PowerShell Fast Fails after cloud-hypervisor exits

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Assessment

Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Newbie friendliness
48/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Mostly clear
Activity status
Quiet
Tech stack
csharp, powershell
Domain
cli

Research direction

Start by reproducing the crash with zsh -ic 'date' and compare it with the rlwrap workaround. Trace the terminal handling through PSConsoleReadLine.Initialize, ReadKeyThreadProc, and VirtualTerminal.ReadKey, using the reported System.IO.IOException as the failure point. Done means PowerShell remains running after the command exits.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

Needs-Triage :mag:
Prerequisites
  • Write a descriptive title.
  • Make sure you are able to repro it on the latest released version
  • Search the existing issues, especially the pinned issues.
Exception report
pwsh -NoProfile -NoLogo -Command "try { [Console]::GetCursorPosition() } catch { Write-Warning 'failed to get cursor position' }"
WARNING: failed to get cursor position
pwsh -NoProfile -NoLogo -Command "try { [Console]::GetCursorPosition() } catch { Write-Warning 'failed to get cursor position' }"

Length Item1 Item2
------ ----- -----
     2     0     1

pwsh -NoProfile -NoLogo -Command "try { [Console]::SetCursorPosition( 0 , ([Console]::WindowHeight - 1) ) } catch { Write-Warning 'failed to reposition cursor' }"















matt in  dev2 in …/cloud-hypervisor took 42s845ms at 14:27 
❯
Oops, something went wrong.
Please report this bug with ALL the details below, including both the 'Environment' and 'Exception' sections.
Please report on GitHub: https://github.com/PowerShell/PSReadLine/issues/new?template=Bug_Report.yaml
Thank you!

### Environment
PSReadLine: 2.4.5
PowerShell: 7.6.1
OS: NixOS 25.11 (Xantusia)
BufferWidth: 201
BufferHeight: 25

Last 49 Keys:

 c d Spacebar ~ RightArrow Enter
 c d Spacebar 0 1 0 Tab Enter
 c d Spacebar 3 5 0 Tab Enter
 v i Spacebar j u Tab Enter
 c l s Backspace Backspace Backspace c l s Spacebar ; Spacebar Backspace Backspace Backspace Enter
 j u RightArrow Enter


### Exception

System.IO.IOException: The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.
   at Interop.ThrowExceptionForIoErrno(ErrorInfo errorInfo, String path, Boolean isDirError)
   at System.ConsolePal.TryGetCursorPosition(Int32& left, Int32& top, Boolean reinitializeForRead)
   at System.Console.get_CursorLeft()
   at Microsoft.PowerShell.Internal.VirtualTerminal.get_CursorLeft()
   at Microsoft.PowerShell.PSConsoleReadLine.Initialize(Runspace runspace, EngineIntrinsics engineIntrinsics)
   at Microsoft.PowerShell.PSConsoleReadLine.ReadLine(Runspace runspace, EngineIntrinsics engineIntrinsics, CancellationToken cancellationToken, Nullable`1 lastRunStatus)

matt in  dev2 in …/cloud-hypervisor took 42s845ms at 14:27                                                                                                                                             ❯
An error has occurred that was not properly handled. Additional information is shown below. The PowerShell process will exit.
Unhandled exception. System.IO.IOException: The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.
   at Interop.ThrowExceptionForIoErrno(ErrorInfo errorInfo, String path, Boolean isDirError)
   at System.IO.StdInReader.ReadKey()
   at System.Console.ReadKey(Boolean intercept)
   at Microsoft.PowerShell.Internal.VirtualTerminal.<>c.<ReadKey>b__40_0()
   at Microsoft.PowerShell.Internal.VirtualTerminal._TryIgnoreIOE[T](Func`1 f)
   at Microsoft.PowerShell.Internal.VirtualTerminal.ReadKey()
   at Microsoft.PowerShell.PSConsoleReadLine.ReadOneOrMoreKeys()
   at Microsoft.PowerShell.PSConsoleReadLine.ReadKeyThreadProc()
   at System.Threading.Thread.StartHelper.Callback(Object state)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.RunInternal(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
--- End of stack trace from previous location ---
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.RunInternal(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
^[[25;1R^[[25;3RConnection to dev2 closed.
Screenshot

N/A

Environment data
PS Version: 7.6.1
PS HostName: ConsoleHost
PSReadLine Version: 2.4.5
PSReadLine EditMode: Emacs
OS: Linux dev2 6.18.22 #1-NixOS SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Sat Apr 11 12:26:52 UTC 2026 x86_64 GNU/Linux
BufferWidth: 201
BufferHeight: 25
Steps to reproduce

Run zsh -ic 'date'.

Wrapping the command with rlwrap (e.g. rlwrap zsh -ic 'date') is a workaround.

These issues are likely related:
[https://github.com/dotnet/runtime/issues/59059] (https://github.com/dotnet/runtime/issues/59059)
https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/issues/11215

Expected behavior

PowerShell doesn't crash.

Actual behavior

PowerShell crashes after the command exits.

Dominant language
C#
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