cmd.exe /c echo '%AppData%' returned empty string

[cs127]

This might be a duplicate issue, but I didn't find any solutions in related issues.

The command I'm trying to run is protontricks 78000 dsdmo, though the same happens with protontricks --gui after choosing the game.

Output with `-vv` (expand)

protontricks (DEBUG): Stream log handler added
protontricks (INFO): Found Steam directory at /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation
protontricks (INFO): Using default Steam Runtime at /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime
protontricks (INFO): WINETRICKS environment variable is not available. Searching from $PATH.
protontricks (DEBUG): Following candidates found for the Steam library path /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation: [PosixPath('/home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation')]
protontricks (DEBUG): Found Steam library folder /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation. Is Flatpak path: False, Is XDG Steam path: False.
protontricks (INFO): Found 1 Steam library folders
protontricks (DEBUG): Following inaccessible paths were found: set()
protontricks (DEBUG): Following paths have been ignored: set()
protontricks (DEBUG): Creating SteamApp from manifest file in /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/appmanifest_78000.acf
protontricks (DEBUG): Found compatdata directories for app 78000: [PosixPath('/home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/compatdata/78000/pfx')]
protontricks (DEBUG): Creating SteamApp from manifest file in /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/appmanifest_4183110.acf
protontricks (DEBUG): Found compatdata directories for app 4183110: []
protontricks (DEBUG): Creating SteamApp from manifest file in /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/appmanifest_1493710.acf
protontricks (DEBUG): Found compatdata directories for app 1493710: [PosixPath('/home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/compatdata/1493710/pfx')]
protontricks (DEBUG): Found Steam user entries: [{'steamid3': 945446413, 'account_name': 'mpcs127', 'timestamp': '1781588363'}]
protontricks (INFO): Currently logged-in Steam user: mpcs127
protontricks (INFO): Couldn't find custom shortcuts. Maybe none have been created yet?
protontricks (DEBUG): Finding Steam compat tool name for appid 78000
protontricks (DEBUG): Loading appinfo.vdf in /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/appcache/appinfo.vdf
protontricks (DEBUG): appinfo.vdf has magic number b')DV\x07'
protontricks (DEBUG): Found CompatToolMapping entry
protontricks (INFO): User has configured default Proton version (CompatToolMapping): proton_experimental
protontricks (DEBUG): proton_experimental has compat tool aliases ['proton_experimental', 'proton-experimental']
protontricks (INFO): Found active compatibility tool: Proton Experimental
protontricks (INFO): Active compatibility tool is a Proton installation
protontricks (DEBUG): Following Wine DLL overrides already set: {}
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting Wine DLL override: dxgi=n
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting Wine DLL override: d3d9=n
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting Wine DLL override: d3d10core=n
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting Wine DLL override: d3d11=n
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting Wine DLL override: d3d12=n
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting Wine DLL override: d3d12core=n
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting Wine DLL override: nvapi=n
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting Wine DLL override: nvapi64=n
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting Wine DLL override: nvofapi64=n
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting Wine DLL override: nvcuda=b
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting default env var: WINE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE=1
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting default env var: DXVK_ENABLE_NVAPI=1
protontricks (INFO): Using 'bwrap = True' as default value
protontricks (INFO): Using separately installed Steam Runtime: Steam Linux Runtime 4.0
protontricks (INFO): Running Steam Runtime using bwrap containerization.
If any problems arise, please try running the command again using the `--no-bwrap` flag and make an issue report if the problem only occurs when bwrap is in use.
protontricks (WARNING): Current Steam Runtime not recognized by Protontricks.
protontricks (INFO): Created Steam Runtime Wine binary directory at /home/cs127/.cache/protontricks/proton/Proton Experimental/bin
protontricks (INFO): WINE environment variable is not available. Setting WINE environment variable to Proton bundled version.
protontricks (INFO): WINESERVER environment variable is not available. Setting WINESERVER environment variable to Proton bundled version
protontricks (INFO): Starting bwrap launcher process: /home/cs127/.cache/protontricks/proton/Proton Experimental/bin/bwrap-launcher
protontricks - bwrap-launcher 103013: Following directories will be mounted inside container: /boot /etc /home /lost+found /media /mnt /opt /root /sbin /srv /tmp
protontricks - bwrap-launcher 103013: Using temporary directory: /tmp/protontricks-e7nl_abf
pressure-vessel-wrap[103013]: W: Not sharing path --filesystem="/etc" with container because "/etc" is reserved by the container framework
pressure-vessel-wrap[103013]: W: Not sharing path --filesystem="/sbin" with container because "/sbin" is reserved by the container framework
setlocale "en_US.UTF-8": No such file or directory
pv-locale-gen: Missing locale en_US.UTF-8
pv-locale-gen: Generating locale en_CA.UTF-8...
pv-locale-gen: Generated locale en_CA.UTF-8 successfully
pv-locale-gen: Generating locale en_US.UTF-8...
pv-locale-gen: Generated locale en_US.UTF-8 successfully
pv-adverb[103073]: W: Container startup will be faster if missing locales are created at OS level
protontricks (INFO): bwrap launcher started
protontricks (INFO): Attempting to run command ['/usr/bin/winetricks', 'dsdmo']
Executing cd /usr/bin
winetricks latest version check update disabled in the Debian package for privacy reasons.
You may enable it by setting WINETRICKS_LATEST_VERSION_CHECK=enabled or creating /home/cs127/.config/winetricks/enable-latest-version-check
------------------------------------------------------
warning: Unknown file arch of /home/cs127/.cache/protontricks/proton/Proton Experimental/bin/wineserver.
------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------
warning: Unknown file arch of /home/cs127/.cache/protontricks/proton/Proton Experimental/bin/wine.
------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------
warning: You are using a 64-bit WINEPREFIX. Note that many verbs only install 32-bit versions of packages. If you encounter problems, please retest in a clean 32-bit WINEPREFIX before reporting a bug.
------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------
warning: WoW64 type could not be detected.
------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------
WINEPREFIX INFO:
Drive C: total 36
drwxrwxr-x  9 cs127 cs127 4096 Jun 16 09:19 .
drwxrwxr-x  4 cs127 cs127 4096 Jun 16 14:41 ..
drwxrwxr-x  2 cs127 cs127 4096 Jun 16 09:19 openxr
drwxrwxr-x  3 cs127 cs127 4096 Jun 16 09:19 ProgramData
drwxrwxr-x  6 cs127 cs127 4096 Jun 16 09:19 Program Files
drwxrwxr-x  7 cs127 cs127 4096 Jun 16 09:19 Program Files (x86)
drwxrwxr-x  5 cs127 cs127 4096 Jun 16 09:30 users
drwxrwxr-x  3 cs127 cs127 4096 Jun 16 09:19 vrclient
drwxrwxr-x 21 cs127 cs127 4096 Jun 16 09:30 windows

Registry info:
/home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/compatdata/78000/pfx/system.reg:#arch=win64
/home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/compatdata/78000/pfx/user.reg:#arch=win64
/home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/compatdata/78000/pfx/userdef.reg:#arch=win64
------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------
warning: /home/cs127/.cache/protontricks/proton/Proton Experimental/bin/wine cmd.exe /c echo '%AppData%' returned empty string, error message "protontricks - wine 104244: Found Steam Runtime launch client at /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/common/SteamLinuxRuntime_4/pressure-vessel/bin/steam-runtime-launch-client
protontricks - wine 104244: Checking for running wineserver instance
protontricks - wine 104244: Found running wineserver instance with PID 104153
protontricks - wine 104244: Starting Wine process using 'pressure-vessel-launch'
protontricks - wine 104379: Starting Wine process inside the container
protontricks - wine 104379: Appending to LD_LIBRARY_PATH: /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/common/Proton - Experimental/files/lib:/home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/common/Proton - Experimental/files/lib64:
wineserver: using server-side synchronization." 
------------------------------------------------------
protontricks (INFO): Terminating launcher process 103013
protontricks (INFO): Launcher process terminated

When I run /home/cs127/.cache/protontricks/proton/Proton Experimental/bin/wine itself, it outputs Unknown PROTONTRICKS_STEAM_RUNTIME value.

• Distro: Debian 13
• Winetricks version: 20250102 (installed from Debian repos)
• Protontricks version: 1.14.1 (installed using pipx)

[Matoking]

The "error message" returned by wine cmd.exe /c echo '%AppData%' looks as expected, so Steam Runtime looks like it's working properly.

Does this happen with only one game or any game using Proton Experimental? If it's limited to the single game, it could be a problem with the game-specific prefix, in which case recreating it might help. You can remove it by deleting the directory /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/compatdata/78000, though this will remove any save files you haven't backed up. Launching the game again through Steam will recreate the prefix, hopefully solving the issue.

If other games using Proton Experimental have the issue, could you try running these commands and checking what they return?

$ protontricks -vv --command="wine --version" 78000
# Should return something like 'wine-11.0'

$ protontricks -vv --command="wine cmd.exe /c echo '%AppData%'" 78000
# Should return something like 'C:\users\steamuser\AppData\Roaming'

[cs127]

I tried two other games, they have the same issue.

The wine commands returned the expected outputs as far as I can tell.

Details

$ protontricks -vv --command="wine --version" 78000
protontricks (DEBUG): Stream log handler added
protontricks (INFO): Found Steam directory at /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation
protontricks (INFO): Using default Steam Runtime at /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime
protontricks (INFO): WINETRICKS environment variable is not available. Searching from $PATH.
protontricks (DEBUG): Following candidates found for the Steam library path /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation: [PosixPath('/home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation')]
protontricks (DEBUG): Found Steam library folder /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation. Is Flatpak path: False, Is XDG Steam path: False.
protontricks (INFO): Found 1 Steam library folders
protontricks (DEBUG): Following inaccessible paths were found: set()
protontricks (DEBUG): Following paths have been ignored: set()
protontricks (DEBUG): Creating SteamApp from manifest file in /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/appmanifest_78000.acf
protontricks (DEBUG): Found compatdata directories for app 78000: [PosixPath('/home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/compatdata/78000/pfx')]
protontricks (DEBUG): Creating SteamApp from manifest file in /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/appmanifest_4183110.acf
protontricks (DEBUG): Found compatdata directories for app 4183110: []
protontricks (DEBUG): Creating SteamApp from manifest file in /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/appmanifest_1493710.acf
protontricks (DEBUG): Found compatdata directories for app 1493710: [PosixPath('/home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/compatdata/1493710/pfx')]
protontricks (DEBUG): Creating SteamApp from manifest file in /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/appmanifest_3560.acf
protontricks (DEBUG): Found compatdata directories for app 3560: [PosixPath('/home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/compatdata/3560/pfx')]
protontricks (DEBUG): Creating SteamApp from manifest file in /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/appmanifest_3300.acf
protontricks (DEBUG): Found compatdata directories for app 3300: [PosixPath('/home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/compatdata/3300/pfx')]
protontricks (DEBUG): Found Steam user entries: [{'steamid3': 945446413, 'account_name': 'mpcs127', 'timestamp': '1781588363'}]
protontricks (INFO): Currently logged-in Steam user: mpcs127
protontricks (INFO): Couldn't find custom shortcuts. Maybe none have been created yet?
protontricks (DEBUG): Finding Steam compat tool name for appid 78000
protontricks (DEBUG): Loading appinfo.vdf in /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/appcache/appinfo.vdf
protontricks (DEBUG): appinfo.vdf has magic number b')DV\x07'
protontricks (DEBUG): Found CompatToolMapping entry
protontricks (INFO): User has configured default Proton version (CompatToolMapping): proton_experimental
protontricks (DEBUG): proton_experimental has compat tool aliases ['proton_experimental', 'proton-experimental']
protontricks (INFO): Found active compatibility tool: Proton Experimental
protontricks (INFO): Active compatibility tool is a Proton installation
protontricks (DEBUG): Following Wine DLL overrides already set: {}
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting Wine DLL override: dxgi=n
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting Wine DLL override: d3d9=n
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting Wine DLL override: d3d10core=n
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting Wine DLL override: d3d11=n
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting Wine DLL override: d3d12=n
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting Wine DLL override: d3d12core=n
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting Wine DLL override: nvapi=n
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting Wine DLL override: nvapi64=n
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting Wine DLL override: nvofapi64=n
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting Wine DLL override: nvcuda=b
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting default env var: WINE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE=1
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting default env var: DXVK_ENABLE_NVAPI=1
protontricks (INFO): Using 'bwrap = True' as default value
protontricks (INFO): Using separately installed Steam Runtime: Steam Linux Runtime 4.0
protontricks (INFO): Running Steam Runtime using bwrap containerization.
If any problems arise, please try running the command again using the `--no-bwrap` flag and make an issue report if the problem only occurs when bwrap is in use.
protontricks (WARNING): Current Steam Runtime not recognized by Protontricks.
protontricks (INFO): Created Steam Runtime Wine binary directory at /home/cs127/.cache/protontricks/proton/Proton Experimental/bin
protontricks (INFO): WINE environment variable is not available. Setting WINE environment variable to Proton bundled version.
protontricks (INFO): WINESERVER environment variable is not available. Setting WINESERVER environment variable to Proton bundled version
protontricks (INFO): Starting bwrap launcher process: /home/cs127/.cache/protontricks/proton/Proton Experimental/bin/bwrap-launcher
protontricks - bwrap-launcher 165650: Following directories will be mounted inside container: /boot /etc /home /lost+found /media /mnt /opt /root /sbin /srv /tmp
protontricks - bwrap-launcher 165650: Using temporary directory: /tmp/protontricks-w9n4102o
pressure-vessel-wrap[165650]: W: Not sharing path --filesystem="/etc" with container because "/etc" is reserved by the container framework
pressure-vessel-wrap[165650]: W: Not sharing path --filesystem="/sbin" with container because "/sbin" is reserved by the container framework
setlocale "en_US.UTF-8": No such file or directory
pv-locale-gen: Missing locale en_US.UTF-8
pv-locale-gen: Generating locale en_CA.UTF-8...
pv-locale-gen: Generated locale en_CA.UTF-8 successfully
pv-locale-gen: Generating locale en_US.UTF-8...
pv-locale-gen: Generated locale en_US.UTF-8 successfully
pv-adverb[165704]: W: Container startup will be faster if missing locales are created at OS level
protontricks (INFO): bwrap launcher started
protontricks (INFO): Attempting to run command wine --version
protontricks - wine 165758: Found Steam Runtime launch client at /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/common/SteamLinuxRuntime_4/pressure-vessel/bin/steam-runtime-launch-client
protontricks - wine 165758: Checking for running wineserver instance
protontricks - wine 165758: Setting default env: WINEFSYNC=1
protontricks - wine 165758: Setting default env: WINEESYNC=1
protontricks - wine 165758: Starting Wine process using 'pressure-vessel-launch'
protontricks - wine 165768: Starting Wine process inside the container
protontricks - wine 165768: Appending to LD_LIBRARY_PATH: /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/common/Proton - Experimental/files/lib:/home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/common/Proton - Experimental/files/lib64:
wine-11.0
protontricks (INFO): Terminating launcher process 165650
protontricks (INFO): Launcher process terminated

$ protontricks -vv --command="wine cmd.exe /c echo '%AppData%'" 78000
protontricks (DEBUG): Stream log handler added
protontricks (INFO): Found Steam directory at /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation
protontricks (INFO): Using default Steam Runtime at /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime
protontricks (INFO): WINETRICKS environment variable is not available. Searching from $PATH.
protontricks (DEBUG): Following candidates found for the Steam library path /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation: [PosixPath('/home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation')]
protontricks (DEBUG): Found Steam library folder /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation. Is Flatpak path: False, Is XDG Steam path: False.
protontricks (INFO): Found 1 Steam library folders
protontricks (DEBUG): Following inaccessible paths were found: set()
protontricks (DEBUG): Following paths have been ignored: set()
protontricks (DEBUG): Creating SteamApp from manifest file in /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/appmanifest_78000.acf
protontricks (DEBUG): Found compatdata directories for app 78000: [PosixPath('/home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/compatdata/78000/pfx')]
protontricks (DEBUG): Creating SteamApp from manifest file in /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/appmanifest_4183110.acf
protontricks (DEBUG): Found compatdata directories for app 4183110: []
protontricks (DEBUG): Creating SteamApp from manifest file in /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/appmanifest_1493710.acf
protontricks (DEBUG): Found compatdata directories for app 1493710: [PosixPath('/home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/compatdata/1493710/pfx')]
protontricks (DEBUG): Creating SteamApp from manifest file in /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/appmanifest_3560.acf
protontricks (DEBUG): Found compatdata directories for app 3560: [PosixPath('/home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/compatdata/3560/pfx')]
protontricks (DEBUG): Creating SteamApp from manifest file in /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/appmanifest_3300.acf
protontricks (DEBUG): Found compatdata directories for app 3300: [PosixPath('/home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/compatdata/3300/pfx')]
protontricks (DEBUG): Found Steam user entries: [{'steamid3': 945446413, 'account_name': 'mpcs127', 'timestamp': '1781588363'}]
protontricks (INFO): Currently logged-in Steam user: mpcs127
protontricks (INFO): Couldn't find custom shortcuts. Maybe none have been created yet?
protontricks (DEBUG): Finding Steam compat tool name for appid 78000
protontricks (DEBUG): Loading appinfo.vdf in /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/appcache/appinfo.vdf
protontricks (DEBUG): appinfo.vdf has magic number b')DV\x07'
protontricks (DEBUG): Found CompatToolMapping entry
protontricks (INFO): User has configured default Proton version (CompatToolMapping): proton_experimental
protontricks (DEBUG): proton_experimental has compat tool aliases ['proton_experimental', 'proton-experimental']
protontricks (INFO): Found active compatibility tool: Proton Experimental
protontricks (INFO): Active compatibility tool is a Proton installation
protontricks (DEBUG): Following Wine DLL overrides already set: {}
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting Wine DLL override: dxgi=n
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting Wine DLL override: d3d9=n
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting Wine DLL override: d3d10core=n
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting Wine DLL override: d3d11=n
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting Wine DLL override: d3d12=n
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting Wine DLL override: d3d12core=n
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting Wine DLL override: nvapi=n
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting Wine DLL override: nvapi64=n
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting Wine DLL override: nvofapi64=n
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting Wine DLL override: nvcuda=b
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting default env var: WINE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE=1
protontricks (DEBUG): Setting default env var: DXVK_ENABLE_NVAPI=1
protontricks (INFO): Using 'bwrap = True' as default value
protontricks (INFO): Using separately installed Steam Runtime: Steam Linux Runtime 4.0
protontricks (INFO): Running Steam Runtime using bwrap containerization.
If any problems arise, please try running the command again using the `--no-bwrap` flag and make an issue report if the problem only occurs when bwrap is in use.
protontricks (WARNING): Current Steam Runtime not recognized by Protontricks.
protontricks (INFO): Created Steam Runtime Wine binary directory at /home/cs127/.cache/protontricks/proton/Proton Experimental/bin
protontricks (INFO): WINE environment variable is not available. Setting WINE environment variable to Proton bundled version.
protontricks (INFO): WINESERVER environment variable is not available. Setting WINESERVER environment variable to Proton bundled version
protontricks (INFO): Starting bwrap launcher process: /home/cs127/.cache/protontricks/proton/Proton Experimental/bin/bwrap-launcher
protontricks - bwrap-launcher 165856: Following directories will be mounted inside container: /boot /etc /home /lost+found /media /mnt /opt /root /sbin /srv /tmp
protontricks - bwrap-launcher 165856: Using temporary directory: /tmp/protontricks-4vq2m9lj
pressure-vessel-wrap[165856]: W: Not sharing path --filesystem="/etc" with container because "/etc" is reserved by the container framework
pressure-vessel-wrap[165856]: W: Not sharing path --filesystem="/sbin" with container because "/sbin" is reserved by the container framework
setlocale "en_US.UTF-8": No such file or directory
pv-locale-gen: Missing locale en_US.UTF-8
pv-locale-gen: Generating locale en_CA.UTF-8...
pv-locale-gen: Generated locale en_CA.UTF-8 successfully
pv-locale-gen: Generating locale en_US.UTF-8...
pv-locale-gen: Generated locale en_US.UTF-8 successfully
pv-adverb[165916]: W: Container startup will be faster if missing locales are created at OS level
protontricks (INFO): bwrap launcher started
protontricks (INFO): Attempting to run command wine cmd.exe /c echo '%AppData%'
protontricks - wine 166030: Found Steam Runtime launch client at /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/common/SteamLinuxRuntime_4/pressure-vessel/bin/steam-runtime-launch-client
protontricks - wine 166030: Checking for running wineserver instance
protontricks - wine 166030: Setting default env: WINEFSYNC=1
protontricks - wine 166030: Setting default env: WINEESYNC=1
protontricks - wine 166030: Starting Wine process using 'pressure-vessel-launch'
protontricks - wine 166041: Starting Wine process inside the container
protontricks - wine 166041: Appending to LD_LIBRARY_PATH: /home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/common/Proton - Experimental/files/lib:/home/cs127/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/common/Proton - Experimental/files/lib64:
fsync: up and running.
C:\users\steamuser\AppData\Roaming
protontricks (INFO): Terminating launcher process 165856
protontricks (INFO): Launcher process terminated