From 74ef1b60b9491bdb2789f0c2de225baae78372c9 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Vance Ingalls <vance@heygen.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2026 23:54:02 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] fix(cli): give the Windows browser-path hint its PowerShell
 form too
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`set VAR=value` is cmd.exe syntax. In PowerShell `set` resolves to the
Set-Variable alias, which creates a shell variable rather than an environment
one — it never reaches the spawned browser, so a PowerShell user follows the
hint exactly and sees the same crash. Both forms are now printed.

The hint only renders on win32, so its text was unasserted on Linux CI. Added
a case that pins `process.platform` for the call and checks both forms are
present.
---
 packages/cli/src/browser/windowsCrash.test.ts | 19 +++++++++++++++++++
 packages/cli/src/browser/windowsCrash.ts      |  7 +++++++
 2 files changed, 26 insertions(+)

diff --git a/packages/cli/src/browser/windowsCrash.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/browser/windowsCrash.test.ts
index 9be0da3ba0..eb5f586318 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/browser/windowsCrash.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/browser/windowsCrash.test.ts
@@ -64,4 +64,23 @@ describe("windowsChromeCrashRemediation", () => {
       ),
     ).toBeUndefined();
   });
+
+  // The hint only ever renders on win32, so on CI (Linux) the string itself is
+  // otherwise unasserted. Both shell forms have to be there: `set` is cmd.exe,
+  // and in PowerShell it resolves to the Set-Variable alias — a shell variable
+  // that never reaches the child process, so a PowerShell user would follow the
+  // hint exactly and see no change.
+  it("names both the cmd.exe and the PowerShell way to set the env var", () => {
+    const original = process.platform;
+    Object.defineProperty(process, "platform", { value: "win32", configurable: true });
+    try {
+      const hint = windowsChromeCrashRemediation(
+        "Failed to launch the browser process! Code: 3221225595",
+      );
+      expect(hint).toContain('set HYPERFRAMES_BROWSER_PATH="C:\\Program Files');
+      expect(hint).toContain('$env:HYPERFRAMES_BROWSER_PATH = "C:\\Program Files');
+    } finally {
+      Object.defineProperty(process, "platform", { value: original, configurable: true });
+    }
+  });
 });
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/browser/windowsCrash.ts b/packages/cli/src/browser/windowsCrash.ts
index 9c675cf54a..740541ba37 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/browser/windowsCrash.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/browser/windowsCrash.ts
@@ -45,6 +45,13 @@ export function windowsChromeCrashRemediation(errorMessage: string): string | un
     "",
     '  set HYPERFRAMES_BROWSER_PATH="C:\\Program Files\\Google\\Chrome\\Application\\chrome.exe"',
     "",
+    // `set` is cmd.exe syntax. In PowerShell it resolves to the Set-Variable
+    // alias, which makes a shell variable rather than an environment one — it
+    // never reaches the child process, so the hint would look followed and
+    // change nothing.
+    "  PowerShell:",
+    '  $env:HYPERFRAMES_BROWSER_PATH = "C:\\Program Files\\Google\\Chrome\\Application\\chrome.exe"',
+    "",
     "Then re-run your command. Any Chrome build works for the screenshot capture path; install a real chrome-headless-shell later if you need the perf-optimized BeginFrame path.",
   ].join("\n");
 }