Laravel install fails on Windows install:features

[Ademking]

Laravel Version

13.11.2

PHP Version

8.5.4

Database Driver & Version

No response

Description

On Windows 11, running laravel new fails during the post-autoload scripts when artisan install:features is executed.
The command triggers an interactive prompt, which causes the Composer script to fail with exit code 255.

> Illuminate\Foundation\ComposerScripts::postAutoloadDump
> @php artisan package:discover --ansi

   INFO  Discovering packages.

  inertiajs/inertia-laravel ................................................................................................................... DONE
  laravel/fortify ............................................................................................................................. DONE
  laravel/pail ................................................................................................................................ DONE
  laravel/pao ................................................................................................................................. DONE
  laravel/passkeys ............................................................................................................................ DONE
  laravel/sail ................................................................................................................................ DONE
  laravel/tinker .............................................................................................................................. DONE
  laravel/wayfinder ........................................................................................................................... DONE
  nesbot/carbon ............................................................................................................................... DONE
  nunomaduro/collision ........................................................................................................................ DONE
  nunomaduro/termwind ......................................................................................................................... DONE

87 packages you are using are looking for funding.
Use the `composer fund` command to find out more!
> @php artisan install:features --ansi

  Which authentication features would you like to enable? [email-verification,registration,2fa,passkeys,password-confirmation]
  None .............................................................................................................................................
  Email verification ............................................................................................................ email-verification
  Registration ........................................................................................................................ registration
  Two-factor authentication .................................................................................................................... 2fa
  Passkeys ................................................................................................................................ passkeys
  Password confirmation ...................................................................................................... password-confirmation

Script @php artisan install:features --ansi handling the post-update-cmd event returned with error code 255

Steps To Reproduce

laravel new

Observe failure during post-autoload-dump

[github-actions]

Thank you for reporting this issue!

As Laravel is an open source project, we rely on the community to help us diagnose and fix issues as it is not possible to research and fix every issue reported to us via GitHub.

If possible, please make a pull request fixing the issue you have described, along with corresponding tests. All pull requests are promptly reviewed by the Laravel team.

Thank you!

[hamdyelbatal122]

Thanks for the detailed report — this is a real issue with the starter kit install flow on Windows, not with your PHP setup (since package:discover completed successfully).

What is happening

Starter kits (React / Vue / Livewire / Svelte) register @php artisan install:features --ansi in post-update-cmd in composer.json (see laravel/react-starter-kit).

During laravel new, the global installer should set LARAVEL_INSTALLER_DEFER_HOOKS=1 while composer create-project runs. In that case, InstallFeaturesCommand should exit immediately without prompting (see laravel/installer#523 and app/Console/Commands/InstallFeaturesCommand.php in the starter kit).

Your log shows the multiselect prompt running during post-update-cmd, which means the defer env var was not visible to the Artisan subprocess on Windows. Composer then tries to run an interactive prompt without a proper TTY, and the script exits with code 255.

Workarounds

1. Update the global Laravel installer (defer hooks need installer ≥ 5.28.0):

composer global update laravel/installer
laravel --version

2. If the project folder was created but Composer failed, finish setup manually:

cd your-app-name
php artisan install:features

3. Non-interactive install (skip prompts):

php artisan install:features --answers='{"auth_features":["email-verification","registration","2fa","passkeys","password-confirmation"]}'

Adjust the JSON to the features you want.

4. Alternative: run composer create-project with --no-scripts, then run php artisan install:features once from the project directory.

Likely fix direction (for a PR)

• In starter kits: read defer hooks via $_ENV as well as getenv() for better Windows env inheritance from Composer.
• Skip interactive prompts when stdin is not a TTY (Composer script context).
• Or run install:features only via extra.laravel.installer.post-create-project (after create-project), not in post-update-cmd.

Extra info that would help maintainers reproduce

• Output of laravel --version
• Which starter kit flag you used (e.g. laravel new --react)
• Terminal: Windows Terminal / cmd / PowerShell
• Whether the failure happens on every run or intermittently

Hope this helps until an official fix lands.

[hamdyelbatal122]

Cross-repo note: opened a more targeted report on the installer/starter-kit side: laravel/installer#525 (Windows + LARAVEL_INSTALLER_DEFER_HOOKS not reaching install:features during Composer post-update-cmd).

[Aditya-Mandal-official]

Hi! I'd like to investigate this issue and submit a fix if I can reproduce it.

[JorgeRui]

Happening to me as well. The error I'm getting is:
"The system cannot find the specified route."

After selecting all the features.

Environment

Item	Value
OS	Windows 10 (10.0.19045)
Shell	PowerShell 7
PHP (Artisan / Herd)	8.5.9 — C:\Users\[REDACTED]\.config\herd\bin\php85\php.exe (via php.bat)
PHP (also on PATH)	8.2.12 — C:\xampp\php\php.exe
Laravel	v13.24.0
laravel/chisel	v0.1.1
laravel/prompts	v0.3.22
Symfony Process	(framework dep) ExecutableFinder
Node	22.14.0 / npm 11.6.0

The install features command utilises the code from laravel/maestro#143

The error I'm getting:

1. System can't find the specified route

When doing the workaround of passing the responses directly, the error is different:

I've asked an LLM to write a report on both commands. What he found out was the following (unsure if true):

On Windows (PowerShell), install:features fails in two ways:

1. --answers=... → JsonException: Syntax error because PowerShell strips JSON quotes before PHP sees the argument.
2. Interactive / --ansi (and also with valid --answers) → exits 255 during Generate Wayfinder Resources, because chisel.php spawns bare php, and Symfony’s ExecutableFinder resolves a different (older) PHP than the one running Artisan.