Prefer to use .bat files over .exe for conda on windows

src/client/pythonEnvironments/common/environmentManagers/conda.ts

@@ -354,12 +354,34 @@ export class Conda {
                 .map((line) => path.join(line, suffix));
         }
 
+        async function getCondaBatFile(file: string) {
+            const fileDir = path.dirname(file);
+            const possibleBatch = path.join(fileDir, '..', 'condabin', 'conda.bat');
+            if (await pathExists(possibleBatch)) {
+                return possibleBatch;
+            }
+            return undefined;
+        }
+
         // Probe the candidates, and pick the first one that exists and does what we need.
         for await (const condaPath of getCandidates()) {
             traceVerbose(`Probing conda binary: ${condaPath}`);
-            const conda = new Conda(condaPath);
+            let conda = new Conda(condaPath);
             try {
                 await conda.getInfo();
+                if (getOSType() === OSType.Windows) {
+                    // Prefer to use .bat files over .exe on windows as that is what cmd works best on.
+                    const condaBatFile = await getCondaBatFile(condaPath);
+                    try {
+                        if (condaBatFile) {
+                            const condaBat = new Conda(condaBatFile);
+                            await condaBat.getInfo();
+                            conda = condaBat;
+                        }
+                    } catch (ex) {
+                        traceVerbose('Failed to spawn conda bat file', condaBatFile, ex);
+                    }
+                }
                 traceVerbose(`Found conda via filesystem probing: ${condaPath}`);
                 return conda;
             } catch (ex) {

src/test/pythonEnvironments/common/environmentManagers/conda.unit.test.ts

@@ -245,6 +245,22 @@ suite('Conda and its environments are located correctly', () => {
             await expectConda('/bin/conda');
         });
 
+        test('Use conda.bat when possible over conda.exe on windows', async () => {
+            osType = platform.OSType.Windows;
+
+            getPythonSetting.withArgs('condaPath').returns('bin/conda');
+            files = {
+                bin: {
+                    conda: JSON.stringify(condaInfo('4.8.0')),
+                },
+                condabin: {
+                    'conda.bat': JSON.stringify(condaInfo('4.8.0')),
+                },
+            };
+
+            await expectConda('/condabin/conda.bat');
+        });
+
         suite('Must find conda in well-known locations', () => {
             const condaDirNames = ['Anaconda', 'anaconda', 'Miniconda', 'miniconda'];