From a192b2ea52b3166a7d190bf5f60f3feb030306bb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Vincent Koc <vincentkoc@ieee.org>
Date: Sun, 21 Jun 2026 10:57:35 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] fix(windows): resolve taskkill in core spawns

---
 src/cli/update-cli/update-command.ts | 13 +++++++++----
 src/process/exec.ts                  | 18 ++++++++++++------
 src/process/exec.windows.test.ts     |  3 ++-
 3 files changed, 23 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/cli/update-cli/update-command.ts b/src/cli/update-cli/update-command.ts
index c7f7fb99b04..dd550bd191a 100644
--- a/src/cli/update-cli/update-command.ts
+++ b/src/cli/update-cli/update-command.ts
@@ -100,6 +100,7 @@ import {
   type PreUpdateConfigRestoreInput,
 } from "../../infra/update-post-core-context.js";
 import { runGatewayUpdate, type UpdateRunResult } from "../../infra/update-runner.js";
+import { getWindowsSystem32ExePath } from "../../infra/windows-install-roots.js";
 import { normalizePluginsConfig, resolveEffectiveEnableState } from "../../plugins/config-state.js";
 import {
   loadInstalledPluginIndexInstallRecords,
@@ -2877,10 +2878,14 @@ async function readPostCorePluginUpdateResultFile(
 function stopPostCoreUpdateChild(child: ChildProcess): void {
   if (process.platform === "win32" && child.pid) {
     try {
-      const killer = spawn("taskkill", ["/PID", String(child.pid), "/T", "/F"], {
-        stdio: "ignore",
-        windowsHide: true,
-      });
+      const killer = spawn(
+        getWindowsSystem32ExePath("taskkill.exe"),
+        ["/PID", String(child.pid), "/T", "/F"],
+        {
+          stdio: "ignore",
+          windowsHide: true,
+        },
+      );
       killer.once("error", () => {
         child.kill();
       });
diff --git a/src/process/exec.ts b/src/process/exec.ts
index 6dcc26dd7ee..369a41b62bc 100644
--- a/src/process/exec.ts
+++ b/src/process/exec.ts
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import {
   decodeWindowsOutputBuffer,
   resolveWindowsConsoleEncoding,
 } from "../infra/windows-encoding.js";
+import { getWindowsSystem32ExePath } from "../infra/windows-install-roots.js";
 import { logDebug, logError } from "../logger.js";
 import { killProcessTree as terminateProcessTree } from "./kill-tree.js";
 import { resolveCommandStdio } from "./spawn-utils.js";
@@ -430,8 +431,9 @@ export async function runCommandWithTimeout(
       }
       if (killProcessTree && typeof child.pid === "number" && child.pid > 0) {
         if (process.platform === "win32") {
+          const taskkillPath = getWindowsSystem32ExePath("taskkill.exe");
           try {
-            spawn("taskkill", ["/PID", String(child.pid), "/T"], {
+            spawn(taskkillPath, ["/PID", String(child.pid), "/T"], {
               stdio: "ignore",
               windowsHide: true,
             });
@@ -447,7 +449,7 @@ export async function runCommandWithTimeout(
                   return;
                 }
                 try {
-                  spawn("taskkill", ["/PID", String(child.pid), "/T", "/F"], {
+                  spawn(taskkillPath, ["/PID", String(child.pid), "/T", "/F"], {
                     stdio: "ignore",
                     windowsHide: true,
                   });
@@ -467,10 +469,14 @@ export async function runCommandWithTimeout(
       }
       if (process.platform === "win32" && typeof child.pid === "number" && child.pid > 0) {
         try {
-          spawn("taskkill", ["/PID", String(child.pid), "/T", "/F"], {
-            stdio: "ignore",
-            windowsHide: true,
-          });
+          spawn(
+            getWindowsSystem32ExePath("taskkill.exe"),
+            ["/PID", String(child.pid), "/T", "/F"],
+            {
+              stdio: "ignore",
+              windowsHide: true,
+            },
+          );
           return;
         } catch {
           // Fall through to Node's direct child kill as a last resort.
diff --git a/src/process/exec.windows.test.ts b/src/process/exec.windows.test.ts
index da27336f392..ede5a1a3d99 100644
--- a/src/process/exec.windows.test.ts
+++ b/src/process/exec.windows.test.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import { afterEach, beforeAll, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vite
 import {
   resetWindowsInstallRootsForTests,
   getWindowsInstallRoots,
+  getWindowsSystem32ExePath,
 } from "../infra/windows-install-roots.js";
 import { withMockedWindowsPlatform, withRestoredMocks } from "../test-utils/vitest-spies.js";
 
@@ -496,7 +497,7 @@ describe("windows command wrapper behavior", () => {
         expect(child.kill).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
         expect(spawnMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
         const taskkillCall = requireSpawnCall(1);
-        expect(taskkillCall[0]).toBe("taskkill");
+        expect(taskkillCall[0]).toBe(getWindowsSystem32ExePath("taskkill.exe"));
         expect(taskkillCall[1]).toEqual(["/PID", "1234", "/T", "/F"]);
         expect(taskkillCall[2]).toEqual({
           stdio: "ignore",