:315:20)
13 verbose stack at ChildProcess.<anonymous> (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\npm-lifecycle\lib\spawn.js:55:14)
13 verbose stack at ChildProcess.emit (events.js:315:20)
13 verbose stack at maybeClose (internal/child_process.js:1021:16)
13 verbose stack at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:286:5)
14 verbose pkgid hello-world#1.0.0
15 verbose cwd C:\Users\computronics\source\repos\electrontests\hello world
16 verbose Windows_NT 10.0.18362
17 verbose argv "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe" "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\bin\\npm-cli.js" "run" "dist"
18 verbose node v12.18.3
19 verbose npm v6.14.6
20 error code ELIFECYCLE
21 error errno 1
22 error hello-world#1.0.0 dist: `electron-builder`
22 error Exit status 1
23 error Failed at the hello-world#1.0.0 dist script.
23 error This is probably not a problem with npm. There is likely additional logging output above.
24 verbose exit [ 1, true ]
After running npm run dist it creates a working .exe in dist called electron.exe. This launches into the simple hello world app.
I have tried deleting the node_modules folder and reinstalling the dependencies, forcefully cleaning the npm cache and trying different versions of electron-builder.
Other information
OS: Windows 10
npm version: 6.14.6
node version: 12.18.3
Thanks in advance for any help.

Answer 1

There may be more than one reason for this error. Here are the ways you can get rid out of this error.
Solution 1. Close the browser_broker process
Open up the Windows task manager, find the running process named either browser_broker.exe or Runtime Broker and stop the process. After stopping the process, try building the installer again and it will work.
Solution 2. Kill the Build Tools Process
Open task manager and kill the BuildTolls_Full.exe process. Then Go to C:\Users<User Name>.windows-build-tools and open build-tools-log.txt with a text-editor and append the given and save the file.
Variable: IsInstalled = 1