Exec Task from assembly Microsoft.Build.Tasks.Core fails with special characters in user folder.

[Baklap4]

Issue Description

We've created a Pre-Build event which runs a command to install/update webcompiler. However this fails with the message:

Target ToolRestore:
  Using "Exec" task from assembly "Microsoft.Build.Tasks.Core, Version=15.1.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a".
  Task "Exec"
    dotnet tool update Excubo.WebCompiler
    'C:\Users\SomeUser' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
    operable program or batch file.
    C:\git\projects\project-x\src\ProjectX\ProjectX.csproj(78,9): error MSB3073: The command "dotnet tool update Excubo.WebCompiler" exited with code 1.
  Done executing task "Exec" -- FAILED.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Create a local Windows User with a special character in it: SomeUser(Company)
2. Login to that user
3. Create new Console Project (.NET 5)
4. Add a prebuild task

<Target Name="ToolRestore" BeforeTargets="PreBuildEvent">
    <Exec Command="dotnet tool update Excubo.WebCompiler" StandardOutputImportance="high" ContinueOnError="false" IgnoreExitCode="false" LogStandardErrorAsError="false" />
</Target>

5. Add a manifest file: dotnet new tool-manifest
6. Build project.

Expected Behavior

The project builds without errors.

Actual Behavior

The project fails to run the command in the target ToolRestore.
The output is:

Target ToolRestore:
  Using "Exec" task from assembly "Microsoft.Build.Tasks.Core, Version=15.1.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a".
  Task "Exec"
    dotnet tool update Excubo.WebCompiler
    'C:\Users\SomeUser' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
    operable program or batch file.
    C:\git\projects\project-x\src\ProjectX\ProjectX.csproj(78,9): error MSB3073: The command "dotnet tool update Excubo.WebCompiler" exited with code 1.
  Done executing task "Exec" -- FAILED.

Analysis

Our user folder has a special character in it:
C:/Users/SomeUser(Company)
Since the tools are collected within your %APPDATA% folder it cannot find these and we're left with the message:
'C:\Users\SomeUser' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file. not the missing (

We've excluded the tool in question Excubo.WebCompiler as it also occurs with many other tools.

Example program

Made a sample project for demonstrating purposes
PreBuildEvent.zip

Versions & Configurations

PS C:\git\projects\project-x> msbuild -version
Microsoft (R) Build Engine version 16.10.2+857e5a733 for .NET Framework
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

16.10.2.30804

We're using Windows 10 build 19043.1052
and have .NET 5 installed

PS C:\git\projects\project-x> dotnet --info
.NET SDK (reflecting any global.json):
 Version:   5.0.301
 Commit:    ef17233f86

Runtime Environment:
 OS Name:     Windows
 OS Version:  10.0.19043
 OS Platform: Windows
 RID:         win10-x64
 Base Path:   C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\5.0.301\

Host (useful for support):
  Version: 5.0.7
  Commit:  556582d964

.NET SDKs installed:
  3.1.410 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]
  5.0.104 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]
  5.0.204 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]
  5.0.301 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]

.NET runtimes installed:
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.All 2.1.28 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.All]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 2.1.28 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 3.1.13 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 3.1.16 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 5.0.4 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 5.0.7 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 2.1.26 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 2.1.28 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 3.1.13 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 3.1.16 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 5.0.4 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 5.0.7 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 3.1.13 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 3.1.16 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 5.0.4 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 5.0.7 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]

To install additional .NET runtimes or SDKs:
  https://aka.ms/dotnet-download

Extra info

We've found some previous encounters with this bug here:
https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/nuget-bug-in-vs155/160750
Do note the exact issue in this link is the repository is at a special path. Our issue is about running the prebuild task (from visual studio) where it uses something from %APPDATA% but since that path contains a special character ( it breaks.

We've also found another previous encounter:
https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/post-build-event-fails-when-parentheses-in-windows/574866

[benvillalobos]

We recently took a change that should have prevented issues like this. Did this work on any previous version of MSBuild?

[Baklap4]

Did this work on any previous version of MSBuild?

I've stumbled upon this since i started working at another company since december 2020. Explicitly a previous version i cannot say

We recently took a change that should have prevented issues like this

Is the change already released in a newer version? If yes i'm eager to try it out as it helps us save time by reconfiguring up to 5 pc's removing the ( and ) from the user' folder

[Baklap4]

Sooo since this issue didn't occur anymore at my laptop since i changed my userfolder' name. I asked my co-workers to test it out. Some of them were still on 16.9.x

They indeed got errors trying to build this project. I told them to update and print me the msbuild versions they were using and after updating they got at version 16.10.2+857e5a733 (the latest release).
With the updates installed they successfully built the project so I think this issue can be closed and marked fixed in mentioned PR.

Thanks for pointing to the PR and the prompt result.