Current directory is included in PowerShell "launch" option; breaking launch configurations that run a command

[JamesLear92]

Prerequisites

• I have written a descriptive issue title.
• I have searched all issues to ensure it has not already been reported.
• I have read the troubleshooting guide.
• I have verified that I am using the latest version of Visual Studio Code and the PowerShell extension.

Summary

I like to run PowerShell scripts into external windows. I have been using the same launch configs for years now without problem, but suddenly none of them now work. Here is an example launch.json:

{
    "version": "0.2.0",
    "configurations": [
        {
            "type": "PowerShell",
            "request": "launch",
            "name": "PS5",
            "script": "Start-Process",
            "args": [
                "-FilePath ($Env:SystemRoot + '\\system32\\WindowsPowerShell\\v1.0\\powershell.exe')",
                "-Argumentlist '-NoExit -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File \"${file}\"'"
            ]
        }
    ]
}

What should happen when running launching a .PS1 file with the debug option, is this:

PS C:\Test> Start-Process -FilePath ($Env:SystemRoot + '\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe') -Argumentlist '-NoExit -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "c:\Users\TestUser\desktop\TestScript.PS1"'

However it actually runs:

PS C:\Test> C:\Test\Start-Process -FilePath ($Env:SystemRoot + '\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe') -Argumentlist '-NoExit -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "c:\Users\TestUser\desktop\TestScript.PS1"'

Which of course leads to the error message:

C:\Test\Start-Process: The term 'C:\Test\Start-Process' is not recognized as a name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or executable program.

PowerShell Version

Name                           Value
----                           -----
PSVersion                      7.1.4
PSEdition                      Core
GitCommitId                    7.1.4
OS                             Microsoft Windows 10.0.19042
Platform                       Win32NT
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0…}
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1
WSManStackVersion              3.0

Visual Studio Code Version

1.59.1
3866c3553be8b268c8a7f8c0482c0c0177aa8bfa
x64

Extension Version

ms-vscode.powershell-preview@2021.8.2

Steps to Reproduce

Use the Launch config from above, and select it as the debug option. Then attempt to run any SAVED script.

Visuals

No response

Logs

No response

[JamesLear92]

Versions with problem:
ms-vscode.powershell-preview@2021.8.3
ms-vscode.powershell@2021.8.2

Versions without problem:
ms-vscode.powershell-preview@2021.8.0
ms-vscode.powershell@2021.8.0

[andyleejordan]

Oh, crap, sorry about that.

[andyleejordan]

I guess I'm not totally sure why this is happening. I mean, I'm certain it's because of 8ebbb55, but that implies that your custom configuration was taking a default value for cwd from the first configuration snippet instead of the launch configuration's defaults. I guess I'm trying to say that if VS Code did the obvious thing and used the configured default here:

vscode-powershell/package.json

Lines 522 to 526 in 4a46590

	"cwd": {
	"type": "string",
	"description": "Absolute path to the working directory. Default is the current workspace folder.",
	"default": "${workspaceFolder}"
	},

Then this would have been broken all along as that remained unchanged. It was last touched in #1397

Instead of reverting that commit, I'd like to figure out the best way to fix this.

@rkeithhill do you have any idea?

[andyleejordan]

Also in case you haven't already figured this out, the work around should be to add "cwd": "" to your custom configuration.

[rkeithhill]

I don't think this has anything to do with the cwd field. The script field name was picked because we wanted to allow not just a filename but arbitrary script e.g. "script": "Invoke-Pester". It seems that something (either the extension or PSES) is prepending a path to the script field value assuming it always specifies a path to a PS1 file. Whatever it is, It should not make that assumption.

BTW this only seems to happen when you specify "args": so there must be something about argument processing that is causing this. Ah, this is from the PSES log file:

2021-08-31 14:53:45.541 -06:00 [VRB] Prepending working directory C:\Users\Keith\.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode.powershell-2021.8.2\examples\Tests to script path Invoke-Pester

Yeah, that's yer problem right there.

[andyleejordan]

Interesting...I will dig into PSES changes and see how we broke it. Thanks Keith!

[andyleejordan]

Ah, it was PowerShell/PowerShellEditorServices@da43937 🙃