stablyai/orca · error · Error

${result.stderr || 'PowerShell process enumeration failed'}

Error message

${result.stderr || 'PowerShell process enumeration failed'}

What it means

readWindowsProcesses runs a PowerShell CIM query (Get-CimInstance Win32_Process) via spawnSync to enumerate processes on Windows. It throws when spawnSync returns a non-zero status, surfacing result.stderr (or a generic fallback). readProcessRows only selects this path when process.platform === 'win32', so the error is Windows-only. A non-zero status means PowerShell itself failed to run the query, distinct from a spawn error (which would appear on result.error and surface differently).

Source

Thrown at config/scripts/idle-cpu-process-sampling.mjs:66

function readUnixProcesses() {
  const stdout = execFileSync('ps', ['-axo', 'pid=,ppid=,pcpu=,rss=,cputime=,command='], {
    encoding: 'utf8',
    env: { ...process.env, LC_ALL: 'C', LANG: 'C' },
    maxBuffer: 20 * 1024 * 1024
  })
  return parseUnixProcesses(stdout)
}

function readWindowsProcesses() {
  const script =
    'Get-CimInstance Win32_Process | Select-Object ProcessId,ParentProcessId,WorkingSetSize,CommandLine | ConvertTo-Json -Compress'
  const result = spawnSync('powershell.exe', ['-NoProfile', '-Command', script], {
    encoding: 'utf8',
    maxBuffer: 20 * 1024 * 1024
  })
  if (result.status !== 0) {
    throw new Error(result.stderr || 'PowerShell process enumeration failed')
  }
  const parsed = JSON.parse(result.stdout || '[]')
  const entries = Array.isArray(parsed) ? parsed : [parsed]
  return entries.map((entry) => ({
    pid: Number(entry.ProcessId),
    ppid: Number(entry.ParentProcessId),
    percentCpu: 0,
    cpuTimeSeconds: null,
    rssBytes: Number(entry.WorkingSetSize) || 0,
    command: String(entry.CommandLine || '')
  }))
}

export function readProcessRows() {
  return process.platform === 'win32' ? readWindowsProcesses() : readUnixProcesses()
}

export function descendantsOf(rows, rootPid) {

View on GitHub (pinned to 1136503c6a)

Solutions

1. Confirm powershell.exe resolves on PATH (where powershell) on the host.
2. Inspect result.stderr in the thrown error for the PowerShell-level failure.
3. Verify the WinMgmt service is running (Get-Service WinMgmt) and the CIM repository is healthy.
4. On non-Windows hosts this code path never runs — confirm process.platform is not unexpectedly 'win32'.

Example fix

// before
const result = spawnSync('powershell.exe', ['-NoProfile', '-Command', script], { encoding: 'utf8', maxBuffer: 20 * 1024 * 1024 })
if (result.status !== 0) {
  throw new Error(result.stderr || 'PowerShell process enumeration failed')
}

// after — surface spawn errors too, and keep a readable status
if (result.error) {
  throw result.error
}
if (result.status !== 0) {
  throw new Error(`PowerShell process enumeration failed (status ${result.status}): ${result.stderr}`)
}

const psOk = (() => {
  try { spawnSync('powershell.exe', ['-NoProfile', '-Command', 'exit 0']); return true }
  catch { return false }
})()
if (process.platform === 'win32' && !psOk) throw new Error('powershell.exe required on PATH')

try {
  rows = readProcessRows()
} catch (err) {
  if (process.platform !== 'win32') throw err
  log.warn(`Windows process enumeration failed: ${err.message}; falling back to empty rows`)
  rows = []
}

When it happens

Trigger: powershell.exe is absent or not on PATH; PowerShell execution policy or profile blocks the command; the WinMgmt/CIM service is stopped or corrupted; the CIM provider returns an error to stderr.

Common situations: Minimal/hardened Windows CI image without PowerShell; WMI repository corruption; group policy restricting script execution; antivirus intercepting PowerShell.

Related errors

• PowerShell did not return signature JSON.
• PowerShell returned malformed signature JSON: ${error.messag
• PowerShell wrote to stderr while checking signature:\n${resu
• PowerShell signature check failed with exit code ${result.st
• ${result.detail} No PATH changes were made.

AI-assisted analysis of stablyai/orca@1136503c6a (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/79a4abbd21b646c5. Report an issue: GitHub.