Rustup update is looking in the wrong directory

[topbanana]

I've installed rust via the 64bi rustup-init.exe. After a successful install, I changed the environment variable "path" to point to a C:\Program Files.cargo\bin and move the originally installed .cargo directory to this new location. After rebooting Windows 11, I fire up a command prompt and run 'rustup --version'. It all works as expected. However, when I type 'rustup update' I get the following error:

error: rustup is not installed at 'C:\Users\br15.cargo'

This was the original installation directory. I looks like rustup is getting the location of the rust binaries from an external source rather than using its execution directory.

Keith

[steffahn]

Some web search suggests that you might need to change (or set) the CARGO_HOME environment variable to the new location of the .cargo directory.

[topbanana]

Thanks for the reply. I added an environment variable for CARGO_HOME pointing to "C:\Program Files.cargo\bin". When I run rustup, I get the following output.

C:\Program Files.cargo\bin>rustup update
info: syncing channel updates for 'stable-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc'
error: rustup is not installed at 'C:\Program Files.cargo\bin'

rustup says it can't find itself in the directory from which it is running?

Keith

[jofas]

Point $CARGO_HOME to C:\Program Files.cargo (without the \bin). The \bin directory is the part of your cargo home where the executables are stored.

You should add C:\Program Files.cargo\bin to your $PATH to make the executables accessible in your terminal.

[topbanana]

Thanks Jofas, that did the trick. I do think that the error message is misleading though.

Cheers
Keith

[jofas]

You're welcome.

@topbanana

I do think that the error message is misleading though.

I agree, it's a very generic error message. A hint that the $CARGO_HOME environment variable may not be set or pointing to the wrong directory would have been helpful. You could open an issue in the rustup repository.