zed-industries/zed · error

WSL sandbox helper returned invalid canonical-path output: {

Error message

WSL sandbox helper returned invalid canonical-path output: {stdout:?}

What it means

The WSL sandbox helper's stdout protocol was violated: the filesystem-class line contained an unrecognized token instead of the expected windows/native marker. The helper binary is mismatched with this version of Zed or its output was corrupted.

Source

Thrown at crates/sandbox/src/windows_wsl.rs:628

}

fn parse_canonical_grant_output(stdout: &str) -> Result<ResolvedGrant> {
    let mut lines = stdout.lines();
    let distro = lines
        .next()
        .context("WSL sandbox helper omitted the distro name")?;
    let canonical = lines
        .next()
        .context("WSL sandbox helper omitted the canonical path")?;
    let fs_class = lines
        .next()
        .context("WSL sandbox helper omitted the filesystem class")?;
    let on_windows_fs = match fs_class {
        RESOLVE_WINDOWS_FS => true,
        RESOLVE_NATIVE_FS => false,
        _ => bail!("WSL sandbox helper returned an invalid filesystem class: {fs_class:?}"),
    };
    ensure!(
        lines.next().is_none()
            && !distro.is_empty()
            && !distro.contains(['/', '\\'])
            && canonical.starts_with('/'),
        "WSL sandbox helper returned invalid canonical-path output: {stdout:?}"
    );
    // Store the canonical as the Linux path bwrap actually binds. The distro is
    // pinned at enforcement from the *requested* path (see `wrap_invocation`),
    // so it is not re-encoded here: spelling the canonical as
    // `\\wsl.localhost\<distro>\...` would resurface the Windows-style path we
    // avoid and, because it names the same object as the request, show as a
    // spurious redirect in the approval UI.
    Ok(ResolvedGrant {
        canonical: PathBuf::from(canonical),
        on_windows_fs,
    })
}

View on GitHub (pinned to f4178619ac)

Solutions

1. Re-provision the WSL sandbox helper so a version-matched helper is installed
2. Check that a stale Zed helper installed via ZED_WSL_SANDBOX_HELPER is not being reused
3. Retry once in case of corrupted pipe output

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at crates/sandbox/src/windows_wsl.rs:628 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of zed-industries/zed@f4178619ac (2026-08-20). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6d65f3ab3731173c. Report an issue: GitHub.