PowerShell Language Server fails to start due to incorrect path on Windows

[vkibalyuk]

Log:

2025-06-24T17:49:53+03:00 INFO  [lsp] starting language server process. binary path: "C:\\Program Files\\PowerShell\\7\\pwsh.exe", working directory: "D:\\", args: ["-NoLogo", "-NoProfile", "-Command", "Import-Module ( Join-Path \'/C:\\Users\\dtt\\AppData\\Local\\Zed\\extensions\\work\\powershell/powershell-es-v4.3.0\' \'PowerShellEditorServices/PowerShellEditorServices.psd1\' ); Start-EditorServices -Stdio -SessionDetailsPath \'/C:\\Users\\dtt\\AppData\\Local\\Zed\\extensions\\work\\powershell/powershell-es-v4.3.0/powershell-es.session.json\' -LogPath \'/C:\\Users\\dtt\\AppData\\Local\\Zed\\extensions\\work\\powershell/powershell-es-v4.3.0/logs\' -FeatureFlags @() -AdditionalModules @() -HostName zed -HostProfileId 0 -HostVersion 1.0.0 -LogLevel Trace"]
2025-06-24T17:49:53+03:00 ERROR [lsp] cannot read LSP message headers
2025-06-24T17:49:53+03:00 ERROR [lsp] Server reset connection for a request "initialize" id 0
2025-06-24T17:49:53+03:00 ERROR [project::lsp_store] Failed to start language server "powershell-es": Error {
    context: "initializing server powershell-es, id 11",
    source: "Server reset the connection",
}
2025-06-24T17:49:53+03:00 ERROR [project::lsp_store] server stderr: �[31;1mImport-Module: �[31;1mCannot find drive. A drive with the name '\C' does not exist.�[0m
�[31;1mStart-EditorServices: �[31;1mThe term 'Start-EditorServices' is not recognized as a name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or executable program.�[0m
�[31;1m�[31;1mCheck the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.�[0m

2025-06-24T17:49:53+03:00 ERROR [lsp] server shut down

[GennaroRiccio]

same issue

[wingyplus]

I didn't have a Windows machine at the moment. A PR for fixing it is very welcome.

[adevries17]

@vkibalyuk What does your settings.json look like for configuring the lsp?

[vkibalyuk]

Right now, I've hardcoded the proper paths and installed it as a dev extension 😅

powershell.rs

use std::fs;
use std::path::{self, PathBuf};
use zed_extension_api::{self as zed, Result};

struct PowerShellExtension {
    /// The PowerShell binary, default to `pwsh`.
    // TODO: allow to configure via Zed settings.
    powershell_bin: Option<String>,
}

impl zed::Extension for PowerShellExtension {
    fn new() -> Self
    where
        Self: Sized,
    {
        Self {
            powershell_bin: None,
        }
    }

    fn language_server_command(
        &mut self,
        language_server_id: &zed_extension_api::LanguageServerId,
        worktree: &zed_extension_api::Worktree,
    ) -> zed_extension_api::Result<zed_extension_api::Command> {
        let pwsh_bin = PowerShellExtension::powershell_binary_path(self, worktree).unwrap();

        let bundle_path = self
            .language_server_path(language_server_id)
            .map_err(|err| format!("failed to get editor services: {}", err))?;
        log::info!("bundle_path: {}", bundle_path);

        let command = format!(
            "Import-Module ( \
                Join-Path 'C:\\Users\\dtt\\AppData\\Local\\Zed\\extensions\\work\\powershell\\powershell-es-v4.3.0' 'PowerShellEditorServices\\PowerShellEditorServices.psd1' \
            ); \
            Start-EditorServices \
                -Stdio \
                -SessionDetailsPath 'C:\\Users\\dtt\\AppData\\Local\\Zed\\extensions\\work\\powershell\\powershell-es-v4.3.0\\powershell-es.session.json' \
                -LogPath 'C:\\Users\\dtt\\AppData\\Local\\Zed\\extensions\\work\\powershell\\powershell-es-v4.3.0\\logs' \
                -FeatureFlags @() \
                -AdditionalModules @() \
                -HostName zed \
                -HostProfileId 0 \
                -HostVersion 1.0.0 \
                -LogLevel Trace"
        );

        Ok(zed::Command {
            command: pwsh_bin,
            args: vec![
                "-NoLogo".to_string(),
                "-NoProfile".to_string(),
                "-Command".to_string(),
                command.to_string(),
            ],
            env: Default::default(),
        })
    }
}

impl PowerShellExtension {
    fn powershell_binary_path(&mut self, worktree: &zed::Worktree) -> Result<String> {
        let pwsh_path = match &self.powershell_bin {
            Some(path) if fs::metadata(path).map_or(false, |stat| stat.is_file()) => path.clone(),
            Some(path) => worktree
                .which(path.clone().as_str())
                .ok_or_else(|| "PowerShell must be installed for PowerShell Extension")?,
            None => worktree
                .which("pwsh")
                .ok_or_else(|| "PowerShell must be installed for PowerShell Extension")?,
        };
        self.powershell_bin = Some(pwsh_path.clone());
        Ok(pwsh_path)
    }

    fn language_server_path(
        &mut self,
        language_server_id: &zed_extension_api::LanguageServerId,
    ) -> Result<String> {
        zed::set_language_server_installation_status(
            language_server_id,
            &zed::LanguageServerInstallationStatus::CheckingForUpdate,
        );

        let release = zed::latest_github_release(
            "PowerShell/PowerShellEditorServices",
            zed::GithubReleaseOptions {
                require_assets: true,
                pre_release: false,
            },
        )?;

        let asset = release
            .assets
            .iter()
            .find(|asset| asset.name == "PowerShellEditorServices.zip")
            .ok_or_else(|| format!("no PowerShellEditorServices.zip found"))?;

        let version_dir = format!("powershell-es-{}", release.version);
        let lsp_path = PathBuf::from(&version_dir)
            .join("PowerShellEditorServices")
            .join("Start-EditorServices.ps1");

        if !fs::metadata(&lsp_path).map_or(false, |stat| stat.is_file()) {
            // Download the asset
            zed::set_language_server_installation_status(
                &language_server_id,
                &zed::LanguageServerInstallationStatus::Downloading,
            );
            zed::download_file(
                &asset.download_url,
                &version_dir,
                zed::DownloadedFileType::Zip,
            )
            .map_err(|err| format!("download error {}", err))?;

            // Ensure the binary exists
            let entries =
                fs::read_dir(".").map_err(|e| format!("failed to list working directory {e}"))?;
            for entry in entries {
                let entry = entry.map_err(|e| format!("failed to load directory entry {e}"))?;
                if entry.file_name().to_str() != Some(&version_dir) {
                    fs::remove_dir_all(entry.path()).ok();
                }
            }
        }

        let abs_path =
            path::absolute(&version_dir).map_err(|e| format!("failed to get absolute path {e}"))?;
        Ok(abs_path.display().to_string())
    }
}

zed::register_extension!(PowerShellExtension);

[adevries17]

I was able to get it running with the following configuration in my settings.json. Replace the <user> with yours which I believe is 'dtt'.

  "lsp": {
    "powershell-es": {
      "binary": {
        "path": "pwsh.exe",
        "arguments": [
          "-NoLogo",
          "-NoProfile",
          "-Command",
          "C:\\Users\\<user>\\AppData\\Local\\Zed\\extensions\\work\\powershell\\powershell-es-v4.3.0\\PowerShellEditorServices\\Start-EditorServices.ps1",
          "-Stdio",
          "-SessionDetailsPath",
          "C:\\Users\\<user>\\AppData\\Local\\Zed\\extensions\\work\\powershell\\powershell-es-v4.3.0\\PowerShellEditorServices\\powershell-es.session.json"
        ]
      }
    }

[vkibalyuk]

@adevries17 I'm getting(clean installation):

Language server powershell-es:

initializing server powershell-es, id 1
-- stderr--
�[31;1mC:\Users\dtt\AppData\Local\Zed\extensions\work\powershell\powershell-es-v4.3.0\PowerShellEditorServices\Start-EditorServices.ps1: �[31;1mThe term 'C:\Users\dtt\AppData\Local\Zed\extensions\work\powershell\powershell-es-v4.3.0\PowerShellEditorServices\Start-EditorServices.ps1' is not recognized as a name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or executable program.�[0m
�[31;1m�[31;1mCheck the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.�[0m

[GennaroRiccio]

@adevries17 work for me, tnx!

[adevries17]

@vkibalyuk I clean installed too. I opened the folder C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Zed\extensions\work\powershell and there's nothing there. Something went wrong with the download of the LSP.

I commented out the LSP block I posted above, installed the extension normally, then uncommented the LSP block and it downloaded just fine.

Do you have the same behavior?

[WithHolm]

it kinda seemes like single quotes are escaped. why this happens on windows and not linux i couldn't tell you as im not a rust person, however. can possibly r# strings work? it kinda looks nicer and you can use double quotations if you define 2 #.

let command = format!(
    r##"
        $Module = Join-Path "{bundle_path}" "PowerShellEditorServices" "PowerShellEditorServices.psd1";
        $SessionDetails = Join-Path "{bundle_path}" "powershell-es.session.json";
        $Log = Join-Path "{bundle_path}" "logs";

        Import-Module $module;

        Start-EditorServices `
            -Stdio `
            -SessionDetailsPath $SessionDetails `
            -LogPath $Log `
            -FeatureFlags @() `
            -AdditionalModules @() `
            -HostName "zed" `
            -HostProfileId 0 `
            -HostVersion "1.0.0" `
            -LogLevel "trace";
"##
);

for any pwsh people: I also tried splatting the command (making a hashtable and then using that as function param input), but rust seemes to expect a variable every time you start a curly bracket, and i'm not good enough at rust to really know how to fix that, so backtick notation is the next best thing.

i couldnt get the dev extension functionality to work for me, but it seemes to build just fine, so someone else would have to add this :)

[vkibalyuk]

This works for me on Windows, I've adopted workaround by @WithHolm

        use std::path::{self, Path};

        let command = format!(
            r#"
                $Module = Join-Path "{0}" "PowerShellEditorServices" "PowerShellEditorServices.psd1"
                $SessionDetails = Join-Path "{0}" "powershell-es.session.json"
                $Log = Join-Path "{0}" "logs"

                Import-Module $Module

                Start-EditorServices `
                    -Stdio `
                    -SessionDetailsPath $SessionDetails `
                    -LogPath $Log `
                    -FeatureFlags @() `
                    -AdditionalModules @() `
                    -HostName "zed" `
                    -HostProfileId 0 `
                    -HostVersion "1.0.0" `
                    -LogLevel "Trace"
            "#,
            Path::new(&bundle_path)
                .to_str()
                .ok_or("invalid unicode in bundle_path")?
                .strip_prefix('/')
                .unwrap_or_else(|| bundle_path.as_str())
        );

[wingyplus]

Anyone want to open a PR to tackle this?

[vkibalyuk]

Done #18
Not sure if it's the best way to do it, I'm still new to Rust.

[Sansui233]

@vkibalyuk I clean installed too. I opened the folder C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Zed\extensions\work\powershell and there's nothing there. Something went wrong with the download of the LSP.

I commented out the LSP block I posted above, installed the extension normally, then uncommented the LSP block and it downloaded just fine.

Do you have the same behavior?

The same