Repair Windy Word

If Windy Word keeps trying to update and never finishes, this page fixes it. You do not need an administrator password, and you do not need to type any commands.

Why this happens. Some computers are set up so that Windy Word can never ask for an administrator password — not “usually doesn’t”, but can’t. The normal update needs one, so it downloads, fails, and offers itself again. The repair below installs into your own user folder instead, where no password is needed.

Linux — the repair

  1. Download the repair copy
    Download Windy Word 1.9.64.251 (.tar.gz)
    This is the same program, packaged so it runs straight from your own folder. It is about 650 MB.
  2. Extract it
    Find the downloaded file (usually in Downloads), and double-click it. Your file manager will open it — choose Extract. You will get a folder with the same name.
    Nothing needs to be “made executable” — this format keeps that setting for you. That is why we hand you this rather than a single file.
  3. Open the folder and double-click “Windy Word”
    Inside the extracted folder, double-click the file called Windy Word. (Not windy-pro — that one needs a setting this copy deliberately does not require.)
  4. Say yes when it offers to install itself
    It will ask: “Install Windy Word for your user account?” Choose Install. It moves itself into your applications menu, removes the older copies you own, and from then on it updates itself normally — no password, ever again.
What this does and does not remove. It removes older copies of Windy Word that belong to you, and stops any older copy that is still running. If an administrator installed Windy Word for the whole computer, the repair cannot delete those files — that really would need the password. Instead, your new copy takes over: it is the one your menu and your shortcuts point at. The old system-wide files stay on disk, unused.

Only the file above will work from a browser — other download links on this site need you to be signed in, which is exactly the thing a broken install makes hard.

Still stuck? Back to windyword.ai — or reply to any Windy Word email and a human will help.