[Bug] Wrong working directory when launching debugger

[Bruffen]

Brief Issue Summary

In version 1.23.52, when running my project with a debugger, it throws invalid path errors. After looking into it, the working directory is no longer the same as where the executable is located, meaning relative paths to files are wrong. However, they are the same and work correctly when running without the debugger.

Reverting to 1.22.28 fixed the issue.

CMake Tools Diagnostics

{
  "os": "win32",
  "vscodeVersion": "1.118.1",
  "cmtVersion": "1.23.52",
  "configurations": [
    {
      "folder": "c:\\Users\\bruff\\Desktop\\Code\\_Projects\\mari",
      "cmakeVersion": "4.1.1",
      "configured": true,
      "generator": "Visual Studio 17 2022",
      "usesPresets": false,
      "compilers": {}
    }
  ],
  "cpptoolsIntegration": {
    "isReady": true,
    "hasCodeModel": true,
    "activeBuildType": "Debug",
    "buildTypesSeen": [
      "Debug",
      "Release",
      "MinSizeRel",
      "RelWithDebInfo"
    ],
    "requests": [],
    "responses": [],
    "partialMatches": [],
    "targetCount": 6,
    "executablesCount": 1,
    "librariesCount": 1,
    "targets": [
      {
        "name": "ALL_BUILD",
        "type": "UTILITY"
      },
      {
        "name": "ZERO_CHECK",
        "type": "UTILITY"
      },
      {
        "name": "mari",
        "type": "EXECUTABLE"
      },
      {
        "name": "shaders",
        "type": "UTILITY"
      },
      {
        "name": "ALL_BUILD",
        "type": "UTILITY"
      },
      {
        "name": "fastgltf",
        "type": "STATIC_LIBRARY"
      }
    ]
  },
  "settings": [
    {
      "communicationMode": "automatic",
      "useCMakePresets": "auto",
      "configureOnOpen": true
    }
  ]
}

Debug Log

[main] Building folder: c:/Users/bruff/Desktop/Code/_Projects/mari/build 
[main] Saving open files before configure/build
[build] Starting build
[driver] Start build mari
[proc] Executing command: "C:\Program Files\CMake\bin\cmake.EXE" --build c:/Users/bruff/Desktop/Code/_Projects/mari/build --config Debug --target mari -j 16 --
[proc]   with environment: {"3DVPATH":"C:\\AMD\\Chipset_Software\\Binaries\\3D_V-Cache_Performance_Optimizer_Driver\\","ALLUSERSPROFILE":"C:\\ProgramData","AMDRMSDKPATH":"C:\\Program Files\\AMD\\RyzenMasterSDK\\","APPDATA":"C:\\Users\\bruff\\AppData\\Roaming","CAMLIBS":"C:\\Program Files\\darktable\\lib\\libgphoto2\\2.5.31","CHROME_CRASHPAD_PIPE_NAME":"\\\\.\\pipe\\crashpad_12668_DTJSJAJIGFIUOWZX","COMPUTERNAME":"DESKTOP-LO6DRDL","CUDA_PATH":"C:\\Program Files\\NVIDIA GPU Computing Toolkit\\CUDA\\v13.0","CUDA_PATH_V13_0":"C:\\Program Files\\NVIDIA GPU Computing Toolkit\\CUDA\\v13.0","ComSpec":"C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\cmd.exe","CommonProgramFiles":"C:\\Program Files\\Common Files","CommonProgramFiles(x86)":"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Common Files","CommonProgramW6432":"C:\\Program Files\\Common Files","DriverData":"C:\\Windows\\System32\\Drivers\\DriverData","EFC_8060_1592913036":"1","ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE":"1","HOMEDRIVE":"C:","HOMEPATH":"\\Users\\bruff","IOLIBS":"C:\\Program Files\\darktable\\lib\\libgphoto2_port\\0.12.2","LOCALAPPDATA":"C:\\Users\\bruff\\AppData\\Local","LOGONSERVER":"\\\\DESKTOP-LO6DRDL","NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS":"16","NV_ALLOW_RAYTRACING_VALIDATION":"1","OS":"Windows_NT","OneDrive":"C:\\Users\\bruff\\OneDrive","PATHEXT":".COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD;.VBS;.VBE;.JS;.JSE;.WSF;.WSH;.MSC","PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE":"AMD64","PROCESSOR_IDENTIFIER":"AMD64 Family 25 Model 97 Stepping 2, AuthenticAMD","PROCESSOR_LEVEL":"25","PROCESSOR_REVISION":"6102","PSModulePath":"C:\\Program Files\\WindowsPowerShell\\Modules;C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\WindowsPowerShell\\v1.0\\Modules","PUBLIC":"C:\\Users\\Public","Path":"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\VC\\Tools\\MSVC\\14.44.35207\\bin\\HostX64\\x64;C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\Common7\\IDE\\VC\\VCPackages;C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\Common7\\IDE\\CommonExtensions\\Microsoft\\TestWindow;C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\Common7\\IDE\\CommonExtensions\\Microsoft\\TeamFoundation\\Team Explorer;C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\MSBuild\\Current\\bin\\Roslyn;C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft SDKs\\Windows\\v10.0A\\bin\\NETFX 4.8 Tools\\x64\\;C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\Common7\\IDE\\CommonExtensions\\Microsoft\\FSharp\\Tools;C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\Team Tools\\DiagnosticsHub\\Collector;C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\10\\bin\\10.0.26100.0\\\\x64;C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\10\\bin\\\\x64;C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\\\MSBuild\\Current\\Bin\\amd64;C:\\Windows\\Microsoft.NET\\Framework64\\v4.0.30319;C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\Common7\\IDE\\;C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\Common7\\Tools\\;C:\\Users\\bruff\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Microsoft VS Code;C:\\VulkanSDK\\1.4.321.1\\Bin;C:\\Program Files\\NVIDIA GPU Computing Toolkit\\CUDA\\v13.0\\bin\\x64;C:\\Program Files\\NVIDIA GPU Computing Toolkit\\CUDA\\v13.0\\bin;C:\\VulkanSDK\\1.4.321.0\\Bin;C:\\WINDOWS\\system32;C:\\WINDOWS;C:\\WINDOWS\\System32\\Wbem;C:\\WINDOWS\\System32\\WindowsPowerShell\\v1.0\\;C:\\WINDOWS\\System32\\OpenSSH\\;C:\\Program Files (x86)\\NVIDIA Corporation\\PhysX\\Common;C:\\Program Files\\dotnet\\;C:\\Program Files\\Git\\cmd;C:\\WINDOWS\\system32;C:\\WINDOWS;C:\\WINDOWS\\System32\\Wbem;C:\\WINDOWS\\System32\\WindowsPowerShell\\v1.0\\;C:\\WINDOWS\\System32\\OpenSSH\\;C:\\Program Files\\Portugal Identity Card\\;C:\\Program Files\\NVIDIA Corporation\\NVIDIA app\\NvDLISR;C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\10\\Windows Performance Toolkit\\;C:\\Program Files\\CMake\\bin;C:\\Program Files\\NVIDIA Corporation\\Nsight Compute 2025.3.1\\;C:\\Users\\bruff\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Python312\\Scripts\\;C:\\Users\\bruff\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Python312\\;C:\\Users\\bruff\\AppData\\Local\\Microsoft\\WindowsApps;C:\\Users\\bruff\\AppData\\Local\\Muse Hub\\lib;C:\\Users\\bruff\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Microsoft VS Code\\bin;C:\\Users\\bruff\\AppData\\Local\\gitkraken\\bin;C:\\Users\\bruff\\AppData\\Local\\Microsoft\\WindowsApps;C:\\Users\\bruff\\.dotnet\\tools;C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\Common7\\IDE\\CommonExtensions\\Microsoft\\CMake\\CMake\\bin;C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\Common7\\IDE\\CommonExtensions\\Microsoft\\CMake\\Ninja;C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\Common7\\IDE\\VC\\Linux\\bin\\ConnectionManagerExe;C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\VC\\vcpkg","ProgramData":"C:\\ProgramData","ProgramFiles":"C:\\Program Files","ProgramFiles(x86)":"C:\\Program Files (x86)","ProgramW6432":"C:\\Program Files","SESSIONNAME":"Console","SystemDrive":"C:","SystemRoot":"C:\\WINDOWS","TEMP":"C:\\Users\\bruff\\AppData\\Local\\Temp","TMP":"C:\\Users\\bruff\\AppData\\Local\\Temp","USERDOMAIN":"DESKTOP-LO6DRDL","USERDOMAIN_ROAMINGPROFILE":"DESKTOP-LO6DRDL","USERNAME":"bruff","USERPROFILE":"C:\\Users\\bruff","VK_SDK_PATH":"C:\\VulkanSDK\\1.4.321.1","VSCODE_CODE_CACHE_PATH":"C:\\Users\\bruff\\AppData\\Roaming\\Code\\CachedData\\034f571df509819cc10b0c8129f66ef77a542f0e","VSCODE_CRASH_REPORTER_PROCESS_TYPE":"extensionHost","VSCODE_CWD":"C:\\Users\\bruff\\Desktop\\Code\\_Projects","VSCODE_DOTNET_INSTALL_TOOL_ORIGINAL_HOME":"undefined","VSCODE_ESM_ENTRYPOINT":"vs/workbench/api/node/extensionHostProcess","VSCODE_HANDLES_UNCAUGHT_ERRORS":"true","VSCODE_IPC_HOOK":"\\\\.\\pipe\\7ef3f793-1.118.1-main-sock","VSCODE_L10N_BUNDLE_LOCATION":"","VSCODE_NLS_CONFIG":"{\"userLocale\":\"en-us\",\"osLocale\":\"pt-pt\",\"resolvedLanguage\":\"en\",\"defaultMessagesFile\":\"C:\\\\Users\\\\bruff\\\\AppData\\\\Local\\\\Programs\\\\Microsoft VS Code\\\\034f571df5\\\\resources\\\\app\\\\out\\\\nls.messages.json\",\"locale\":\"en-us\",\"availableLanguages\":{}}","VSCODE_PID":"12668","VULKAN_SDK":"C:\\VulkanSDK\\1.4.321.1","windir":"C:\\WINDOWS","DevEnvDir":"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\Common7\\IDE\\","Framework40Version":"v4.0","FrameworkDir":"C:\\Windows\\Microsoft.NET\\Framework64\\","FrameworkDIR64":"C:\\Windows\\Microsoft.NET\\Framework64\\","FrameworkVersion":"v4.0.30319","FrameworkVersion64":"v4.0.30319","EXTERNAL_INCLUDE":"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\VC\\Tools\\MSVC\\14.44.35207\\include;C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\VC\\Tools\\MSVC\\14.44.35207\\ATLMFC\\include;C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\VC\\Auxiliary\\VS\\include;C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\10\\include\\10.0.26100.0\\ucrt;C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\10\\\\include\\10.0.26100.0\\\\um;C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\10\\\\include\\10.0.26100.0\\\\shared;C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\10\\\\include\\10.0.26100.0\\\\winrt;C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\10\\\\include\\10.0.26100.0\\\\cppwinrt;C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\NETFXSDK\\4.8\\include\\um","INCLUDE":"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\VC\\Tools\\MSVC\\14.44.35207\\include;C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\VC\\Tools\\MSVC\\14.44.35207\\ATLMFC\\include;C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\VC\\Auxiliary\\VS\\include;C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\10\\include\\10.0.26100.0\\ucrt;C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\10\\\\include\\10.0.26100.0\\\\um;C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\10\\\\include\\10.0.26100.0\\\\shared;C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\10\\\\include\\10.0.26100.0\\\\winrt;C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\10\\\\include\\10.0.26100.0\\\\cppwinrt;C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\NETFXSDK\\4.8\\include\\um","LIB":"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\VC\\Tools\\MSVC\\14.44.35207\\ATLMFC\\lib\\x64;C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\VC\\Tools\\MSVC\\14.44.35207\\lib\\x64;C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\NETFXSDK\\4.8\\lib\\um\\x64;C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\10\\lib\\10.0.26100.0\\ucrt\\x64;C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\10\\\\lib\\10.0.26100.0\\\\um\\x64","LIBPATH":"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\VC\\Tools\\MSVC\\14.44.35207\\ATLMFC\\lib\\x64;C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\VC\\Tools\\MSVC\\14.44.35207\\lib\\x64;C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\VC\\Tools\\MSVC\\14.44.35207\\lib\\x86\\store\\references;C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\10\\UnionMetadata\\10.0.26100.0;C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\10\\References\\10.0.26100.0;C:\\Windows\\Microsoft.NET\\Framework64\\v4.0.30319","NETFXSDKDir":"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\NETFXSDK\\4.8\\","UCRTVersion":"10.0.26100.0","UniversalCRTSdkDir":"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\10\\","VCIDEInstallDir":"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\Common7\\IDE\\VC\\","VCINSTALLDIR":"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\VC\\","VCToolsInstallDir":"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\VC\\Tools\\MSVC\\14.44.35207\\","VCToolsRedistDir":"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\VC\\Redist\\MSVC\\14.44.35112\\","VCToolsVersion":"14.44.35207","VisualStudioVersion":"17.0","VSINSTALLDIR":"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\","WindowsLibPath":"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\10\\UnionMetadata\\10.0.26100.0;C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\10\\References\\10.0.26100.0","WindowsSdkBinPath":"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\10\\bin\\","WindowsSdkDir":"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\10\\","WindowsSDKLibVersion":"10.0.26100.0\\","WindowsSDKVersion":"10.0.26100.0\\","WindowsSDK_ExecutablePath_x64":"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft SDKs\\Windows\\v10.0A\\bin\\NETFX 4.8 Tools\\x64\\","WindowsSDK_ExecutablePath_x86":"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft SDKs\\Windows\\v10.0A\\bin\\NETFX 4.8 Tools\\","VCPKG_ROOT":"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\VC\\vcpkg","VS170COMNTOOLS":"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\Common7\\Tools","CC":"cl.exe","CXX":"cl.exe","VSCODE_CMAKE_TOOLS":"1","NINJA_STATUS":"[%s/%t %p :: %e] "}
[build] MSBuild version 17.14.18+a338add32 for .NET Framework
[build] 
[build]   fastgltf.vcxproj -> C:\Users\bruff\Desktop\Code\_Projects\mari\build\include\fastgltf-0.9.0\Debug\fastgltf.lib
[build]   mari.vcxproj -> C:\Users\bruff\Desktop\Code\_Projects\mari\build\Debug\mari.exe
[driver] Build completed: 00:00:00.813
[cmakefileapi-parser] Read reply folder: c:\Users\bruff\Desktop\Code\_Projects\mari\build\.cmake\api\v1\reply
[cmakefileapi-parser] Found index files: ["cache-v2-9c95da37adec1f0bf082.json","cmakeFiles-v1-24d531f66e83fe48ded2.json","codemodel-v2-1972f5a6c9c73150f5fd.json","directory-.-Debug-d0094a50bb2071803777.json","directory-.-MinSizeRel-d0094a50bb2071803777.json","directory-.-Release-d0094a50bb2071803777.json","directory-.-RelWithDebInfo-d0094a50bb2071803777.json","directory-include.fastgltf-0.9.0-Debug-f87f9f639b252e221261.json","directory-include.fastgltf-0.9.0-MinSizeRel-d7d2a1e32f57d4a6d404.json","directory-include.fastgltf-0.9.0-Release-79014696a2609fb02b0b.json","directory-include.fastgltf-0.9.0-RelWithDebInfo-16749e800ee277e9beca.json","index-2026-05-01T20-12-45-0475.json","target-ALL_BUILD-Debug-c8c04cfcb82261d998ac.json","target-ALL_BUILD-Debug-ff9dfc68986c18537cfb.json","target-ALL_BUILD-MinSizeRel-c8c04cfcb82261d998ac.json","target-ALL_BUILD-MinSizeRel-ff9dfc68986c18537cfb.json","target-ALL_BUILD-Release-c8c04cfcb82261d998ac.json","target-ALL_BUILD-Release-ff9dfc68986c18537cfb.json","target-ALL_BUILD-RelWithDebInfo-c8c04cfcb82261d998ac.json","target-ALL_BUILD-RelWithDebInfo-ff9dfc68986c18537cfb.json","target-fastgltf-Debug-92cb1902b865850dcbd5.json","target-fastgltf-MinSizeRel-d27b9af4944d0a0086a7.json","target-fastgltf-Release-9736bfaef72cfac499f1.json","target-fastgltf-RelWithDebInfo-fd0655bd38c762c7c887.json","target-mari-Debug-2ad966b0ef95d5346b07.json","target-mari-MinSizeRel-f12ef8ebeaa9f8ffa8d5.json","target-mari-Release-7d6e25b736f5c5bc47df.json","target-mari-RelWithDebInfo-a9966578e0f4e6f2f04f.json","target-shaders-Debug-85428dc9a825d3fed2fb.json","target-shaders-MinSizeRel-85428dc9a825d3fed2fb.json","target-shaders-Release-85428dc9a825d3fed2fb.json","target-shaders-RelWithDebInfo-85428dc9a825d3fed2fb.json","target-ZERO_CHECK-Debug-1cea02ef03a30b3a4515.json","target-ZERO_CHECK-MinSizeRel-1cea02ef03a30b3a4515.json","target-ZERO_CHECK-Release-1cea02ef03a30b3a4515.json","target-ZERO_CHECK-RelWithDebInfo-1cea02ef03a30b3a4515.json","toolchains-v1-b72720c52195983157ee.json"]
[expand] expanded ${workspaceFolder}/build
[build] Build finished with exit code 0
[cache] Reading CMake cache file c:/Users/bruff/Desktop/Code/_Projects/mari/build/CMakeCache.txt
[cache] Parsing CMake cache string
[cache] Reading CMake cache file c:/Users/bruff/Desktop/Code/_Projects/mari/build/CMakeCache.txt
[cache] Parsing CMake cache string
[extension] [7683] cmake.build finished (returned 0)

Additional Information

Using std::filesystem::current_path().string() returns:
1.23.52: C:\Users\bruff\Desktop\Code\_Projects\mari\build
1.23.51: C:\Users\bruff\Desktop\Code\_Projects\mari\build
1.22.28: C:\Users\bruff\Desktop\Code\_Projects\mari\build\Debug

[yanghhhhhhh]

Hi @Bruffen , thank you for reporting this issue. We tried to check this issue on Visual Studio Code v1.119.0 + CMake Tools v1.23.52. But we can't reproduce this issue. Could you help to take a look at it? If we missed something, please let us know. In order for us to investigate this further, could you please provide a sample project to us that can reproduce this issue? Thanks.

[Bruffen]

While setting up a sample project where it does happen, I noticed I had this line of code I must have added long ago and forgot about it:
set_property(TARGET ${PROJECT_NAME} PROPERTY VS_DEBUGGER_WORKING_DIRECTORY "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/build")

It might just be that there isn't a bug now, but actually something that was never working is only now working as intended.

[yanghhhhhhh]

Thanks for the information, it seems you have resolved this issue. We will close this issue. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us. Thanks.