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Setting startingDirectory to WSL path causes indefinite application hang #13091

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opened 2026-01-31 03:33:36 +00:00 by claunia · 12 comments
claunia commented 2026-01-31 03:33:36 +00:00
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Originally created by @zaxbux on GitHub (Mar 18, 2021).

Environment

Windows build number: 19041.867
Windows Terminal version (if applicable): 1.6.10571.0

Steps to reproduce

Add the following startingDirectory to a profile like so:

{
  "guid": "{07b52e3e-de2c-5db4-bd2d-ba144ed6c273}",
  "hidden": false,
  "name": "Ubuntu-20.04",
  "source": "Windows.Terminal.Wsl",
  "startingDirectory": "\\\\wsl$\\Ubuntu-20.04\\home\\zach"
}

Expected behavior

Terminal launches profile in starting directory. This has worked for awhile, issue started occuring after some recent updates (either Windows or Terminal).

Actual behavior

Terminal hangs forever when starting profile from new tab dropdown, jumplist, etc.

wt_bug

Note: this screenshot was taken after the startingDirectory was added in my settings.json while application was running. Terminal crashes as soon as the updated profile was clicked. Terminal launched fine and profile worked before adding line.

Originally created by @zaxbux on GitHub (Mar 18, 2021). <!-- 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨 I ACKNOWLEDGE THE FOLLOWING BEFORE PROCEEDING: 1. If I delete this entire template and go my own path, the core team may close my issue without further explanation or engagement. 2. If I list multiple bugs/concerns in this one issue, the core team may close my issue without further explanation or engagement. 3. If I write an issue that has many duplicates, the core team may close my issue without further explanation or engagement (and without necessarily spending time to find the exact duplicate ID number). 4. If I leave the title incomplete when filing the issue, the core team may close my issue without further explanation or engagement. 5. If I file something completely blank in the body, the core team may close my issue without further explanation or engagement. All good? Then proceed! --> <!-- This bug tracker is monitored by Windows Terminal development team and other technical folks. **Important: When reporting BSODs or security issues, DO NOT attach memory dumps, logs, or traces to Github issues**. Instead, send dumps/traces to secure@microsoft.com, referencing this GitHub issue. If this is an application crash, please also provide a Feedback Hub submission link so we can find your diagnostic data on the backend. Use the category "Apps > Windows Terminal (Preview)" and choose "Share My Feedback" after submission to get the link. Please use this form and describe your issue, concisely but precisely, with as much detail as possible. --> # Environment ```none Windows build number: 19041.867 Windows Terminal version (if applicable): 1.6.10571.0 ``` # Steps to reproduce Add the following `startingDirectory` to a profile like so: ```json { "guid": "{07b52e3e-de2c-5db4-bd2d-ba144ed6c273}", "hidden": false, "name": "Ubuntu-20.04", "source": "Windows.Terminal.Wsl", "startingDirectory": "\\\\wsl$\\Ubuntu-20.04\\home\\zach" } ``` # Expected behavior Terminal launches profile in starting directory. This has worked for awhile, issue started occuring after some recent updates (either Windows or Terminal). # Actual behavior Terminal hangs forever when starting profile from new tab dropdown, jumplist, etc. ![wt_bug](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/5186921/111687952-27832280-87e8-11eb-92ec-2a49be457537.png) Note: this screenshot was taken after the `startingDirectory` was added in my `settings.json` while application was running. Terminal crashes as soon as the updated profile was clicked. Terminal launched fine and profile worked before adding line.
claunia commented 2026-01-31 03:33:38 +00:00
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@DHowett commented on GitHub (Mar 18, 2021):

Sorry -- all we do is pass that path off to CreateProcess. If the WSL interop implementation is hanging, it'll be bad...

I wonder if Terminal can/should have a process startup watchdog? "[process failed to start in 10 seconds; you likely don't want to try to continue]"

@DHowett commented on GitHub (Mar 18, 2021): Sorry -- all we do is pass that path off to CreateProcess. If the WSL interop implementation is hanging, it'll be bad... I wonder if Terminal can/should have a process startup watchdog? "[process failed to start in 10 seconds; you likely don't want to try to continue]"
claunia commented 2026-01-31 03:33:38 +00:00
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@Nacimota commented on GitHub (Mar 19, 2021):

I wonder if Terminal can/should have a process startup watchdog? "[process failed to start in 10 seconds; you likely don't want to try to continue]"

Separate but related: WSL2 takes about 5 seconds to start up cold on my system, and I notice the terminal UI hangs for the duration.

@Nacimota commented on GitHub (Mar 19, 2021): > I wonder if Terminal can/should have a process startup watchdog? "[process failed to start in 10 seconds; you likely don't want to try to continue]" Separate but related: WSL2 takes about 5 seconds to start up cold on my system, and I notice the terminal UI hangs for the duration.
claunia commented 2026-01-31 03:33:38 +00:00
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@zadjii-msft commented on GitHub (Mar 22, 2021):

Oh that's why my "Good Morning" script seems to hang. Not because it's asking the Terminal to do too much, but because the launch of WSL is slow.

I wonder if we can start the process maybe on a background thread? Or if we're waiting for the connection to actually start before doing UI work, could we just, not?

@zadjii-msft commented on GitHub (Mar 22, 2021): Oh that's why my "Good Morning" script seems to hang. Not because it's asking the Terminal to do too much, but because the launch of WSL is slow. I wonder if we can start the process maybe on a background thread? Or if we're waiting for the connection to actually start before doing UI work, could we just, not?
claunia commented 2026-01-31 03:33:38 +00:00
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@DHowett commented on GitHub (Mar 22, 2021):

@zadjii-msft not without risking the WSL profiles (and if one is set as default, a pop-up dialog saying "lol you messed up somehow").

This is, in part, why I keep talking about caching generated profiles 😉

@DHowett commented on GitHub (Mar 22, 2021): @zadjii-msft not without risking the WSL profiles (and if one is set as default, a pop-up dialog saying "lol you messed up somehow"). This is, in part, why I keep talking about caching generated profiles 😉
claunia commented 2026-01-31 03:33:39 +00:00
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@zaxbux commented on GitHub (Mar 22, 2021):

@DHowet I ended up nuking my WSL distros, and the issue went away. Watchdog of some sort would be nice, since the only way I could kill the terminal process was though Terminal's PC Settings "Terminate" button.

@zaxbux commented on GitHub (Mar 22, 2021): @DHowet I ended up nuking my WSL distros, and the issue went away. Watchdog of some sort would be nice, since the only way I could kill the terminal process was though Terminal's PC Settings "Terminate" button.
claunia commented 2026-01-31 03:33:39 +00:00
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@DHowett commented on GitHub (Mar 24, 2021):

Oh, I realize now @zadjii-msft that you're talking about spawning the connection in the background, not launching WSL to scan for things.

We also evaluate the starting directory for validity (!) during settings load.

@DHowett commented on GitHub (Mar 24, 2021): Oh, I realize now @zadjii-msft that you're talking about spawning the connection in the background, not launching WSL to scan for things. We also _evaluate the starting directory_ for validity (!) during settings load.
claunia commented 2026-01-31 03:33:39 +00:00
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@zadjii-msft commented on GitHub (Mar 24, 2021):

Ohkay good, I thought there must have been a miscommunication.

We also evaluate the starting directory for validity (!) during settings load.

Oh well that's probably what's doing it. Maybe we should just ditch that 🤔

@zadjii-msft commented on GitHub (Mar 24, 2021): Ohkay good, I thought there must have been a miscommunication. > We also _evaluate the starting directory_ for validity (!) during settings load. Oh well that's probably what's doing it. Maybe we should just ditch that 🤔
claunia commented 2026-01-31 03:33:39 +00:00
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@zadjii-msft commented on GitHub (Apr 2, 2021):

I'm bumping this to 1.8 - we might want to preemptively fix this, esp. before pushing OSC9;9 to stable

@zadjii-msft commented on GitHub (Apr 2, 2021): I'm bumping this to 1.8 - we might want to preemptively fix this, esp. before pushing OSC9;9 to stable
claunia commented 2026-01-31 03:33:39 +00:00
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@zadjii-msft commented on GitHub (Apr 7, 2021):

Oh no, this isn't what I thought it was. I thought we had some quick path validation if a path existed for the OSC9;9 case. But we actually don't...

  • in #8330, the only validation is: during duplicate(Tab|Pane), if the control has a path, use that. Doesn't matter what it is, no checking if it's good, just use it.
  • #8934 did not add any other validation, it just mde the list of paths we accept bigger.
  • #9397 furthermore additionally did not add any extra validation.
  • #8898 & #9118 did add a step where wt will switch it's CWD when spawning a new commandline. This is my only theory right now. 
              std::wstring cwdString{ wil::GetCurrentDirectoryW<std::wstring>() };
          std::filesystem::path cwd{ cwdString };
          cwd /= settings.StartingDirectory().c_str();
    If we do a auto p = std::filesystem::path{L"C:\Windows"} / std::filesystem::path{L"\\wsl$\home\zadjii"}, does that need to hit the filesystem to resolve the path? That would be ultra annoying.

EDIT:

Ah no, the line in question is in TerminalSettings::_ApplyProfileSettings

        _StartingDirectory = profile.EvaluatedStartingDirectory();

std::wstring Profile::EvaluateStartingDirectory(const std::wstring& directory)
{
    // First expand path
    DWORD numCharsInput = ExpandEnvironmentStrings(directory.c_str(), nullptr, 0);
    std::unique_ptr<wchar_t[]> evaluatedPath = std::make_unique<wchar_t[]>(numCharsInput);
    THROW_LAST_ERROR_IF(0 == ExpandEnvironmentStrings(directory.c_str(), evaluatedPath.get(), numCharsInput));

    // Validate that the resulting path is legitimate
    const DWORD dwFileAttributes = GetFileAttributes(evaluatedPath.get());
    ...

WHICH HAS LITERALLY ALWAYS EXISTED:
ed1cd32f1f/src/cascadia/TerminalSettingsModel/Profile.cpp (L407)

LITERALLY SINCE d4d59fa339

So I'm punting this back out of 1.8.

@zadjii-msft commented on GitHub (Apr 7, 2021): Oh no, this isn't what I thought it was. I thought we had some quick path validation if a path existed for the OSC9;9 case. But we actually don't... * in #8330, the only validation is: during duplicate(Tab|Pane), if the control has a path, use that. Doesn't matter what it is, no checking if it's good, just use it. * #8934 did not add any other validation, it just mde the list of paths we accept bigger. * #9397 furthermore additionally did not add any extra validation. * #8898 & #9118 did add a step where `wt` will switch it's CWD when spawning a new commandline. This is my only theory right now. ```c++ std::wstring cwdString{ wil::GetCurrentDirectoryW<std::wstring>() }; std::filesystem::path cwd{ cwdString }; cwd /= settings.StartingDirectory().c_str(); ``` If we do a `auto p = std::filesystem::path{L"C:\Windows"} / std::filesystem::path{L"\\wsl$\home\zadjii"}`, does that need to hit the filesystem to resolve the path? That would be ultra annoying. EDIT: Ah no, the line in question is in `TerminalSettings::_ApplyProfileSettings` ```c++ _StartingDirectory = profile.EvaluatedStartingDirectory(); ``` ``` std::wstring Profile::EvaluateStartingDirectory(const std::wstring& directory) { // First expand path DWORD numCharsInput = ExpandEnvironmentStrings(directory.c_str(), nullptr, 0); std::unique_ptr<wchar_t[]> evaluatedPath = std::make_unique<wchar_t[]>(numCharsInput); THROW_LAST_ERROR_IF(0 == ExpandEnvironmentStrings(directory.c_str(), evaluatedPath.get(), numCharsInput)); // Validate that the resulting path is legitimate const DWORD dwFileAttributes = GetFileAttributes(evaluatedPath.get()); ... ``` WHICH HAS LITERALLY ALWAYS EXISTED: https://github.com/microsoft/terminal/blame/ed1cd32f1fb0c681b05998efdee124d6c314a07d/src/cascadia/TerminalSettingsModel/Profile.cpp#L407 LITERALLY SINCE d4d59fa3395012ca37ba12665da4ec11c7dcf9cb So I'm punting this back out of 1.8.
claunia commented 2026-01-31 03:33:39 +00:00
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@stevenbrix commented on GitHub (Apr 22, 2021):

for the record, i'm not seeing this issue with it hanging, i used the path:

\\wsl.localhost\Ubuntu\home\stevenki

windows ver: 21364.1
terminal ver: 1.7.1033.0

@stevenbrix commented on GitHub (Apr 22, 2021): for the record, i'm not seeing this issue with it hanging, i used the path: `\\wsl.localhost\Ubuntu\home\stevenki` windows ver: 21364.1 terminal ver: 1.7.1033.0
claunia commented 2026-01-31 03:33:40 +00:00
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@ghost commented on GitHub (May 25, 2021):

:tada:This issue was addressed in #10045, which has now been successfully released as Windows Terminal v1.8.1444.0.🎉

Handy links:

@ghost commented on GitHub (May 25, 2021): :tada:This issue was addressed in #10045, which has now been successfully released as `Windows Terminal v1.8.1444.0`.:tada: Handy links: * [Release Notes](https://github.com/microsoft/terminal/releases/tag/v1.8.1444.0) * [Store Download](https://www.microsoft.com/store/apps/9n8g5rfz9xk3?cid=storebadge&ocid=badge)
claunia commented 2026-01-31 03:33:40 +00:00
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@ghost commented on GitHub (May 25, 2021):

:tada:This issue was addressed in #10045, which has now been successfully released as Windows Terminal Preview v1.9.1445.0.🎉

Handy links:

@ghost commented on GitHub (May 25, 2021): :tada:This issue was addressed in #10045, which has now been successfully released as `Windows Terminal Preview v1.9.1445.0`.:tada: Handy links: * [Release Notes](https://github.com/microsoft/terminal/releases/tag/v1.9.1445.0) * [Store Download](https://www.microsoft.com/store/apps/9n8g5rfz9xk3?cid=storebadge&ocid=badge)
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Reference: starred/terminal#13091
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