Configurable behavior on critical error: message on Error stream or pop-up dialog

[sba923]

Summary of the new feature / enhancement

When critical errors such as "cannot start EXE due to missing DLL" occur in File Explorer or CMD, an explanatory error dialog is displayed:

When the same kind of error occurs in PowerShell, no error message is displayed, only $LASTEXITCODE is set:

It would be desirable to make this behavior configurable, so that especially in interactive scenarios the user is supplied with information about what's happening.

This inspired by MKS Korn Shell's set -X option (@BrucePay will remember...):

From set KornShell flags and positional parameters:

Of course, that exception handler is not desirable for scripted / unattended execution, so it should be off by default.

It doesn't have to be a GUI-based one, outputting the explanatory text to the Error stream would also be fine.

@corbob has collected repro steps on various shells.

Proposed technical implementation details (optional)

No response

[corbob]

Thanks for opening the issue @sba923. I've created a simple repro and have verified behaviour in Windows PowerShell 2 on Windows 7, Windows PowerShell 5.1, and PowerShell 7.2. I have also checked the behaviour of cmd, the run dialog box, and git-bash.

To expand on what is listed in above: PowerShell behaves the same as cmd and the run dialog when you use Start-Process. In all other cases I tested (running adb, . adb, & adb) the error is not emitted outside of $LASTEXITCODE. In git-bash an error is emitted, but it is not extremely helpful as it just indicates it couldn't load a file and gives a different exit code:

The repro steps I've used (from an administrative PowerShell window):

choco install adb
Remove-Item "$env:ChocolateyInstall\lib\adb\tools\platform-tools\AdbWinApi.dll"
adb

Note Chocolatey is not the only way to get adb installed, but it is a pretty quick and painless way to do it.

[microsoft-github-policy-service]

This issue has not had any activity in 6 months, if this is a bug please try to reproduce on the latest version of PowerShell and reopen a new issue and reference this issue if this is still a blocker for you.

[microsoft-github-policy-service]

This issue has been marked as "No Activity" as there has been no activity for 6 months. It has been closed for housekeeping purposes.

[zchrissirhcz]

Is there any solution for the required "pop up window" when running .exe files missing .dll files?

#17060

@daxian-dbw I'm confused. I don't see a solution for that. Could you please give a look?

[sba923]

This should be reopened if you ask me 😜@StevenBucher98 @SteveL-MSFT