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fix(ui.open): change deprecated rundll32 to start command#36731

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justinmk merged 1 commit intoneovim:masterfrom
ymich9963:ui-open
Nov 30, 2025
Merged

fix(ui.open): change deprecated rundll32 to start command#36731
justinmk merged 1 commit intoneovim:masterfrom
ymich9963:ui-open

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@ymich9963
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@ymich9963 ymich9963 commented Nov 28, 2025

Problem:
The rundll32 utility is a leftover from Windows 95, and it has been deprecated since at least Windows Vista.

Solution:
Use the start command through Command Prompt instead.


Here's the start command documentation:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/start

Here is also two sources discussing how rundll32.exe shouldn't be used:
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20130104-00/?p=5643
https://superuser.com/questions/1074587/under-what-circumstances-can-i-use-rundll32-to-invoke-a-function-in-a-dll

This change essentially only affects this commit,
519b992

Some more info:
This uses the start command, which is different from the start alias for Start-Process in PowerShell. I believe this is the best way of doing this since it doesn't depend on a deprecated utility, and it uses a command all modern Windows machines (seem to) have. It accepts URLs, files and folders, just like rundll32. The initial research into this commit was fixing #36293 but unfortunately it does not fix it. It is still a necessary improvement to make in my opinion. Hope you agree!

Problem:
The rundll32 utility is a leftover from Windows 95, and it has
been deprecated since at least Windows Vista.

Solution:
Use the start command through Command Prompt instead.
@justinmk
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Thanks for referencing previous discussions. Did you confirm that this works with vim.ui.open('https://devdocs.io/#q=lua%20lua_call') as described in #23401 (comment)

@justinmk justinmk merged commit c87d92c into neovim:master Nov 30, 2025
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@ymich9963
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Thanks for referencing previous discussions. Did you confirm that this works with vim.ui.open('https://devdocs.io/#q=lua%20lua_call') as described in #23401 (comment)

Apologies for the delay. Indeed it does!

@justinmk
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Just for reference, note that cmd /c start was used before #23401 , and the rationale for using explorer and/or rundll32 is here: #23401 (comment)

If we again go in circles and find some case that doesn't work with cmd /c start, please review the discussion there and confirm that all cases work with whatever variant is proposed.

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Successfully created backport PR for release-0.11:

github-actions bot pushed a commit that referenced this pull request Nov 30, 2025
Problem:
The rundll32 utility is a leftover from Windows 95, and it has
been deprecated since at least Windows Vista.

Solution:
Use the start command through Command Prompt instead.

(cherry picked from commit c87d92c)
github-actions bot pushed a commit that referenced this pull request Nov 30, 2025
Problem:
The rundll32 utility is a leftover from Windows 95, and it has
been deprecated since at least Windows Vista.

Solution:
Use the start command through Command Prompt instead.

(cherry picked from commit c87d92c)
@ymich9963
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ymich9963 commented Nov 30, 2025

Just for reference, note that cmd /c start was used before #23401 , and the rationale for using explorer and/or rundll32 is here: #23401 (comment)

If we again go in circles and find some case that doesn't work with cmd /c start, please review the discussion there and confirm that all cases work with whatever variant is proposed.

Yup no problem. From testing through the Command Prompt I believe it works for every case. It may be misleading because of #36293 so any future testing for this before that issue gets resolved I suggest to use Command Prompt directly. Also linking to my discussion post in this PR #36700.

benarcher2691 pushed a commit to benarcher2691/neovim that referenced this pull request Dec 1, 2025
Problem:
The rundll32 utility is a leftover from Windows 95, and it has
been deprecated since at least Windows Vista.

Solution:
Use the start command through Command Prompt instead.
yochem pushed a commit to yochem/neovim that referenced this pull request Dec 15, 2025
Problem:
The rundll32 utility is a leftover from Windows 95, and it has
been deprecated since at least Windows Vista.

Solution:
Use the start command through Command Prompt instead.
justinmk added a commit to justinmk/neovim that referenced this pull request Jan 26, 2026
Following is a list of fix/feature commits in this release.
See `:help news` in Nvim for release notes.

FEATURES
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- b92e92b lsp: support auto-force escalation in client stop neovim#36430
- 808d973 lsp: warn about unknown filetype neovim#36910

FIXES
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- 5e7af0b :ls: check for finished terminal properly (neovim#37303)
- 6ce7b9b api: autocmds mess up nvim_get_option_value's dummy buffer
- c124594 api: buffer overflow in nvim_buf_get_extmarks overlap neovim#37184
- 7f51431 api: crash when moving curwin to other tabpage neovim#35679
- 7896fe2 api: do not allow opening float to closing buffer
- 91ebbc6 api: ignore split_disallowed when opening a float
- 10a1df2 api: nvim_get_option_value dummy buffer crashes
- da825e5 api: on_bytes gets stale data on :substitute neovim#36487
- a9ffdca api: open_win leak from naughty autocommands
- 92849ea api: parse_expression crash with ident and curly
- 1db945b api: parse_expression crash with unopened ] and node
- 79b67ce appimage: wrong $ARCH used by linuxdeploy neovim#36712
- 46011a4 autocmd: fire TabClosed after freeing tab page
- a512d43 autocmd: heap UAF with :bwipe in Syntax autocmd
- bea500d autocmd: parsing of comma-separated buflocal patterns
- 648cf4e autocmd: skip empty comma-separated patterns properly
- fa24e04 buffer: defer w_buffer clearing to prevent dict watcher crash neovim#36748
- 9fb49aa buffer: don't allow changedtick watcher to delete buffer (neovim#36764)
- cae3c83 buffer: don't reuse 1-line terminal buffer (neovim#37261)
- 6f84ea7 buffer: switching buffer should respect jumpoptions+=view (neovim#36969)
- 16ca7ce build: disable problematic marktree assert in RelWithDebInfo builds
- c469cba channel: unreference list after callback finishes (neovim#37358)
- 43f5297 clipboard: tmux clipboard data may be stale neovim#36787
- 0358f37 clipboard: use tmux only in a tmux session (neovim#36603)
- 7e99466 eval: 0 should mean current tabpage in gettabvar() (neovim#36891)
- 656ff4c events: crash on WinScrolled neovim#35995
- 63c5a10 install: only install "tee" on Windows neovim#36629
- e8c21a8 langmap: assert failure on mapping to char >= 256 (neovim#37291)
- 890c257 lsp: check `nvim.lsp.enable` before `doautoall` neovim#36518
- 275c769 lua: don't remove first char of non-file stacktrace source (neovim#37008)
- 83c589d lua: relax `vim.wait()` timeout validation (neovim#36907)
- bd2317f lua: separate vim.{g,b,w,t} types neovim#37081
- f21c169 lua: vim._with() doesn't save boolean options properly (neovim#37354)
- 9acbf51 lua: vim.wait(math.huge) fails neovim#36885
- 5143419 man.lua: :Man slow/hangs if MANPAGER is set neovim#36689
- df9452e man.lua: show_toc condition may cause infinite loop neovim#36979
- 124c182 marks: wrong line('w$', win) with conceal_lines (neovim#37047)
- 6ef1b65 normal: assertion failure with "gk" in narrow window (neovim#37444)
- 5ca2eb5 remote: remote-ui connect timeout on slow networks neovim#36800
- 2a3cd8d rpc: don't overwrite already received results on error (neovim#37339)
- e0fdfd3 scripts: release.sh
- ba600c4 session: window sizes not stored with float windows (neovim#37344)
- 53090ab statusline: scope truncation bookkeeping
- 800118e terminal: :edit should respect 'bufhidden' with exited job (neovim#37301)
- 4b41c28 terminal: <Ignore> should be no-op (neovim#37494)
- 074d342 terminal: avoid multiple terminals writing to same buffer (neovim#37219)
- 2cc7873 terminal: crash when TermClose deletes other buffers
- ea87192 terminal: crash when TermClose switches back to terminal buffer
- ceed171 terminal: crash with race between buffer close and OSC 2 (neovim#37225)
- acc46e1 terminal: handle closing terminal with pending TermRequest (neovim#37227)
- bb31e7b terminal: inconsistent mode change when switching buffer (neovim#37215)
- 40c974e terminal: restore options properly when switching buffer (neovim#37485)
- 46f569a treesitter: use metadata in :EditQuery captures neovim#37116
- 076f799 trust: :trust command on Windows neovim#36509
- d997c8e tutor: escape tutor filename neovim#36539
- fcd0517 ui.open: use "start" instead of deprecated "rundll32" neovim#36731
- 6a507ba vim.fs: abspath(".") returns "/…/." (neovim#36584)
- d974c68 vim.fs: root() should always return absolute path neovim#36466
- 91fd4d1 vim.loader: randomized AppImage path pollutes luac cache neovim#35636
- 45cda1b vim.loader: randomized AppImage path pollutes luac cache neovim#36944
- d9631c7 window: crash closing only non-float if autocmds :tabonly (neovim#37218)
- f7e2554 window: crash closing split if autocmds close other splits (neovim#37233)
- 7a9bced window: disallow closing autocmd window in other tabpage
- 88619e1 window: handle closing the only non-float in other tabpage
- d38ba7e window: restore b_nwindows if win_close_othertab keeps window
- 6338d2d window: win_move_after UAF from naughty autocmds (neovim#37065)
- fac7c10 windows: set manifest resource ID to 1 in nvim.rc for MinGW (neovim#36611)

BUILD
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- d0ed06d haiku os support neovim#36639
- a94647b build(windows): restore "tee" on Windows neovim#36627
- 1f93acc build(windows): vendor xxd.c (neovim#36755)

REVERTED CHANGES
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- ae25f69 fix: vim.lsp.omnifunc should not throw away other items

VIM PATCHES
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- b3eab00 229f79c: runtime(yaml): fix wrong order of undo_ftplugin suboptions
- 89f8e97 3a324c8: runtime(doc): Fix typo in syntax.txt (neovim#37522)
- d1cd79a 64799a5: runtime(doc): clarify the behavior of CTRL-Z
- 0978d83 7bc9880: runtime(make): do not automatically indent after a special target
- 781da75 8.1.0753: printf format not checked for semsg() (neovim#37248)
- 44eae48 9.1.0893: No test that undofile format does not regress (neovim#37193)
- 9a50420 9.1.1872: Cmdline history not updated when mapping <Up> and <CR> (neovim#36334)
- d1604e0 9.1.1969: Wrong cursor position after formatting with long 'formatprg' (neovim#36918)
- fda8d2c 9.1.2028: [security]: Buffer-overflow with incomplete multi-byte chars (neovim#37133)
- f96e401 9.1.2055: Division by zero in :file after failing to wipe buffer (neovim#37268)
- f8961c3 9.1.2058: b_locked_split is not checked for :sbuffer
- 9f2b991 9.1.2066: :wqall! doesn't close a terminal like :qall! does (neovim#37314)
- b1fa8f1 9.1.2068: :bd/bw may try to switch to a closing buffer
- 600d9f3 9.1.2086: Memory leak when skipping invalid literal dict
- 0cc15be 9.1.2087: Crash when using :tabonly in BufUnload
- d052d22 9.1.2090: Last buffer not freed with EXITFREE
- 537e8d6 9.1.2095: :wqall! doesn't quit when using :quit in BufWritePost
- 0b1f5a1 9.1.2105: tests: not enough tests for using plain_vgetc() (neovim#37521)
- 0da1e4b 9.1.2107: :normal may change cmdline history (neovim#37523)
- a66fce6 98a0cbf: patch 9.1.1971: crash with invalid positional argument 0 in printf() (neovim#36919)
- 85404d1 eb732ed: runtime(doc): Wrap overlength lines in uganda.txt (neovim#36550)
- a93b5a7 fe8c8b1: runtime(doc): fix outdated :function help
- 0706c55 partial:9.1.1955: sort() does not handle large numbers correctly (neovim#36840)
ymich9963 added a commit to ymich9963/mdnotes.nvim that referenced this pull request Feb 6, 2026
ymich9963 added a commit to ymich9963/mdnotes.nvim that referenced this pull request Feb 6, 2026
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