Sandbox bug - blocking shell
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- Dominant language
- Shell
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Description
Describe the bug
Bug: sandbox.enabled: false is not honored — shell backend still initializes BaseContainer and fails with a WRITE_DAC error, making all shell execution impossible on Windows.
Version: 1.0.81-2 (win32-x64), Windows_NT. Config: ~/.copilot/settings.json shows "sandbox":{"enabled":false,...} .
Error on every shell/tool call: backend_unavailable: BaseContainer is unavailable; DACL fallback requires write-DAC permission on 'C:' (ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED, WRITE_DAC not granted) .
Repro: Set sandbox.enabled:false , /restart → shell still fails identically. Persisted ~8h across many restarts. Launching elevated crashes on start. icacls "C:\Program Files\nodejs" /reset advanced the failing path from C:\Program Files\nodejs → C:\ (the DACL fallback walks up the tree; BaseContainer never initializes).
Expected: With sandbox disabled, run commands directly with no container/DACL step. At minimum, fail with a clear, actionable message instead of attempting WRITE_DAC on C:\ .
Affected version
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Steps to reproduce the behavior
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Expected behavior
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Additional context
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Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start by reproducing the issue on Windows with sandbox.enabled set to false in ~/.copilot/settings.json, then trace how that setting reaches the shell backend. Verify that disabled sandboxing avoids BaseContainer and DACL initialization, and that shell commands run without the WRITE_DAC failure or produce a clear actionable error.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- shell
- Domain
- cli
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Activity status
- Active
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 63/100