Unable to select Interpreter because special characters in the windows username.

[Montecore]

Type: Bug

Behaviour

After selecting a python interpreter, you get "An Invalid Python interpreter" message. Unable to use the python interpreter.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Have a windows username containing special characters. In my case, the username is "^_^".
2. Try to select a Python Interpreter.

Diagnostic data

Output for Python in the Output panel (View→Output, change the drop-down the upper-right of the Output panel to Python)

2025-06-21 10:53:10.670 [error] [Error: Command failed: "c:\Program Files\Python313\python.exe" -I c:\Users\^_^\.vscode\extensions\ms-python.python-2025.9.2025062001-win32-x64\python_files\get_output_via_markers.py c:\Users\^_^\.vscode\extensions\ms-python.python-2025.9.2025062001-win32-x64\python_files\interpreterInfo.py
c:\Program Files\Python313\python.exe: can't open file 'c:\\Users\\_\\.vscode\\extensions\\ms-python.python-2025.9.2025062001-win32-x64\\python_files\\get_output_via_markers.py': [Errno 2] No such file or directory

	at genericNodeError (node:internal/errors:983:15)
	at wrappedFn (node:internal/errors:537:14)
	at ChildProcess.exithandler (node:child_process:415:12)
	at ChildProcess.emit (node:events:530:35)
	at maybeClose (node:internal/child_process:1101:16)
	at ChildProcess._handle.onexit (node:internal/child_process:304:5)] {
  code: 2,
  killed: false,
  signal: null,
  cmd: '"c:\\Program Files\\Python313\\python.exe" -I c:\\Users\\^_^\\.vscode\\extensions\\ms-python.python-2025.9.2025062001-win32-x64\\python_files\\get_output_via_markers.py c:\\Users\\^_^\\.vscode\\extensions\\ms-python.python-2025.9.2025062001-win32-x64\\python_files\\interpreterInfo.py'
}

Extension version: 2025.9.2025062001
VS Code version: Code 1.101.1 (18e3a1ec544e6907be1e944a94c496e302073435, 2025-06-18T13:35:12.605Z)
OS version: Windows_NT x64 10.0.19045
Modes:

• Python version (& distribution if applicable, e.g. Anaconda):
• Type of virtual environment used (e.g. conda, venv, virtualenv, etc.): Unknown
• Value of the python.languageServer setting: Default

User Settings

languageServer: "Pylance"

Installed Extensions

Extension Name	Extension Id	Version
debugpy	ms-	2025.8.0
js-debug	ms-	1.100.1
js-debug-companion	ms-	1.1.3
python	ms-	2025.9.2025062001
remote-wsl	ms-	0.99.0
vim	vsc	1.30.1
vscode-js-profile-table	ms-	1.0.10
vscode-pylance	ms-	2025.6.1

System Info

Item	Value
CPUs	Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz (8 x 4008)
GPU Status	2d_canvas: enabled canvas_oop_rasterization: enabled_on direct_rendering_display_compositor: disabled_off_ok gpu_compositing: enabled multiple_raster_threads: enabled_on opengl: enabled_on rasterization: enabled raw_draw: disabled_off_ok skia_graphite: disabled_off video_decode: enabled video_encode: enabled vulkan: disabled_off webgl: enabled webgl2: enabled webgpu: enabled webnn: disabled_off
Load (avg)	undefined
Memory (System)	31.95GB (21.10GB free)
Process Argv	--crash-reporter-id 04d58fac-4cc4-4f0f-b139-82bacb464b5b
Screen Reader	no
VM	50%

A/B Experiments

vspor879:30202332
vspor708:30202333
vspor363:30204092
binariesv615:30325510
c4g48928:30535728
962ge761:30959799
pythontbext0:30879054
cppperfnew:31000557
pythonrstrctxt:31112756
5fd0e150:31155592
dwcopilot:31170013
6074i472:31201624
dwoutputs:31242946
customenabled:31248079
pythoneinst12:31285622
bgtreat:31268568
4gafe986:31271826
c7cif404:31314491
996jf627:31283433
usemplatestapi:31297334
7bj51361:31289155
aj953862:31281341
generatesymbolt:31295002
convertfstringf:31295003

[anthonykim1]

Hello @Montecore thanks for filing the issue. Will look into this and reply once I have an update. Thank you

[jonmon6691]

Hello, I am also suffering from what I believe is the same bug. My organization policy sets the username in the form LastnameFirstname(000) where the parenthesis and digits are included in the username. Since vscode lives in %USERPROFILE%\\.vscode, including extensions, the paths used in the debugger also include these parenthesis and they are not being quoted. I'm not sure if this is possibly an upstream issue with VSCode or a common library, because I've had this same issue with the pico-vscode extension (raspberrypi/pico-vscode#194)

PS C:\code\my_project>  c:; cd 'c:\code\my_project'; c:\code\my_project\venv\Scripts\python.exe c:\Users\LastnameFirstname(000)\.vscode\extensions\ms-python.debugpy-2025.8.0-win32-x64\bundled\libs\debugpy\launcher 54667 -- my_project.py --arg .\path\*
C:\code\my_project\venv\Scripts\python.exe: can't open file 'c:\\Users\\LastnameFirstname': [Errno 2] No such file or directory
PS C:\code\my_project> 

Workaround:
Manually quoting the path seems to work, but since the port number is random(?) it has to be done every time the debugger is started.

1. Run the debugger
2. Terminal shows the error above
3. While the debugger is still waiting for the server to start, press the up arrow in the terminal to edit the previously failing command
4. add quotes arount the path to c:\...\debugpy\launcher and hit enter
5. Debugger begins working as usual

[PaulKGrimes]

This same issue appears for me after a Windows 11 reboot - it was working yesterday. In my case, the only "special" character in the path to python.exe and conda.exe is a space in my username - "C:\Users\Paul Grimes\miniforge\Scripts\conda.exe" info --json does not appear to be processed correctly.

On selecting an interpreter, the Output tab shows:

2025-06-25 09:58:54.712 [info] Native locator: Refresh started
2025-06-25 09:58:54.739 [info] Conda environment manager found at: C:\Users\Paul Grimes\miniforge\Scripts\conda.exe
2025-06-25 09:58:54.739 [info] Conda set to: C:\Users\Paul Grimes\miniforge\Scripts\conda.exe
2025-06-25 09:58:54.835 [info] Native locator: Refresh finished in 123 ms
2025-06-25 09:59:08.709 [info] > "C:\Users\Paul Grimes\miniforge\Scripts\conda.exe" info --json

before the "An invalid Python interpreter" pops up

[PaulKGrimes]

Updating my base Conda environment makes no difference.