Quarto fails to run Rscript on Windows 11 24H2 despite clean install

[mstrms2000]

I have:

• searched the issue tracker for similar issues
• installed the latest version of Quarto CLI
• formatted my issue following the Bug Reports guide

Bug description

Description

Quarto fails to render any R document with the error "Problem with running R...". This happens even with a minimal test file in a clean directory.

System Details

• OS: Windows 11 Home, Version 24H2, Build 26100.xxxx
• R Version: 4.5.1 (64-bit)
• Quarto Version: [1.7.34 and 1.8.24]

Extensive Troubleshooting Steps Performed

The R installation itself has been verified to be 100% functional. The issue seems to be specific to how Quarto tries to execute Rscript.

• Confirmed 64-bit R installation is working perfectly via command line (Rscript --version).
• Performed a full clean reinstall of R, including manual registry cleanup.
• Ruled out OneDrive folder redirection by setting the R_USER environment variable.
• Established a robust, custom R library path (C:\R\library) via .Rprofile.
• Performed a full clean reinstall of Quarto, including manual deletion of the %LOCALAPPDATA%\quarto cache.
• Confirmed the issue persists with antivirus/Windows Defender temporarily disabled.
• The error occurs even with a minimal "Hello World" .qmd file in a root directory (C:\test).

Diagnostic Log

Quarto version: 1.7.34

Loaded deno-dom-native

-- Searching for R binary --

Looking for 'Rscript' in QUARTO_R: undefined

Looking for 'Rscript' in R_HOME: undefined

Looking for 'Rscript' in PATH.

[execProcess] CMD /C where Rscript

[execProcess] Success: false, code: 1

Looking for 'Rscript' in Windows Registry.

[execProcess] reg query HKCU\Software\R-core\R /v Current Version

[execProcess] Success: false, code: 1

[execProcess] reg query HKLM\Software\R-core\R /v Current Version

[execProcess] Success: false, code: 1

Looking for 'Rscript' in Windows PROGRAMFILES.

Found C:\Program Files\R\R-4.5.1\bin

[execProcess] C:\Program Files\R\R-4.5.1\bin\Rscript C:\Program Files\Quarto\share\rmd\rmd.R

1
/2                  
2/2 [unnamed-chunk-1]

output file: test.knit.md


[execProcess] Success: false, code: -1073741569

[execProcess] C:\Program Files\R\R-4.5.1\bin\Rscript --version

[execProcess] Success: true, code: 0


++R found at C:\Program Files\R\R-4.5.1\bin\Rscript is working.

-- Checking knitr engine capabilities --

[execProcess] C:\Program Files\R\R-4.5.1\bin\Rscript C:\Program Files\Quarto\share\capabilities\knitr.R

[execProcess] Success: false, code: -1073741569


++ Problem with results of knitr capabilities check.

    Return Code: -1073741569 (success is false)

    with stdout from R:
--- YAML_START ---
versionMajor: 4 
versionMinor: 5 
versionPatch: 1 
home: C:/PROGRA~1/R/R-45~1.1 
libPaths:
  - "C:/R/library" 
  - "C:/Users/mstrm/AppData/Local/R/win-library/4.5" 
  - "C:/Program Files/R/R-4.5.1/library" 
packages:
  knitr: "1.50"
  rmarkdown: "2.29"
--- YAML_END ---


Problem with running R found at C:\Program Files\R\R-4.5.1\bin\Rscript to check environment configurations.

Please check your installation of R.


[NotebookContext]: Starting Cleanup

Steps to reproduce

---
title: "Test"
format: html
---

## Quarto Test

```{r}
2 + 2
```

The end.

Actual behavior

No response

Expected behavior

No response

Your environment

No response

Quarto check output

C:\Users\mstrm>quarto check
Quarto 1.7.34
[>] Checking environment information...
Quarto cache location: C:\Users\mstrm\AppData\Local\quarto
[>] Checking versions of quarto binary dependencies...
Pandoc version 3.6.3: OK
Dart Sass version 1.85.1: OK
Deno version 1.46.3: OK
Typst version 0.13.0: OK
[>] Checking versions of quarto dependencies......OK
[>] Checking Quarto installation......OK
Version: 1.7.34
Path: C:\Program Files\Quarto\bin
CodePage: 1252

[>] Checking tools....................OK
TinyTeX: (not installed)
Chromium: (not installed)

[>] Checking LaTeX....................OK
Tex: (not detected)

[>] Checking Chrome Headless....................OK
Using: Chrome found on system
Path: C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe
Source: Windows Registry

[>] Checking basic markdown render....OK

[>] Checking Python 3 installation....(None)

  Unable to locate an installed version of Python 3.
  Install Python 3 from https://www.python.org/downloads/

[>] Checking R installation...........(None)

R succesfully found at C:\Program Files\R\R-4.5.1\bin\Rscript.
However, a problem was encountered when checking configurations of packages.
Please check your installation of R.

C:\Users\mstrm>

[mcanouil]

Could you upgrade to 1.8.24 the current stable version?

Could you properly format your post using code blocks for code and terminal outputs? Thanks.
If your code contains code blocks, you need to enclose it using more backticks, i.e., usually four ````.
See https://quarto.org/bug-reports.html#formatting-make-githubs-markdown-work-for-us.

[mstrms2000]

its the same, I tried booth, 1.8.24 and 1.7.34

[cderv]

That is really a questioning error. This type of windows error code is a bit obscure.

Can you download "https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/blob/b23859ad5893f86dc396c0dce66ad1f6ab39407d/src/resources/capabilities/knitr.R" and try run it locally ?

Open powershell terminal and do

cd $env:TEMP
curl -O -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/b23859ad5893f86dc396c0dce66ad1f6ab39407d/src/resources/capabilities/knitr.R
& "C:\Program Files\R\R-4.5.1\bin\Rscript" .\knitr.R 

Then clean

rm .\knitr.R

I am curious to see if this works outside of Quarto.

Also you should reprodruce without render with

quarto check knitr --log-level debug

can you confirm ?

Thanks.

BTW, I can't reproduce and it probably comes from something in your environment, that is hard to reproduce on our side. So we'll need to debug together... Sorry for that.

[mstrms2000]

Hello, thanks for the quick reply.

Here are the results of the two tests you requested.

Test 1: Running knitr.R script manually in PowerShell

PS C:\Users\mstrm\AppData\Local\Temp> cd $env:TEMP
PS C:\Users\mstrm\AppData\Local\Temp> curl -O-L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/b23859ad5893f86dc396c0dce66ad1f6ab39407d/src/resources/capabilities/knitr.R
Invoke-WebRequest : Es wurde kein Positionsparameter gefunden, der das Argument "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/quar
to-dev/quarto-cli/b23859ad5893f86dc396c0dce66ad1f6ab39407d/src/resources/capabilities/knitr.R" akzeptiert.
In Zeile:1 Zeichen:1
+ curl -O-L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/b23 ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidArgument: (:) [Invoke-WebRequest], ParameterBindingException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : PositionalParameterNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.InvokeWebRequestCommand

Quarto check output

C:\Users\mstrm>quarto check knitr --log-level debug
Quarto version: 1.7.34
Quarto 1.7.34
-- Searching for R binary --
Looking for 'Rscript' in QUARTO_R: undefined
Looking for 'Rscript' in R_HOME: undefined
Looking for 'Rscript' in PATH.
[execProcess] CMD /C where Rscript
[execProcess] Success: false, code: 1
Looking for 'Rscript' in Windows Registry.
[execProcess] reg query HKCU\Software\R-core\R /v Current Version
(|) Checking R installation...........[execProcess] Success: false, code: 1
[execProcess] reg query HKLM\Software\R-core\R /v Current Version
[execProcess] Success: false, code: 1
Looking for 'Rscript' in Windows PROGRAMFILES.
Found C:\Program Files\R\R-4.5.1\bin
[execProcess] C:\Program Files\R\R-4.5.1\bin\Rscript --version
[execProcess] Success: true, code: 0

++R found at C:\Program Files\R\R-4.5.1\bin\Rscript is working.
-- Checking knitr engine capabilities --
[execProcess] C:\Program Files\R\R-4.5.1\bin\Rscript C:\Program Files\Quarto\share\capabilities\knitr.R
(-) Checking R installation...........[execProcess] Success: false, code: -1073741569

++ Problem with results of knitr capabilities check.
Return Code: -1073741569 (success is false)
with stdout from R:
--- YAML_START ---
versionMajor: 4
versionMinor: 5
versionPatch: 1
home: C:/PROGRA~ 1/R/R-45 ~1.1
libPaths:

• "C:/R/library"
• "C:/Users/mstrm/AppData/Local/R/win-library/4.5"
• "C:/Program Files/R/R-4.5.1/library"
  packages:
  knitr: "1.50"
  rmarkdown: "2.29"
  --- YAML_END ---

[>] Checking R installation...........(None)

R succesfully found at C:\Program Files\R\R-4.5.1\bin\Rscript.
However, a problem was encountered when checking configurations of packages.
Please check your installation of R.

[NotebookContext]: Starting Cleanup

C:\Users\mstrm>quarto check knitr --log-level debug
Quarto version: 1.8.24
Quarto 1.8.24
-- Searching for R binary --
Looking for 'Rscript' in QUARTO_R: undefined
Looking for 'Rscript' in R_HOME: undefined
Looking for 'Rscript' in PATH.
[execProcess] CMD /C where Rscript
(|) Checking R installation...........[execProcess] Success: false, code: 1
Looking for 'Rscript' in Windows Registry.
[execProcess] reg query HKCU\Software\R-core\R /v Current Version
[execProcess] Success: false, code: 1
[execProcess] reg query HKLM\Software\R-core\R /v Current Version
[execProcess] Success: false, code: 1
Looking for 'Rscript' in Windows PROGRAMFILES.
Found C:\Program Files\R\R-4.5.1\bin
[execProcess] C:\Program Files\R\R-4.5.1\bin\Rscript --version
(/) Checking R installation...........[execProcess] Success: true, code: 0

++R found at C:\Program Files\R\R-4.5.1\bin\Rscript is working.
-- Checking knitr engine capabilities --
[execProcess] C:\Program Files\R\R-4.5.1\bin\Rscript C:\Program Files\Quarto\share\capabilities\knitr.R
(/) Checking R installation...........[execProcess] Success: false, code: -1073741569

++ Problem with results of knitr capabilities check.
Return Code: -1073741569 (success is false)
with stdout from R:
--- YAML_START ---
versionMajor: 4
versionMinor: 5
versionPatch: 1
home: C:/PROGRA~ 1/R/R-45 ~ 1.1
libPaths:

• "C:/R/library"
• "C:/Users/mstrm/AppData/Local/R/win-library/4.5"
• "C:/Program Files/R/R-4.5.1/library"
  packages:
  knitr: "1.50"
  rmarkdown: "2.29"
  --- YAML_END ---

[>] Checking R installation...........(None)

R succesfully found at C:\Program Files\R\R-4.5.1\bin\Rscript.
However, a problem was encountered when checking configurations of packages.
Please check your installation of R.

[NotebookContext]: Starting Cleanup

C:\Users\mstrm>

I hope this helps to debug the issue. Let me know what to try next.

[cderv]

Thanks.

About test 1, you have a copy paste problem.
curl -0-L is not correct in your test, it should be curl -O -L with the O letter and a space.

[mstrms2000]

it was an "O", I pasted it wrong.
erro after: "rm .\knitr.R

PS C:\Windows\system32> cd $env:TEMP
PS C:\Users\mstrm\AppData\Local\Temp> curl -O -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/b23859ad5893f86dc396c0dce66ad1f6ab39407d/src/resources/capabilities/knitr.R
PS C:\Users\mstrm\AppData\Local\Temp> & "C:\Program Files\R\R-4.5.1\bin\Rscript" .\knitr.R
PS C:\Users\mstrm\AppData\Local\Temp> rm .\knitr.R
rm : Der Pfad "C:\Users\mstrm\AppData\Local\Temp\knitr.R" kann nicht gefunden
werden, da er nicht vorhanden ist.
In Zeile:1 Zeichen:1
+ rm .\knitr.R
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (C:\Users\mstrm\...al\Temp\knitr.R:St
   ring) [Remove-Item], ItemNotFoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.RemoveItem
   Command

PS C:\Users\mstrm\AppData\Local\Temp>

[cderv]

& "C:\Program Files\R\R-4.5.1\bin\Rscript" .\knitr.R

I was expecting some output here.

The error you get is knitr.R not existing. So the download did not work. You can download manually if this is easier.

THe idea is to see if outside of Quarto the script can run.

[mstrms2000]

PS C:\Users\mstrm\AppData\Local\Temp>  & "C:\Program Files\R\R-4.5.1\bin\Rscript" .\knitr.R
--- YAML_START ---
versionMajor: 4
versionMinor: 5
versionPatch: 1
home: C:/PROGRA~1/R/R-45~1.1
libPaths:
  - "C:/R/library"
  - "C:/Users/mstrm/AppData/Local/R/win-library/4.5"
  - "C:/Program Files/R/R-4.5.1/library"
packages:
  knitr: "1.50"
  rmarkdown: "2.29"
--- YAML_END ---
PS C:\Users\mstrm\AppData\Local\Temp>

!!system seting:!!
Geräteinformationen:
Surface-Modell: Surface Laptop 7th Edition Model 2037
SAM: 25.203.139
UEFI: 175.126.235
App-Version: 75.8140.109.0
BIOS-Version/-Datum: Microsoft Corporation 175.126.235 06/13/2025
WLAN-Treiber: 1.0.4111.5000
Edition: Windows 11 Home
Betriebssystembuild: 26100.6584
Prozessor: Snapdragon(R) X 12-core X1E80100 @ 3.40 GHz
Installierter RAM: 16 GB
Speichergröße: 801 GB free of 951 GB
GPU: Qualcomm(R) Adreno(TM) X1-85 GPU
Bildschirmauflösung: 2496 x 1664

[cderv]

Thanks - so the script is working. It is running, and giving a return value.

So, something is happening when R is executed inside Quarto by Deno execution and when the process stops.

Doing a quick search, it seems you have the same error as

• Snapdragon architecture on windows causes trouble #10781

and I see snapdragon also in your system information. This is a specific architecture that we don't have specific support for.

This is windows ARM64 and this is has several consequence:

• R on windows ARM is not yet official. It requires a special install as explained in this blog: https://blog.r-project.org/2024/04/23/r-on-64-bit-arm-windows/
• Deno on windows ARM is also not a thing: Support Windows ARM64 denoland/deno#13331

And Quarto is thus not available on Windows ARM.

So here, you are trying to use Quarto windows build for X86_64 (not ARM) on an environment that does not support that.

Hence the issue.

Hope it helps understand. I'll close this issue, as until we can support this type of environment, you need to find a cloud environment to run quarto (or maybe use WSL2 if you can).