Quick summary
Every attempt to create a new WordPress site fails with "PHP command failed (code: 1)". The bundled php.exe runs fine when invoked directly from a terminal (including php.exe -S to start a local server), but fails every time when spawned by Studio.
Steps to reproduce
- Start the Studio app.
- Click on 'Add site'.
- Fill in any site name and click 'Create site'.
- The error appears immediately: "Failed to start WordPress server: PHP command failed (code: 1)".
This happens with every project path tested (including a fully ASCII path like C:\Studio\Test), with a fresh reinstall, and after rebooting.
What you expected to happen
The new WordPress site should be created and start successfully.
What actually happened
Site creation fails every time with: Error invoking remote method 'createSite': CliCommandError: [Last error message] Failed to start WordPress server: PHP command failed (code: 1) [Base message] Failed to create site [Exit code] 1
App or CLI?
Studio App
Version
1.20.0
Impact
One
Available workarounds?
No and the app is unusable
Platform
Windows
Architecture
x64 (Intel, AMD)
Logs or notes
Environment: Windows 11 Business (build 10.0.26200.9106), corporate-managed laptop. Windows username contains an accented/non-ASCII character.
Things already ruled out:
- Non-ASCII username in path: tested both C:\Users<accented-name>\Studio... and fully ASCII C:\Studio\Test — same error both times.
- TEMP/TMP redirected to C:\Temp (ASCII), rebooted — no change.
- 8dot3name confirmed ENABLED via fsutil.
- Windows Defender exclusions added for C:\Studio and %LOCALAPPDATA%\studio_app — no change. Protection History/Quarantine shows nothing related.
- AppLocker is active (corporate policy) but no blocking events (8004) around failure times, only routine policy events.
- PHP binary itself (...\studio_app\app-1.20.0\resources\php-bin\8.4.24-studio-2\php.exe) works perfectly standalone:
- php.exe --version → PHP 8.4.24 (cli), no errors
- php.exe -m → normal module list
- php.exe -S 127.0.0.1:8881 → starts and listens successfully
- Killed all Studio processes + rebooted before retries — same result.
- Full uninstall + deleted %LOCALAPPDATA%\studio_app and %APPDATA%\Studio + reinstall — same error persists.
Also noticed: on several launches, before any site-creation attempt, the log shows a recurring Squirrel updater failure ("Couldn't acquire lock, is another instance running"), even after a clean reinstall. Not sure if related.
Repeating log excerpt on every attempt:
[info][main] Checking PHP 8.4 binary…
[info][main] Starting WordPress server…
[erro][main] Error occurred in handler for 'createSite': CliCommandError: [Last error message] Failed to start WordPress server: PHP command failed (code: 1) [Base message] Failed to create site [Exit code] 1
The info-level logging doesn't capture the actual PHP stderr/stdout, so I can't see the underlying error. Is there a way to get more verbose/debug output from Studio showing the exact command line and stderr used to spawn the WordPress server?
Quick summary
Every attempt to create a new WordPress site fails with "PHP command failed (code: 1)". The bundled php.exe runs fine when invoked directly from a terminal (including php.exe -S to start a local server), but fails every time when spawned by Studio.
Steps to reproduce
This happens with every project path tested (including a fully ASCII path like C:\Studio\Test), with a fresh reinstall, and after rebooting.
What you expected to happen
The new WordPress site should be created and start successfully.
What actually happened
Site creation fails every time with: Error invoking remote method 'createSite': CliCommandError: [Last error message] Failed to start WordPress server: PHP command failed (code: 1) [Base message] Failed to create site [Exit code] 1
App or CLI?
Studio App
Version
1.20.0
Impact
One
Available workarounds?
No and the app is unusable
Platform
Windows
Architecture
x64 (Intel, AMD)
Logs or notes
Environment: Windows 11 Business (build 10.0.26200.9106), corporate-managed laptop. Windows username contains an accented/non-ASCII character.
Things already ruled out:
Also noticed: on several launches, before any site-creation attempt, the log shows a recurring Squirrel updater failure ("Couldn't acquire lock, is another instance running"), even after a clean reinstall. Not sure if related.
Repeating log excerpt on every attempt:
[info][main] Checking PHP 8.4 binary…
[info][main] Starting WordPress server…
[erro][main] Error occurred in handler for 'createSite': CliCommandError: [Last error message] Failed to start WordPress server: PHP command failed (code: 1) [Base message] Failed to create site [Exit code] 1
The info-level logging doesn't capture the actual PHP stderr/stdout, so I can't see the underlying error. Is there a way to get more verbose/debug output from Studio showing the exact command line and stderr used to spawn the WordPress server?