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Troubleshooting: Ask Alteryx Not Loading or Using the Wrong Version in Designer 25.2

If a Public Preview version of Ask Alteryx was installed for all users (as admin) and a user later installs non-admin Designer 25.2 with Ask Alteryx packaged, the system will continue loading the older, admin-installed Ask Alteryx instead of the newer one packaged with the non-admin Designer.

This issue occurs because Designer prioritizes admin-installed extensions over user-installed ones, regardless of version compatibility. Because Ask Alteryx is packaged with Designer 25.2+, when a Non-Admin version of Designer is installed, Ask Alteryx is installed into the non-admin Extensions folder (AppData/Roaming).

Designer loads extensions in a specific order: 

1. Admin-installed extensions located in C:\ProgramData\Alteryx\Extensions
2. User-installed extensions located in C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Roaming\Alteryx\Extensions

In addition, installing or updating Ask Alteryx out of order can cause the Designer-installed version to be overwritten or ignored. For example:

• If a Preview version was installed as an admin before installing Designer 25.2, Designer may continue using the older version.
• If a Preview was installed as an admin after installing Designer 25.2, it may overwrite the Copilot version installed with Designer.
• If only a non-admin version of Designer 25.2 is installed and a Preview version of Ask Alteryx was later installed for the single user, the user extension folder will contain the incompatible version.

When this situation occurs, Designer 25.2 displays the following message:

You are using a invalid version of Ask Alteryx. You are likely using a Public Preview version of Ask Alteryx on 25.2 Designer, which is not allowed.

Applies to:

• Alteryx Non-Admin Designer 25.2 and later
• Ask Alteryx (installed as admin from the YXI version)

Before troubleshooting or applying the workaround:

• Verify Ask Alteryx exists in C:\ProgramData\Alteryx\Extensions.
• Ensure the user has permission to delete or modify the extension directory.

This issue occurs because Designer prioritizes admin-installed extensions over user-installed ones, regardless of version compatibility. When Ask Alteryx is bundled with Designer 25.2+, a non-admin installation cannot override the admin-installed Ask Alteryx, resulting in version conflicts.

Important: You need to have hidden files visible in Windows to see these paths. To enable this option, refer to the Show hidden files section at the bottom of this page. 

To ensure Designer loads the correct Ask Alteryx version:

Option 1: Install Designer as an admin

1. Download the latest Designer 25.2+ installer.
2. Run the installer as an administrator.
3. This ensures that the installed Ask Alteryx extension matches the Designer version.

Option 2: Remove the admin-installed extension

1. Navigate to C:\ProgramData\Alteryx\Extensions.
2. Delete the Extensions directory or remove the AyxCopilotExt folder only.
3. Relaunch Alteryx Designer.

It will now load the user-installed version located in:
C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Roaming\Alteryx\Extensions.

• Designer 25.2 and later automatically includes the GA version of Ask Alteryx.
• Installing or retaining older preview versions of Ask Alteryx (Public or Private Preview) may cause conflicts if both admin and user installations exist.
• Designer does not currently fall back to a different extension folder if an incompatible version is detected.

If you continue seeing the error message or Ask Alteryx does not load after following these steps, contact Alteryx Support. Include the following information:

• Your Designer version number
• Whether Designer is installed as admin or non-admin
• The contents of both extension folders:
  • C:\ProgramData\Alteryx\Extensions
  • C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Roaming\Alteryx\Extensions