ConPTY VS Code Issue - ANSI escape sequences don't display correctly

[rewrking]

Windows Terminal version

1.13.10733.0

Windows build number

10.0.19041.1415

Other Software

VS Code 1.66.0

Steps to reproduce

1. Open VS Code and set "terminal.integrated.minimumContrastRatio": 1:
2. Get this file: https://gist.github.com/rewrking/f797bd19e9ecc44fa1c646b3f7b795c0

Steps for Git Bash inside of VS Code:

4. Run cat print_term.txt where the file in step 3 was saved

Steps for Powershell inside of VS Code:

4. Run Get-Content -Path .\print_term.txt where the file in step 3 was saved

Expected Behavior

All terminal colors and most ansi sequences would be expected, but this is not the case.

Actual Behavior

Right now, my VS Code and Windows Terminal setup use the same color scheme. Both Git Bash and Powershell display the same way in each. In order to test this correctly, all 16 colors need to be unique.

This is what displays in VS Code on Windows:

This is what displays in Windows Terminal:

I originally opened up this issue with the vscode team, but they closed the issue and told me to take it up with you folks, due to the problem being related to conPTY:
microsoft/vscode#146474

Let me know if there's a way to fix this. Thanks.

[zadjii-msft]

I believe that this is something that's already fixed in newer OS builds:

The Terminal ships with an up-to-date ConPTY in the package, but VsCode needs to rely on the version that's shipped with the OS. I'm not totally sure which OS version these attributes started being supported in. I'd bet somewhere >=22000.

[rewrking]

Is that an insiders version of Windows 10? Mine is supposedly up to date.

[zadjii-msft]

Nah, 22000+ builds are all Windows 11

[rewrking]

Is there a file or something I can manually update instead? Is ConPTY a dll?

[zadjii-msft]

ConPTY is actually just something that's built into conhost.exe itself.

You might be able to copy-paste a conhost from a Windows 11 machine onto a Windows 10 one, and it probably would work fine. That being said, there was another thread just this week about someone who was tying to move a conhost.exe between machines and experiencing quite a bit of difficulty. I wouldn't recommend it. If you try replacing your c:\windows\system32\conhost.exe and it DOESNT work, then you'll be totally unable to run any commandline applications. Big ol

HERE BE DRAGONS

[rewrking]

Hahaha understood. Ugh. Thanks.

[rewrking]

Okay, so one more thing: What does Windows Terminal do differently? Does it link those conhost changes from a static library during its build or something?

[rewrking]

HERE BE DRAGONS

Yep. This worked (also made sure ConhostV1.dll was copied just in case). Thanks!

[zadjii-msft]

Okay, so one more thing: What does Windows Terminal do differently? Does it link those conhost changes from a static library during its build or something?

Sorta - Terminal actually just includes a whole conhost in its package, and doesn't directly call the conpty apis - it calls a slightly different version that calls into the conhost shipped in the package rather than the one in the OS.

[Mingun]

ConPTY is actually just something that's built into conhost.exe itself.

You might be able to copy-paste a conhost from a Windows 11 machine onto a Windows 10 one, and it probably would work fine. That being said, there was another thread just this week about someone who was tying to move a conhost.exe between machines and experiencing quite a bit of difficulty. I wouldn't recommend it. If you try replacing your c:\windows\system32\conhost.exe and it DOESNT work, then you'll be totally unable to run any commandline applications. Big ol

HERE BE DRAGONS

Whats happens if I copy conhost.exe from Windows 11 to Windows 7 and it will not work? Will I able to return Windows 7 conhost.exe back from backup? Or system will be broken and I cannot run any application? Can I somehow check is this will work before reloading system?

[DHowett]

Whats happens if I copy conhost.exe from Windows 11 to Windows 7 and it will not work?

It will not work, and you risk breaking your system. I wouldn't even try it. The version of conhost on Windows 7 uses a different communication protocol.

We used to verify conhost.exe down to Windows 8.1. That was the first version that used the new communication protocol.

It technically still works, but there are some minor DLL incompatibilities that would need to be worked around.