Debugger fails upon first Run Without Debug with a new Debug Console on Windows + PowerShell

[cmp0xff]

I noticed that in a Debug Console, the commands to start Run Without Debug for the first time and later, are different.

First run (failure):

$  & 'c:\Users\UserName\Documents\project\.venv\Scripts\python.exe' 'c:\Users\UserName\.vscode\extensions\ms-python.debugpy-2025.14.0-win32-x64\bundled\libs\debugpy\launcher' '51051' '--' 'C:\Users\UserName\Documents\project\sandbox\user_name\TICKET-🇫🇷-🇬��\20250821\script.py' 
c:\Users\UserName\Documents\project\.venv\Scripts\python.exe: can't open file 'C:\\Users\\UserName\\Documents\\project\\sandbox\\user_name\\TICKET-🇫🇷-🇬��\\20250821\\script.py': [Errno 2] No such file or directory

Second and later run (works fine):

$  c:; cd 'c:\Users\UserName\Documents\project'; & 'c:\Users\UserName\Documents\project\.venv\Scripts\python.exe' 'c:\Users\UserName\.vscode\extensions\ms-python.debugpy-2025.14.0-win32-x64\bundled\libs\debugpy\launcher' '54332' '--' 'C:\Users\UserName\Documents\project\sandbox\user_name\TICKET-🇫🇷-🇬🇧\20250821\script.py'

[eleanorjboyd]

Hi! Can you clarify exactly which buttons you are clicking the start "Run Without Debug"? Additionally what is in your launch.json?

[eleanorjboyd]

wondering if its related to this? #826

Don't totally think so but am not sure if maybe that is impacting the command being constructed. Will look into it more- thanks

[cmp0xff]

Hi @eleanorjboyd , thank you for the triage.

Can you clarify exactly which buttons you are clicking the start "Run Without Debug"?

Additionally what is in your launch.json?

{
    // Use IntelliSense to learn about possible attributes.
    // Hover to view descriptions of existing attributes.
    // For more information, visit: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=830387
    "version": "0.2.0",
    "configurations": [

        {
            "name": "Python Debugger: Current File",
            "type": "debugpy",
            "request": "launch",
            "program": "${file}",
            "console": "integratedTerminal",
            "justMyCode": false
        }
    ]
}

[eleanorjboyd]

can you try again with the newest pre-release version of the debugger extension and let me know if it is still broken? Curious if the path fix did anything because this bug is pretty strange and I don't have a ton of ideas for why it is doing that incorrect substitution

[cmp0xff]

can you try again with the newest pre-release version of the debugger extension and let me know if it is still broken?

• With the newest release version, the problem persists.

• With the newest pre-release version, the problem is resolved.

  In particular, in the first run, the command reads

  & 'c:\Users\UserName\Documents\project\.venv\Scripts\python.exe' 'c:\Users\UserName\.vscode\extensions\ms-python.debugpy-2025.15.2025101002-win32-x64\bundled\libs\debugpy\launcher' '61299' '--' 'C:\Users\UserName\Documents\project\sandbox\user_name\TICKET-🇫🇷-🇬🇧\20250821\script.py'

  Note that in the failed command, the unicode emoji in the path is garbled, while for the working commands, these characters show properly.

Thank you for the fix!

[eleanorjboyd]

Great! Glad to hear it!