Vagrant installs to the "wrong" directory by default on Windows

[AnthonyMastrean]

Vagrant on Windows installs to %SYSTEMDRIVE%\HashiCorp\Vagrant by default. This is considered the wrong location for a variety of reasons (see some of the comments and links in the original issue). Good Windows installer practice recommends

• %PROGRAMFILES%\HashiCorp\Vagrant

or

• %PROGRAMFILES(X86)%\HashiCorp\Vagrant (for 32-bit programs on 64-bit systems)

[mitchellh]

The reason Vagrant does this is beacuse Ruby has a bug where it cannot be installed to folders with spaces. Once this is fixed, we'll move it back to the correct location. Until then, it doesn't work.

[AnthonyMastrean]

So, if the bug is fixed in 2.0... we're on the right track?

[mitchellh]

@AnthonyMastrean There is another issue as well. But even so, you'll find that the bug is not fixed in 2.0. We had some users who moved the installer to %PROGRAMFILES% and ran into a bunch of issues less than 6 months ago. :(

[pbarney]

There is an easy way to solve this. Windows provides and alternate "short name" for all files and folders that aren't the (old-style) 8dot3 file names. On most installations, C:\Program Files\ will be C:\PROGRA\~1 and C:\Program Files (x86)\ will be C:\PROGRA\~2. This way, Ruby can happily find the folder without needing spaces.

[AJ-Stevens]

Judging from the Vagrant 1.8.1 msi installer file, this is still the case, has the Ruby problem been resolved so this can be corrected? Or how about pbarney's suggestion above?

[drdaeman]

I've just had to run some things on Windows, so I've decided to try installing Vagrant in a proper location. I've told 1.8.1 x86_64 .msi to install to C:\Progra~1\Vagrant, ensuring Progra~1 is 8.3 name for Program Files - and I don't experience any issues so far.

• %PATH% contains 8.3 name, exactly as was specified when installing.
• No issues provisioning a VM with vagrant up (using Salt provisioner, if that matters).
• No issues with SSH access as well.
• No issues installing a plugin. I've even tried "C:\Program Files\Vagrant\bin\vagrant.exe" plugin install vagrant-address (to ensure argv[0] is a LFN) and that had worked just fine (sans the inability to work with Virtualbox - I didn't need the plugin, just wanted to test)
• No issues uninstalling plugin as well. It had just worked.

I don't know if specifying 8.3 filename at install time had helped, or that Ruby bug is already fixed or I just missed the faulty scenario. If anyone can tell what exactly to look for, ping me and I'll try to check it out.

[apupier]

The ruby bug is supposed to be fixed for a very long time: https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/7036

[Zenexer]

@mitchellh Are you able to provide an upstream bug report that we can track? The one @apupier mentioned was fixed 4 years ago in 2.0.0dev. If the issue doesn't yet exist, we should file one.