Windows: quoted arguments containing & are split when invoking node through Volta shim

Author: ParadiseWitchCreated May 10, 2026Updated May 10, 2026

Environment

OS: Windows 11 专业版 (25H2) x86_64
Kernel: WIN32_NT 10.0.26200.8246
Shell: PowerShell 7.6.0
Volta: 2.0.2
Node: v24.15.0

Reproduction

index.js:

javascript

console.log(process.argv)

Run:

powershell

node .\index.js "http://www.baidu.com?a=1&b=2"

Actual output:

powershell

[
  'C:\\nvm4w\\nodejs\\node.exe',
  'C:\\Users\\Maiii\\code\\overcook-web\\test\\index.js',
  'http://www.baidu.com?a=1'
]

'b' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

But directly invoking the real node.exe works correctly:

powershell

C:\nvm4w\nodejs\node.exe .\index.js "http://www.baidu.com?a=1&b=2"

Output:

[
  'C:\\nvm4w\\nodejs\\node.exe',
  'C:\\Users\\Maiii\\code\\overcook-web\\test\\index.js',
  'http://www.baidu.com?a=1&b=2'
]

Expected behavior

The quoted argument should be passed through unchanged:

http://www.baidu.com?a=1&b=2

Source: volta-cli/volta

View original on GitHub View discussion on GitHub