Unable to locate executable file: powershell

[dwisiswant0]

Description:

Failed to download version 1.18.10: Error: Unable to locate executable file: powershell.

Action version:
Specify the action version

Platform:

• Ubuntu
• macOS
• Windows

Runner type:

• Hosted
• Self-hosted

Tools version:

go1.18.x

Repro steps:

      - uses: actions/setup-go@v5
        with:
          go-version-file: 'go.mod'
          check-latest: true
          cache: true

Expected behavior:

Successfully set up Go.

Actual behavior:

Setup go version spec 1.18
Attempting to resolve the latest version from the manifest...
matching 1.18...
Resolved as '1.18.10'
Attempting to download 1.18.10...
matching 1.18.10...
Acquiring 1.18.10 from https://github.com/actions/go-versions/releases/download/1.18.10-3890634278/go-1.18.10-win32-x64.zip
Extracting Go...
Unable to locate executable file: powershell. Please verify either the file path exists or the file can be found within a directory specified by the PATH environment variable. Also verify the file has a valid extension for an executable file.
Falling back to download directly from Go
Install from dist
Acquiring go1.18.10 from https://storage.googleapis.com/golang/go1.18.10.windows-amd64.zip
Extracting Go...
Error: Failed to download version 1.18.10: Error: Unable to locate executable file: powershell. Please verify either the file path exists or the file can be found within a directory specified by the PATH environment variable. Also verify the file has a valid extension for an executable file.

[suyashgaonkar]

Hi @dwisiswant0, Thank you for creating this issue. We will investigate it and provide feedback as soon as we have some updates.

[gowridurgad]

Hi @dwisiswant0, After trying to replicate the issue based on provided workflow, it appears that everything is functioning correctly and were able to install Go version 1.18.10 successfully without encountering any errors on our end. Here's a screenshot for your reference.
To assist further, could you please share a link to the build or public repository where the issue can be reproduced? This will help us investigate the problem in detail.

[dwisiswant0]

Here is the log: https://github.com/dwisiswant0/pcregexp/actions/runs/13251930218/job/36991501099

[gowridurgad]

Hi @dwisiswant0, The issue you're encountering is related to how environment variables, particularly the PATH, are handled during the workflow execution. In the Build PCRE2 on Windows step, you modify the PATH environment variable within PowerShell (pwsh) to include the build directory. However, this change may not propagate correctly to subsequent steps, such as the setup-go action, which relies on PowerShell being correctly set in the environment.
Specifically, the setup-go action failed to locate PowerShell because it wasn't properly included in the PATH after the PCRE2 build step. This is often due to differences in how environment variables are set in different shells and how they propagate across steps.
To resolve this issue, please ensure that PowerShell is added to the PATH before running any steps that might depend on it. This can be done by adding a step that modifies the PATH to include the directory where PowerShell is installed.
The following step ensures that PowerShell is available to all subsequent steps, including the setup-go action:

- name: Add PowerShell to PATH
  if: runner.os == 'Windows'
  run: |
    $env:PATH = "$env:ProgramFiles\PowerShell\7;" + $env:PATH
    Write-Output "PATH=$env:PATH" | Out-File -FilePath $env:GITHUB_ENV -Encoding utf8

Attached is a screenshot of the workflow successfully completing the setup-go action after implementing the fix:
If any further clarification is needed or additional issues arise, feel free to reach out.

[dwisiswant0]

I see what you're doing here - gowridurgad/pcregexp@dca5770, and I appreciate the approach, @gowridurgad. But, wasn't the PATH variable already getting prepended back at lines 80-81? If that’s true, then lines 87-88 might just be doing extra work for no reason. Can you double check if the original PATH (before the prepend) still gets passed along properly in the rebuild? Tbh, this part isn't making much sense to me (I'm not using Windows).

[gowridurgad]

Hi @dwisiswant0, After further investigation, we found that the issue you are encountering is related to how the PATH environment variable is being set.

In the original line:
Write-Output "PATH=$(Get-Location)\build" | Out-File -FilePath $env:GITHUB_ENV -Encoding utf8

This command replaces the entire PATH variable with only the path to the build directory. As a result, any default system paths that are necessary for finding executables are removed, which causes errors during later steps (e.g., Go installation).

The corrected version:
Write-Output "PATH=$env:PATH" | Out-File -FilePath $env:GITHUB_ENV -Encoding utf8

appends the new directory (build) to the existing PATH, ensuring that the system can still find the necessary tools and executables without losing access to important default directories.
This change resolves the issue because it maintains the integrity of the PATH while adding the required directory for your build process. As you can see in the attached screenshot, the setup-go action now completes successfully after updating this command, confirming that the workflow runs as expected.
Feel free to reach out if you have any further concerns or questions!