rustup update failing with could not rename component file

[spastorino]

[santiago@galago ~]$ rustup --version
rustup 1.23.1 (2020-12-18)
info: This is the version for the rustup toolchain manager, not the rustc compiler.
info: The currently active `rustc` version is `rustc 1.53.0-nightly (b84932674 2021-04-21)`

[santiago@galago ~]$ rustup update
info: syncing channel updates for 'stable-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu'
info: syncing channel updates for 'beta-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu'
info: syncing channel updates for 'nightly-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu'
info: latest update on 2021-04-23, rust version 1.53.0-nightly (7f4afdf02 2021-04-22)
info: downloading component 'rust-std' for 'i686-unknown-linux-gnu'
info: downloading component 'rustc-dev'
 95.0 MiB /  95.0 MiB (100 %)  36.6 MiB/s in  2s ETA:  0s
info: downloading component 'rust-src'
info: downloading component 'rust-analyzer-preview'
info: downloading component 'rust-analysis'
info: downloading component 'rls'
info: downloading component 'miri'
info: downloading component 'llvm-tools-preview'
info: downloading component 'cargo'
info: downloading component 'clippy'
info: downloading component 'rust-docs'
info: downloading component 'rust-std'
info: downloading component 'rustc'
 48.8 MiB /  48.8 MiB (100 %)  36.8 MiB/s in  1s ETA:  0s
info: downloading component 'rustfmt'
info: removing previous version of component 'rust-std' for 'i686-unknown-linux-gnu'
info: removing previous version of component 'rustc-dev'
info: removing previous version of component 'rust-src'
info: removing previous version of component 'rust-analyzer-preview'
info: removing previous version of component 'rust-analysis'
info: removing previous version of component 'rls'
info: removing previous version of component 'miri'
info: removing previous version of component 'llvm-tools-preview'
info: removing previous version of component 'cargo'
info: removing previous version of component 'clippy'
info: removing previous version of component 'rust-docs'
info: removing previous version of component 'rust-std'
info: removing previous version of component 'rustc'
info: removing previous version of component 'rustfmt'
info: installing component 'rust-std' for 'i686-unknown-linux-gnu'
info: using up to 500.0 MiB of RAM to unpack components
 24.3 MiB /  24.3 MiB (100 %)  13.0 MiB/s in  2s ETA:  0s
info: installing component 'rustc-dev'
 95.0 MiB /  95.0 MiB (100 %)  13.1 MiB/s in  7s ETA:  0s
info: installing component 'rust-src'
info: installing component 'rust-analyzer-preview'
info: installing component 'rust-analysis'
info: installing component 'rls'
info: installing component 'miri'
info: installing component 'llvm-tools-preview'
 21.4 MiB /  21.4 MiB (100 %)  13.9 MiB/s in  1s ETA:  0s
info: installing component 'cargo'
info: installing component 'clippy'
info: installing component 'rust-docs'
 16.0 MiB /  16.0 MiB (100 %)   9.6 MiB/s in  1s ETA:  0s
info: rolling back changes
error: could not rename component file from '/home/santiago/.rustup/tmp/zf6jna9jd15jb4u__dir/bk' to '/home/santiago/.rustup/toolchains/nightly-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/share/man'
error: could not rename component file from '/home/santiago/.rustup/tmp/cduhrqr9cfacgp11_dir/bk' to '/home/santiago/.rustup/toolchains/nightly-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/lib/rustlib/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu'
error: could not rename component file from '/home/santiago/.rustup/tmp/df3zlcanlr6x35r5_dir/bk' to '/home/santiago/.rustup/toolchains/nightly-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/share/zsh'
error: could not rename component file from '/home/santiago/.rustup/tmp/ix1dug784t7aeozn_dir/bk' to '/home/santiago/.rustup/toolchains/nightly-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/etc'
error: could not rename component file from '/home/santiago/.rustup/tmp/l9rfug8ahze2fpjn_dir/bk' to '/home/santiago/.rustup/toolchains/nightly-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/lib/rustlib/src'
...

[jyn514]

@spastorino Kinnison said on discord:

This happens if the component file gets corrupted. The easiest fix is to uninstall and reinstall the toolchain.

[rbtcollins]

wheres the actual end of the output? I see the rollback start, but not the actual original error that triggered the rollback.

The could-not-renames are just symptoms of whatever the problem was I think

[spastorino]

ohh yeah I see the problem

error: failed to install component: 'rust-docs-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu', detected conflict: '"share/doc/rust/html"'

[spastorino]

Uninstalled and installed again and it's now working. Anyway, unsure what happened or how the component file got corrupted.

[rbtcollins]

dup of #2417

[radlyeel]

Newbie to rust here. Exactly how to "uninstall and reinstall the toolchain", please? This is my year to grok rust and this is my first issue.

[jyn514]

rustup toolchain uninstall stable && rustup toolchain install stable, replacing stable with the toolchain name that errored for you.

[radlyeel]

Thanks! I'm a pretty goof guesser, but I could've gone a long time before coming up wit that on my own!

[ryanvandelinder]

what lol ! FR just trying the install again worked smh ugghhhh thanks all lol

[not4rt]

Had the exact same problem, fixed by closing the IDE (vscode in my case) hehe

I think rust-analyzer plugin was blocking the folder.

[rami3l]

Had the exact same problem, fixed by closing the IDE (vscode in my case) hehe

I think rust-analyzer plugin was blocking the folder.

@not4rt Thanks for the heads up. Given that, I think it'd be better to close this in favor of #2441.

[RivenSkaye]

Rustup will sometimes successfully remove the old toolchain and then repeatedly fail to install it fresh - even when the problem isn't file conflicts. I've had it before and didn't think too much of rustup toolchain uninstall $FAILING_TOOLCHAIN && rustup toolchain install $FAILING_TOOLCHAIN until today. Where I spent about 20 minutes updating just the stable toolchain (nightlies rarely error for me, luckily).

Not sure if it's better to reopen the existing issue, or to open a new one. After all, the issue title perfectly reflects the actual problem

Failing output, $RUSTUP_HOME to substitute the full path

❯ rustup update
info: syncing channel updates for 'stable-x86_64-pc-windows-gnu'
info: latest update on 2025-04-03, rust version 1.86.0 (05f9846f8 2025-03-31)
info: downloading components # snip, this just works
info: removing previous version of components # snip, this just works
# snipping progress reports for brevity
info: installing component 'rust-std' for 'i686-pc-windows-gnu'
info: installing component 'rust-analyzer'
info: installing component 'rust-src'
info: installing component 'cargo'
info: installing component 'clippy'
info: installing component 'rust-docs'
info: installing component 'rust-mingw'
info: installing component 'rust-std'
info: installing component 'rustc'
  9 IO-ops /   9 IO-ops (100 %)   2 IOPS in  4s
info: rolling back changes
error: could not rename component file from # snip!
# This repeats for literally every file in $RUSTUP_HOME/tmp downloaded for the current toolchain
# The final bit is interesting, note the ordering:
warn: could not delete temp directory: $RUSTUP_HOME\tmp\gkcvss83zmmb8r11_dir
error: could not rename component file
from '$RUSTUP_HOME\tmp\gkcvss83zmmb8r11_dir\rustc\lib\rustlib\x86_64-pc-windows-gnu\bin\rust-lld.exe'
to '$RUSTUP_HOME\toolchains\stable-x86_64-pc-windows-gnu\lib\rustlib\x86_64-pc-windows-gnu\bin\rust-lld.exe'

Subsequent failures happened in the form of a single rename failing instead, or the spurious:
error: failure removing component 'rustc-x86_64-pc-windows-gnu', directory does not exist: 'bin\rustc_driver-42db67a2a6008d5f.dll'

There was no IDE running, nothing else touching my Rust install, and just retrying it a couple times eventually leads to success, sort of:
stable-x86_64-pc-windows-gnu installed - (timeout reading rustc version)

edit: formatting fix to prevent sidescrolling