%LOCALAPPDATA% appears in working dir

[b-a0]

Type: Bug

The Github Copilot Chat extension creates a %LOCALAPPDATA% folder in the working dir if it contains a git repository.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Create an empty folder
2. Open VS code in the directory
3. Enable/install Github Copilot Chat extension
4. Initialize a git repository in the folder

Alternatively step 3 and 4 can be swapped, the end result is the same: a folder called %LOCALAPPDATA% with the following contents is created in the working directory:

└───%LOCALAPPDATA%
    └───Microsoft
        └───UEV
            ├───%COMPUTERNAME%
            │   └───WindowsCommandPrompt
            │       │   LKG.meta
            │       │
            │       ├───Current
            │       │       WindowsCommandPrompt.pkgx
            │       │
            │       └───Initial
            │               WindowsCommandPrompt.pkgx
            │
            └───LocalSyncFolder

If I don't install/enable the Github Copilot Chat extension the folder is not created.

Extension version: 0.43.0
VS Code version: Code 1.115.0 (41dd792, 2026-04-07T22:04:57Z)
OS version: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26200
Modes:

Logs

Debug: [Power] CPU speed limit changed: 24% (throttled)
Debug: [Power] CPU speed limit changed: 23% (throttled)
Debug: [Power] CPU speed limit changed: 24% (throttled)
Debug: [Power] CPU speed limit changed: 23% (throttled)
Debug: [Power] CPU speed limit changed: 24% (throttled)
Debug: [Power] CPU speed limit changed: 23% (throttled)
Debug: [Power] CPU speed limit changed: 24% (throttled)
Debug: [Power] CPU speed limit changed: 25% (throttled)
Debug: [Power] CPU speed limit changed: 26% (throttled)
Debug: [context keys] Window state change. Needs offline check: false, active: false, focused: false.
Debug: [Power] CPU speed limit changed: 27% (throttled)
Debug: [Power] CPU speed limit changed: 26% (throttled)
Debug: [Power] CPU speed limit changed: 27% (throttled)
Debug: [Power] CPU speed limit changed: 26% (throttled)
Debug: [Power] CPU speed limit changed: 27% (throttled)
Debug: [Power] CPU speed limit changed: 28% (throttled)
Debug: [Power] CPU speed limit changed: 27% (throttled)
Debug: [Power] CPU speed limit changed: 26% (throttled)
Debug: [Power] CPU speed limit changed: 24% (throttled)
Debug: [Power] CPU speed limit changed: 23% (throttled)
Debug: [Power] CPU speed limit changed: 22% (throttled)
Debug: [Power] CPU speed limit changed: 24% (throttled)
Debug: [Power] CPU speed limit changed: 25% (throttled)
Debug: [Power] CPU speed limit changed: 26% (throttled)
Debug: [Power] CPU speed limit changed: 24% (throttled)
Debug: [Power] CPU speed limit changed: 25% (throttled)
Debug: [context keys] Window state change. Needs offline check: false, active: true, focused: false.
Debug: [context keys] Window state change. Needs offline check: false, active: true, focused: true.
Trace: Should request permissive session upgrade: false - access to all repositories
Trace: [GitServiceImpl][doOpenRepository] Active repository: {"_repo":{"rootUri":{"$mid":1,"external":"file:///c%3A/Users/name/repos/zzz_other/myname-adfgadfjhaf-dashboard","path":"/c:/Users/name/repos/zzz_other/myname-adfgadfjhaf-dashboard","scheme":"file"},"inputBox":{},"kind":"repository","state":{},"ui":{}},"rootUri":{"$mid":1,"external":"file:///c%3A/Users/name/repos/zzz_other/myname-adfgadfjhaf-dashboard","path":"/c:/Users/name/repos/zzz_other/myname-adfgadfjhaf-dashboard","scheme":"file"},"kind":"repository","headBranchName":"main","headCommitHash":"c068d4f8a4e5f4d6cefa5066ff850409515f13cd","upstreamBranchName":"main","upstreamRemote":"origin","isRebasing":true,"remotes":["origin"],"remoteFetchUrls":["git@mydomain:grouo/myname-adfgadfjhaf-dashboard.git"],"worktrees":[{"name":"myname-adfgadfjhaf-dashboard","path":"c:\\Users\\name\\repos\\zzz_other\\myname-adfgadfjhaf-dashboard","ref":"refs/heads/main","detached":false,"main":true}],"changes":{"mergeChanges":[],"indexChanges":[],"workingTree":[{},{},{},{}],"untrackedChanges":[]},"_onDidChangeSignal":{"_observers":{},"debugName":"Observable Signal From Event"},"headBranchNameObs":{"_observers":{},"_debugNameData":{},"_state":0,"_updateCount":0,"_dependencies":{},"_dependenciesToBeRemoved":{},"_isUpdating":false,"_isComputing":false,"_didReportChange":false,"_isInBeforeUpdate":false,"_isReaderValid":false,"_removedObserverToCallEndUpdateOn":null},"headCommitHashObs":{"_observers":{},"_debugNameData":{},"_state":0,"_updateCount":0,"_dependencies":{},"_dependenciesToBeRemoved":{},"_isUpdating":false,"_isComputing":false,"_didReportChange":false,"_isInBeforeUpdate":false,"_isReaderValid":false,"_removedObserverToCallEndUpdateOn":null},"upstreamBranchNameObs":{"_observers":{},"_debugNameData":{},"_state":0,"_updateCount":0,"_dependencies":{},"_dependenciesToBeRemoved":{},"_isUpdating":false,"_isComputing":false,"_didReportChange":false,"_isInBeforeUpdate":false,"_isReaderValid":false,"_removedObserverToCallEndUpdateOn":null},"upstreamRemoteObs":{"_observers":{},"_debugNameData":{},"_state":0,"_updateCount":0,"_dependencies":{},"_dependenciesToBeRemoved":{},"_isUpdating":false,"_isComputing":false,"_didReportChange":false,"_isInBeforeUpdate":false,"_isReaderValid":false,"_removedObserverToCallEndUpdateOn":null},"isRebasingObs":{"_observers":{},"_debugNameData":{},"_state":0,"_updateCount":0,"_dependencies":{},"_dependenciesToBeRemoved":{},"_isUpdating":false,"_isComputing":false,"_didReportChange":false,"_isInBeforeUpdate":false,"_isReaderValid":false,"_removedObserverToCallEndUpdateOn":null},"_checkIsIgnored":{"_waitingTimeMs":1000,"_queue":[],"_timeout":null},"_isIgnored":{"_map":{},"_map2":{}}}
Debug: copilotCloudSessionsProvider#provideChatSessionItems: repoIds=[], isAgentSessionsWorkspace=false
Debug: copilotCloudSessionsProvider#provideChatSessionItems: not a GitHub repo, returning empty
Debug: [CopilotCLI] Found 0 JSONL sessions and 0 legacy sessions
Debug: [Power] CPU speed limit changed: 26% (throttled)
Debug: [context keys] Window state change. Needs offline check: false, active: true, focused: false.
Debug: [context keys] Window state change. Needs offline check: false, active: true, focused: true.
Debug: copilotCloudSessionsProvider#provideChatSessionItems: repoIds=[], isAgentSessionsWorkspace=false
Debug: copilotCloudSessionsProvider#provideChatSessionItems: not a GitHub repo, returning empty
Debug: [CopilotCLI] Found 0 JSONL sessions and 0 legacy sessions
Debug: [context keys] Window state change. Needs offline check: false, active: true, focused: false.
Debug: [context keys] Window state change. Needs offline check: false, active: true, focused: true.
Debug: copilotCloudSessionsProvider#provideChatSessionItems: repoIds=[], isAgentSessionsWorkspace=false
Debug: copilotCloudSessionsProvider#provideChatSessionItems: not a GitHub repo, returning empty
Debug: [CopilotCLI] Found 0 JSONL sessions and 0 legacy sessions
Debug: [Power] CPU speed limit changed: 27% (throttled)
Debug: [context keys] Window state change. Needs offline check: false, active: true, focused: false.
Debug: [context keys] Window state change. Needs offline check: false, active: true, focused: true.
Debug: copilotCloudSessionsProvider#provideChatSessionItems: repoIds=[], isAgentSessionsWorkspace=false
Debug: copilotCloudSessionsProvider#provideChatSessionItems: not a GitHub repo, returning empty
Debug: [CopilotCLI] Found 0 JSONL sessions and 0 legacy sessions

Request IDs

System Info

Item	Value
CPUs	12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1255U (12 x 2611)
GPU Status	2d_canvas: enabled GPU0: VENDOR= 0x8086, DEVICE=0x46a8 [Intel(R) Iris(R) Xe Graphics], DRIVER_VENDOR=Intel, DRIVER_VERSION=31.0.101.4953 ACTIVE GPU1: VENDOR= 0x1414, DEVICE=0x008c [Microsoft Basic Render Driver], DRIVER_VERSION=10.0.26100.7309 Machine model name: Machine model version: direct_rendering_display_compositor: disabled_off_ok gpu_compositing: enabled multiple_raster_threads: enabled_on opengl: enabled_on rasterization: enabled raw_draw: disabled_off_ok skia_graphite: disabled_off trees_in_viz: disabled_off video_decode: enabled video_encode: enabled webgl: enabled webgl2: enabled webgpu: enabled webnn: disabled_off
Load (avg)	undefined
Memory (System)	15.69GB (2.56GB free)
Process Argv	.
Screen Reader	no
VM	0%

[vs-code-engineering]

Thanks for creating this issue! It looks like you may be using an old version of VS Code; the latest stable release is 1.116.0. Please try upgrading to the latest version and checking whether this issue remains.

Happy Coding!

[b-a0]

Upgraded to 1.116.0, issue still exists.
Tried Insiders, there the issue is not present, but also the extension is not really separate anymore (so I can't enable/disable only that extension).

[b-a0]

Tried it on another machine (Windows Server 2022) and there the issue does not occur with VS Code 1.115.0 while using the same profile.

[b-a0]

I've deleted the %APPDATA%\Code folder and resynced the settings, but that did not resolve the issue.

[b-a0]

With the help of procmon and ChatGPT I found that UE-V is somehow involved. The call to create a folder under %LOCALAPPDATA% is made by it through a direct Win32 API call (paraphrasing here, don't really know what I'm talking about) and that call does not interpolate environment variables.

Proof that UE-V contributes to the issue:

1. Close VS Code (if open)
2. Delete the %LOCALAPPDATA% folder that was created
3. Open an admin prompt
4. Confirm the UE-V service is running with Get-Service UevAgentService (it should return "Running")
5. Stop the UE-V service with Stop-Service UevAgentService
6. Open VS Code in the problematic workspace
7. Result -> No %LOCALAPPDATA% created!
8. Just to be sure, close VS Code again, re-enable UE-V (Start-Service UevAgentService) and re-open VS Code
9. Result -> the %LOCALAPPDATA% folder is created again.

[b-a0]

Workaround that seems to stop this behaviour for unknown reasons:

Rename the file c:\ProgramData\Microsoft\UEV\Templates\WindowsCommandPrompt to c:\ProgramData\Microsoft\UEV\Templates\WindowsCommandPrompt.disabled (requires admin rights).

The %LOCALAPPDATA% folder is no longer created in the workspace and I don't experience any side effects so far.

[zadzanl]

Do you happen to be using one of the OpenAI models when the folder appears? I've just had this happened to me when I was using GPT 5.5. Theres are some issue reported: codex/issues/16997 that seems similar and its labelled as model-behaviour. Originall i thought this was a misconfigured sandbox thing, but i guess its a model thing?

[b-a0]

It happens before I select any model. Directly after I start VS code with the AI chat plugin enabled the folder appears. I don't even have to open the chat panel for this.
So I don't know if an LLM model is doing this and if so, which one.

I tried settings chat.planAgent.defaultModel and inlineChat.defaultModel to a Claude Haiku model, but the issue persisted.

[b-a0]

@zadzanl does the workaround work for the codex issue?

[zadzanl]

Not sure, it seems to have been solved(?). I haven't had the folder reappear for quite a while.