zed-industries/zed · error

Can not open target path: {}

Error message

Can not open target path: {}

What it means

Raised in the 'reveal in file manager' path when `SHOpenFolderAndSelectItems` fails with an error other than ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND (that case is already retried via a ShellExecute fallback in the or_else). Means Explorer could not open the parent folder and highlight the item, e.g. the folder disappeared, an invalid PIDL was built, or the path no longer exists.

Source

Thrown at crates/gpui_windows/src/platform.rs:1345

    if ret.0 as isize <= 32 {
        Err(anyhow::anyhow!(
            "Unable to open target: {}",
            std::io::Error::last_os_error()
        ))
    } else {
        Ok(())
    }
}

fn open_target_in_explorer(target: &Path) -> Result<()> {
    let dir = target.parent().context("No parent folder found")?;
    let desktop = unsafe { SHGetDesktopFolder()? };

    let mut dir_item = std::ptr::null_mut();
    unsafe {
        desktop.ParseDisplayName(
            HWND::default(),
            None,
            &HSTRING::from(dir),
            None,
            &mut dir_item,
            std::ptr::null_mut(),
        )?;
    }

    let mut file_item = std::ptr::null_mut();
    unsafe {
        desktop.ParseDisplayName(
            HWND::default(),
            None,
            &HSTRING::from(target),
            None,
            &mut file_item,
            std::ptr::null_mut(),
        )?;
    }

View on GitHub (pinned to 9d272b0363)

Solutions

1. Verify the target path still exists before building PIDLs via ParseDisplayName.
2. Widen the fallback: also treat ERROR_PATH_NOT_FOUND and ERROR_INVALID_HANDLE as the ShellExecute fallback case.
3. Report the COM/Win32 error code to the user ('could not reveal file').
4. Retry once; Explorer can transiently fail while refreshing a folder.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at crates/gpui_windows/src/platform.rs:1274 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of zed-industries/zed@9d272b0363 (2026-08-20). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e852b1b3fcc209b9. Report an issue: GitHub.