fix(windows): normalize shell and Explorer paths

apps/desktop/src/shell/DesktopShellEnvironment.test.ts

@@ -320,7 +320,7 @@ describe("DesktopShellEnvironment", () => {
                 FNM_DIR: "C:\\Users\\testuser\\AppData\\Roaming\\fnm",
                 FNM_MULTISHELL_PATH: "C:\\Users\\testuser\\AppData\\Local\\fnm_multishells\\123",
               })
-            : envOutput({ PATH: "C:\\Custom\\Bin;C:\\Windows\\System32" });
+            : envOutput({ PATH: 'C:\\Custom\\Bin;C:";C:\\Windows\\System32' });
         },
       });
 
@@ -337,6 +337,7 @@ describe("DesktopShellEnvironment", () => {
           "C:\\Users\\testuser\\.bun\\bin",
           "C:\\Users\\testuser\\scoop\\shims",
           "C:\\Custom\\Bin",
+          "C:",
         ].join(";"),
       );
       assert.equal(env.FNM_DIR, "C:\\Users\\testuser\\AppData\\Roaming\\fnm");

apps/desktop/src/shell/DesktopShellEnvironment.ts

@@ -151,6 +151,9 @@ const pathComparisonKey = (entry: string, platform: NodeJS.Platform) => {
   return platform === "win32" ? normalized.toLowerCase() : normalized;
 };
 
+const sanitizePathEntry = (entry: string, platform: NodeJS.Platform) =>
+  platform === "win32" ? entry.replaceAll('"', "") : entry;
+
 const mergePaths = (
   platform: NodeJS.Platform,
   values: ReadonlyArray<Option.Option<string>>,
@@ -163,14 +166,14 @@ const mergePaths = (
     if (Option.isNone(value)) continue;
 
     for (const entry of value.value.split(delimiter)) {
-      const trimmed = entry.trim();
-      if (trimmed.length === 0) continue;
+      const sanitized = sanitizePathEntry(entry.trim(), platform);
+      if (sanitized.length === 0) continue;
 
-      const key = pathComparisonKey(trimmed, platform);
+      const key = pathComparisonKey(sanitized, platform);
       if (key.length === 0 || seen.has(key)) continue;
 
       seen.add(key);
-      entries.push(trimmed);
+      entries.push(sanitized);
     }
   }
 

apps/server/src/process/externalLauncher.test.ts

@@ -206,7 +206,9 @@ it.effect("reveals a file in File Explorer through PowerShell on Windows", () =>
       const launcher = yield* ExternalLauncher.ExternalLauncher;
       yield* launcher.launchEditor({
         editor: "file-manager",
-        cwd: "C:\\workspace with spaces\\media\\author's clip.mp4",
+        // Web file links normalize separators even when the server runs on
+        // Windows. Explorer's `/select` switch requires Windows separators.
+        cwd: "C:/workspace with spaces/media/author's clip.mp4",
         reveal: true,
       });
       return yield* launcher.resolveFileManagerRevealKind();
@@ -261,8 +263,12 @@ it.skipIf(process.platform !== "win32")(
       const outputPath = NodePath.join(tempDir, "argv.txt");
       NodeFS.writeFileSync(recorderPath, `@echo off\r\n>"${outputPath}" echo(%*\r\n`);
 
-      const target = "C:\\workspace with spaces\\media\\author's clip.mp4";
-      const source = ExternalLauncher.buildFileExplorerRevealPowerShellSource(recorderPath, target);
+      const target = "C:/workspace with spaces/media/author's clip.mp4";
+      const explorerTarget = target.replaceAll("/", "\\");
+      const source = ExternalLauncher.buildFileExplorerRevealPowerShellSource(
+        recorderPath,
+        explorerTarget,
+      );
       const powerShellPath = `${process.env.SYSTEMROOT ?? "C:\\Windows"}\\System32\\WindowsPowerShell\\v1.0\\powershell.exe`;
       NodeChildProcess.execFileSync(
         powerShellPath,
@@ -290,7 +296,7 @@ it.skipIf(process.platform !== "win32")(
       }
       await sleep(200);
       const recorded = NodeFS.readFileSync(outputPath, "utf8").trim();
-      assert.equal(recorded, `/select,"${target}"`);
+      assert.equal(recorded, `/select,"${explorerTarget}"`);
     } finally {
       NodeFS.rmSync(tempDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
     }

apps/server/src/process/externalLauncher.ts

@@ -609,6 +609,10 @@ function fileExplorerRevealLaunch(
   };
 }
 
+function normalizeWindowsFileManagerPath(target: string): string {
+  return target.replaceAll("/", "\\");
+}
+
 const resolveFileManagerRevealLaunch = Effect.fn("resolveFileManagerRevealLaunch")(function* (
   target: string,
   platform: NodeJS.Platform,
@@ -626,7 +630,11 @@ const resolveFileManagerRevealLaunch = Effect.fn("resolveFileManagerRevealLaunch
   }
 
   if (platform === "win32") {
-    return fileExplorerRevealLaunch(target, target, resolvePowerShellPath(env));
+    return fileExplorerRevealLaunch(
+      target,
+      normalizeWindowsFileManagerPath(target),
+      resolvePowerShellPath(env),
+    );
   }
 
   if (

packages/shared/src/shell.test.ts

@@ -304,18 +304,28 @@ describe("readEnvironmentFromWindowsShell", () => {
 });
 
 describe("mergePathValues", () => {
-  it("dedupes case-insensitively on Windows while preserving preferred order", () => {
+  it("sanitizes and dedupes Windows entries while preserving preferred order", () => {
     expect(
       mergePathValues(
         'C:\\Users\\testuser\\AppData\\Roaming\\npm;"C:\\Program Files\\nodejs"',
         "c:\\users\\testuser\\appdata\\roaming\\npm;C:\\Windows\\System32",
         "win32",
       ),
     ).toBe(
-      'C:\\Users\\testuser\\AppData\\Roaming\\npm;"C:\\Program Files\\nodejs";C:\\Windows\\System32',
+      "C:\\Users\\testuser\\AppData\\Roaming\\npm;C:\\Program Files\\nodejs;C:\\Windows\\System32",
     );
   });
 
+  it("removes stray quotes from Windows entries", () => {
+    expect(
+      mergePathValues(
+        'C:\\Windows\\System32;C:\\cloudflared.exe;C:";C:\\Program Files\\nodejs',
+        undefined,
+        "win32",
+      ),
+    ).toBe("C:\\Windows\\System32;C:\\cloudflared.exe;C:;C:\\Program Files\\nodejs");
+  });
+
   it("dedupes case-sensitively on POSIX", () => {
     expect(mergePathValues("/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin", "/usr/bin:/USR/BIN", "linux")).toBe(
       "/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/USR/BIN",
@@ -450,7 +460,7 @@ effectIt.layer(NodeServices.layer)("resolveSpawnCommand", (it) => {
 });
 
 effectIt.layer(NodeServices.layer)("resolveWindowsEnvironment", (it) => {
-  it.effect("returns the baseline no-profile PATH patch when node is already available", () =>
+  it.effect("uses known CLI directories as a fallback without changing shell PATH priority", () =>
     Effect.gen(function* () {
       const readEnvironment = vi.fn(
         (_names: ReadonlyArray<string>, options?: { loadProfile?: boolean }) =>
@@ -473,15 +483,15 @@ effectIt.layer(NodeServices.layer)("resolveWindowsEnvironment", (it) => {
         ),
       ).toEqual({
         PATH: [
+          "C:\\Shell\\Bin",
+          "C:\\Windows\\System32",
           "C:\\Users\\testuser\\AppData\\Roaming\\npm",
           "C:\\Users\\testuser\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\nodejs",
           "C:\\Users\\testuser\\AppData\\Local\\Volta\\bin",
           "C:\\Users\\testuser\\AppData\\Local\\pnpm",
           "C:\\Users\\testuser\\.local\\bin",
           "C:\\Users\\testuser\\.bun\\bin",
           "C:\\Users\\testuser\\scoop\\shims",
-          "C:\\Shell\\Bin",
-          "C:\\Windows\\System32",
         ].join(";"),
       });
       expect(readEnvironment).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
@@ -522,14 +532,14 @@ effectIt.layer(NodeServices.layer)("resolveWindowsEnvironment", (it) => {
         PATH: [
           "C:\\Profile\\Node",
           "C:\\Windows\\System32",
+          "C:\\Shell\\Bin",
           "C:\\Users\\testuser\\AppData\\Roaming\\npm",
           "C:\\Users\\testuser\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\nodejs",
           "C:\\Users\\testuser\\AppData\\Local\\Volta\\bin",
           "C:\\Users\\testuser\\AppData\\Local\\pnpm",
           "C:\\Users\\testuser\\.local\\bin",
           "C:\\Users\\testuser\\.bun\\bin",
           "C:\\Users\\testuser\\scoop\\shims",
-          "C:\\Shell\\Bin",
         ].join(";"),
         FNM_DIR: "C:\\Users\\testuser\\AppData\\Roaming\\fnm",
         FNM_MULTISHELL_PATH: "C:\\Users\\testuser\\AppData\\Local\\fnm_multishells\\123",
@@ -566,11 +576,11 @@ effectIt.layer(NodeServices.layer)("resolveWindowsEnvironment", (it) => {
         ),
       ).toEqual({
         PATH: [
+          "C:\\Windows\\System32",
           "C:\\Users\\testuser\\AppData\\Roaming\\npm",
           "C:\\Users\\testuser\\.local\\bin",
           "C:\\Users\\testuser\\.bun\\bin",
           "C:\\Users\\testuser\\scoop\\shims",
-          "C:\\Windows\\System32",
         ].join(";"),
         FNM_DIR: "C:\\Users\\testuser\\AppData\\Roaming\\fnm",
       });

packages/shared/src/shell.ts

@@ -414,6 +414,10 @@ function normalizePathEntryForComparison(entry: string, platform: NodeJS.Platfor
   return platform === "win32" ? normalized.toLowerCase() : normalized;
 }
 
+function sanitizePathEntry(entry: string, platform: NodeJS.Platform): string {
+  return platform === "win32" ? entry.replaceAll('"', "") : entry;
+}
+
 export function mergePathValues(
   preferredPath: string | undefined,
   inheritedPath: string | undefined,
@@ -427,14 +431,14 @@ export function mergePathValues(
     if (!rawValue) continue;
 
     for (const entry of rawValue.split(delimiter)) {
-      const trimmed = entry.trim();
-      if (trimmed.length === 0) continue;
+      const sanitized = sanitizePathEntry(entry.trim(), platform);
+      if (sanitized.length === 0) continue;
 
-      const normalized = normalizePathEntryForComparison(trimmed, platform);
+      const normalized = normalizePathEntryForComparison(sanitized, platform);
       if (normalized.length === 0 || seen.has(normalized)) continue;
 
       seen.add(normalized);
-      merged.push(trimmed);
+      merged.push(sanitized);
     }
   }
 
@@ -724,7 +728,9 @@ export const resolveWindowsEnvironment = Effect.fn("shell.resolveWindowsEnvironm
   }).PATH;
   const mergedPath = mergePathValues(shellPath, inheritedPath, "win32");
   const knownCliPath = resolveKnownWindowsCliDirs(env).join(WINDOWS_PATH_DELIMITER);
-  const baselinePath = mergePathValues(knownCliPath, mergedPath, "win32");
+  // Preserve the order a user's shell uses. These directories fill gaps when
+  // desktop apps launch without the full interactive-shell PATH.
+  const baselinePath = mergePathValues(mergedPath, knownCliPath, "win32");
   const baselinePatch: Partial<NodeJS.ProcessEnv> = baselinePath ? { PATH: baselinePath } : {};
   const baselineEnv = mergeWindowsEnv(env, baselinePatch);