cppvsdbg does not support MSIX app execution aliases

[brycehutchings]

Environment

• OS and version: Windows 11 25H2
• VS Code: 1.109.5
• C/C++ extension: 1.30.5
• OS and version of remote machine (if applicable): n/a
• GDB / LLDB version: n/a

Bug Summary and Steps to Reproduce

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Set up a launch.json to launch something with an MSIX execution alias using cppvsdbg debugger. A common one that many people have is installed is WinGet:

{
  "version": "2.0.0",
  "configurations": [
    {
      "name": "WinGet",
      "type": "cppvsdbg",
      "request": "launch",
      "program": "winget.exe",
      "args": [],
      "console": "externalTerminal"
    }
  ]
}

2. Press F5. Notice you get an error "Unable to start program 'C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\winget.exe'. Not implemented.". But if you press CTRL+F5 it executes it fine in the correct package context.

Debugger Configurations

Launch.json:

{
  "version": "2.0.0",
  "configurations": [
    {
      "name": "WinGet",
      "type": "cppvsdbg",
      "request": "launch",
      "program": "winget.exe",
      "args": [],
      "console": "externalTerminal"
    }
  ]
}

Debugger Logs

Unable to start debugging. Unable to start program 'C:\Users\...\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\MrBackgroundHost.exe'. Not implemented.

Other Extensions

No response

Additional Information

For some background:

• MSIX app execution aliases are defined here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/uwp/schemas/appxpackage/uapmanifestschema/element-uap5-appexecutionalias. They allow a packaged executable to be executed from command-line.
• App execution aliases are the only way we've found we can launch our product in its appropriate MSIX package context from VS/VSCode, which is how customers will run our executable too.
• Visual Studio does not have this problem and can launch/debug things through an app execution alias just fine (I do this with an NMake-style vcxproj).

[github-actions]

Thank you for your feature request. While we may not be able to implement it immediately, we will monitor community reactions to see how it fits into our backlog. Additionally, if you're working with GDB/LLDB, please note that the code is open source at https://github.com/microsoft/MIEngine/wiki/Contributing-Code . Your contributions are always welcome and appreciated.

[brycehutchings]

I did some research and I believe the fix/improvement needs to happen in vsdbg.exe itself, which is closed source.

[sean-mcmanus]

@brycehutchings Yes, you are right (our labeler bot is incorrect). The VS debugger team responsible for vsdbg.exe doesn't monitor this GitHub issues page, so you may want to file a debugger feature request again VS itself (https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/), but mention it's for VS Code but that the team responsible works on VS.