Path environment variable modification does not actually modify PATH.

Relevant area(s)

WinGet CLI

Relevant command(s)

winget install

Brief description of your issue

I was trying to add the latest version of x64dbg to winget. There is no installer, so you have to use the portable installation from a ZIP.

Note: not a duplicate of #549, this is a bug with the PATH not getting modified when it should be.

Steps to reproduce

Checkout https://github.com/microsoft/winget-pkgs/pull/285465

C:\winget-pkgs>winget install --manifest manifests\x\x64dbg\x64dbg\2025.08.19
Found x64dbg [x64dbg.x64dbg] Version 2025.08.19
This application is licensed to you by its owner.
Microsoft is not responsible for, nor does it grant any licenses to, third-party packages.
Successfully verified installer hash
Extracting archive...
Successfully extracted archive
Starting package install...
Path environment variable modified; restart your shell to use the new value.
Command line alias added: "x96dbg"
Command line alias added: "x32dbg"
Command line alias added: "x64dbg"
Successfully installed

Restart cmd.exe from explorer:

C:\CodeBlocks\winget-pkgs>where x64dbg
INFO: Could not find files for the given pattern(s).

C:\CodeBlocks\winget-pkgs>where x32dbg
INFO: Could not find files for the given pattern(s).

The package is installed correctly in C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WinGet\Packages\x64dbg.x64dbg__DefaultSource\release\x64\x64dbg.exe, so it is the PATH modification logic that fails

Expected behavior

I would expect the PATH to get modified to include the following folders:

• C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WinGet\Packages\x64dbg.x64dbg__DefaultSource\release
• C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WinGet\Packages\x64dbg.x64dbg__DefaultSource\release\x64
• C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WinGet\Packages\x64dbg.x64dbg__DefaultSource\release\x32

It works fine with the yt-dlp package:

C:\CodeBlocks\winget-pkgs>winget install --manifest manifests\y\yt-dlp\yt-dlp\2025.08.11
Found yt-dlp [yt-dlp.yt-dlp] Version 2025.08.11
This application is licensed to you by its owner.
Microsoft is not responsible for, nor does it grant any licenses to, third-party packages.
This package requires the following dependencies:
  - Packages
      yt-dlp.FFmpeg
(1/1) Found FFmpeg for yt-dlp [yt-dlp.FFmpeg] Version N-120424-g03b9180fe3-20250731
This application is licensed to you by its owner.
Microsoft is not responsible for, nor does it grant any licenses to, third-party packages.
Downloading https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds/releases/download/autobuild-2025-07-31-15-41/ffmpeg-N-120424-g03b9180fe3-win64-gpl.zip
  ██████████████████████████████   147 MB /  147 MB
Successfully verified installer hash
Extracting archive...
Successfully extracted archive
Starting package install...
Path environment variable modified; restart your shell to use the new value.
Command line alias added: "ffmpeg"
Command line alias added: "ffplay"
Command line alias added: "ffprobe"
Successfully installed

Downloading https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/download/2025.08.11/yt-dlp.exe
  ██████████████████████████████  17.5 MB / 17.5 MB
Successfully verified installer hash
Starting package install...
Command line alias added: "yt-dlp"
Path environment variable modified; restart your shell to use the new value.
Successfully installed

C:\CodeBlocks\winget-pkgs>refreshenv
Refreshing environment variables from registry for cmd.exe. Please wait...Finished..

C:\CodeBlocks\winget-pkgs>where yt-dlp
C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WinGet\Links\yt-dlp.exe

C:\CodeBlocks\winget-pkgs>

Actual behavior

The PATH is not modified to include any of these folders

Environment

C:\Users\Admin>winget --info
Windows Package Manager v1.11.430
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Windows: Windows.Desktop v10.0.19045.6216
System Architecture: X64
Package: Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller v1.26.430.0

Winget Directories
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Logs                               %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\Diag…
User Settings                      %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\sett…
Portable Links Directory (User)    %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WinGet\Links
Portable Links Directory (Machine) C:\Program Files\WinGet\Links
Portable Package Root (User)       %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WinGet\Packages
Portable Package Root              C:\Program Files\WinGet\Packages
Portable Package Root (x86)        C:\Program Files (x86)\WinGet\Packages
Installer Downloads                %USERPROFILE%\Downloads
Configuration Modules              %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WinGet\Configuration\Modules

Links
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Privacy Statement   https://aka.ms/winget-privacy
License Agreement   https://aka.ms/winget-license
Third Party Notices https://aka.ms/winget-3rdPartyNotice
Homepage            https://aka.ms/winget
Windows Store Terms https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/storedocs/terms-of-sale

Admin Setting                             State
--------------------------------------------------
LocalManifestFiles                        Enabled
BypassCertificatePinningForMicrosoftStore Disabled
InstallerHashOverride                     Disabled
LocalArchiveMalwareScanOverride           Disabled
ProxyCommandLineOptions                   Disabled
DefaultProxy                              Disabled

Start with the winget install portable-package path handling using the x64dbg manifest at manifests\x\x64dbg\x64dbg\2025.08.19, then compare it with the working yt-dlp installation. Reproduce the installation and verify whether the three expected package folders are added to PATH and whether where x64dbg, where x32dbg, and where x96dbg succeed after restarting the shell.