MDK-ARM version 5.43 installation: problem with folder name expansion

During installation of MDK-ARM v5.43 (dated Aug 1, 2025), when unpacking files the following is shown in command window:
I: Extracting files to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Arm\Packs
However, %LOCALAPPDATA% is not being expanded correctly. In my case it shoud be replaced by: C:\Users\dougr\AppData\Local\Arm\Packs.
Instead, the pack is expanded in the same folder as the installation executable (MDK543.exe).
How to fix this?  seems to me as a problem in the installer during the unpacking process.
thanks
Douglas Renaux

  • The MDK installer lets you choose the destination folders for the core files and the pack file. By default, this is:

    Core:  C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Keil_v5

    Pack:  C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Arm\Packs

    What exactly did you specify for these two folders?

    Instead, the pack is expanded in the same folder as the installation executable (MDK543.exe).

    Which would usually be your 'Download' folder? I did not see this myself and so far no other customer has reported this behavior. Can you duplicate this behavior on a different PC?

  • Hello Hans, 
    Thanks for your reply.
    I used the default folders:

    This is the log of the activities during the unpacking of Packs:

    I: Parsing packs urls via file C:\Users\dougr\AppData\Local\Temp\KST3722.tmp/packs.list
    I: Updating public index
    I: Downloading index.pidx...
    I: 100% |██████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████| (219/219 kB, 300 kB/s)
    I: Updating PDSC files of public packs
    I: Adding pack "C:\Users\dougr\AppData\Local\Keil_v5\ARM\PACK\.Download\ARM.CMSIS-Compiler.2.1.0.pack"
    Agreed to embedded license: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Arm\Packs\ARM\CMSIS-Compiler\2.1.0\LICENSE
    I: Extracting files to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Arm\Packs\ARM\CMSIS-Compiler\2.1.0...
    I: 100% |████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████| (232/232, 3418 it/s)
    I: Adding pack "C:\Users\dougr\AppData\Local\Keil_v5\ARM\PACK\.Download\ARM.CMSIS-Driver.2.10.0.pack"
    Agreed to embedded license: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Arm\Packs\ARM\CMSIS-Driver\2.10.0\LICENSE
    I: Extracting files to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Arm\Packs\ARM\CMSIS-Driver\2.10.0...
    I: 100% |████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████| (340/340, 4221 it/s)
    I: Package requirements not satisfied - installing ARM::CMSIS@>=5.9.0-0
    I: Downloading ARM.CMSIS.pdsc...
    I: 100% |███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████| (44/44 kB, 2.8 kB/s)
    I: Downloading ARM.CMSIS.6.2.0.pack...
    I: 100% |███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████| (8.4/8.4 MB, 12 MB/s)
    I: Adding pack ARM.CMSIS.6.2.0
    Agreed to embedded license: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Arm\Packs\ARM\CMSIS\6.2.0\LICENSE
    I: Extracting files to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Arm\Packs\ARM\CMSIS\6.2.0...
    I: 100% |███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████| (2269/2269, 620 it/s)
    I: Adding pack "C:\Users\dougr\AppData\Local\Keil_v5\ARM\PACK\.Download\ARM.CMSIS-DSP.1.16.2.pack"
    Agreed to embedded license: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Arm\Packs\ARM\CMSIS-DSP\1.16.2\LICENSE
    I: Extracting files to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Arm\Packs\ARM\CMSIS-DSP\1.16.2...
    I: 100% |██████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████| (2473/2473, 1579 it/s)
    I: Adding pack "C:\Users\dougr\AppData\Local\Keil_v5\ARM\PACK\.Download\ARM.CMSIS-NN.7.0.0.pack"
    Agreed to embedded license: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Arm\Packs\ARM\CMSIS-NN\7.0.0\LICENSE
    I: Extracting files to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Arm\Packs\ARM\CMSIS-NN\7.0.0...
    I: 100% |████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████| (557/557, 4115 it/s)
    I: Adding pack "C:\Users\dougr\AppData\Local\Keil_v5\ARM\PACK\.Download\ARM.CMSIS-RTX.5.9.0.pack"
    Agreed to embedded license: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Arm\Packs\ARM\CMSIS-RTX\5.9.0\LICENSE
    I: Extracting files to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Arm\Packs\ARM\CMSIS-RTX\5.9.0...
    I: 100% |████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████| (556/556, 1841 it/s)
    I: Adding pack "C:\Users\dougr\AppData\Local\Keil_v5\ARM\PACK\.Download\ARM.CMSIS-View.1.2.0.pack"
    Agreed to embedded license: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Arm\Packs\ARM\CMSIS-View\1.2.0\LICENSE
    I: Extracting files to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Arm\Packs\ARM\CMSIS-View\1.2.0...
    I: 100% |████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████| (414/414, 1592 it/s)
    I: Adding pack "C:\Users\dougr\AppData\Local\Keil_v5\ARM\PACK\.Download\ARM.CMSIS.6.2.0.pack"
    E: Pack "C:\Users\dougr\AppData\Local\Keil_v5\ARM\PACK\.Download\ARM.CMSIS.6.2.0.pack@" is already installed here: "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Arm\Packs\ARM\CMSIS\6.2.0", use the --force-reinstall (-F) flag to force installation
    I: Adding pack "C:\Users\dougr\AppData\Local\Keil_v5\ARM\PACK\.Download\ARM.Cortex_DFP.1.1.0.pack"
    Agreed to embedded license: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Arm\Packs\ARM\Cortex_DFP\1.1.0\LICENSE
    I: Extracting files to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Arm\Packs\ARM\Cortex_DFP\1.1.0...
    I: 100% |████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████| (274/274, 5654 it/s)
    I: Adding pack "C:\Users\dougr\AppData\Local\Keil_v5\ARM\PACK\.Download\Keil.MDK-Middleware.8.1.0.pack"
    Agreed to embedded license: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Arm\Packs\Keil\MDK-Middleware\8.1.0\license_terms\license_agreement.txt
    I: Extracting files to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Arm\Packs\Keil\MDK-Middleware\8.1.0...
    I: 64% |█████████████████████████████████████████████████ | (1456/2273, 1748 it/s) [0s:0s]

  • Hello Hans
    Thanks for your reply.
    - I accepted the default folders.
    - The installer (MDK543.exe) is located in C:\inst\Keil\Community. In my case, Packs was unpacked there.
    - I can try on a different PC, but even if it works, it won't solve my problem.
    regards
    Douglas

  • Furthermore, I got exactly the same problem when trying to install in an older (Windows10) computer. The temporary solution is to specify a different installation folder when installing. In my case I selected c:\Keil_v5.

  • I have the same problem. %LOCALAPPDATA% is not expanded correctly and the Packs are unpacked into the installer folder.

  • You are right, I can duplicate this problem here as well. Our MDK v5.43 installer does not expand %LOCALAPPDATA% correctly.

    However, there is an easy workaround: You just need to touch the Pack-path. As soon as you modify this string, the installer will work. Even if you want to use the default path, you could delete the 's' at the end of the Pack-path and then add it again before you press the 'Next' button. 

    We plan to fix this issue in an MDK 5.43a version, which will be released in a few days.

    I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

  • Thank you Hans
    I will install 5.43a when available.