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[flutter_tools] PathExistsException when creating plugin symlinks on Windows #190235
Description
On Windows, Link.existsSync() in Dart checks if the symlink target exists, returning false for broken symlinks.
If a broken symlink exists, the tool attempts to create it again, which throws PathExistsException (OS Error 183) because the link entry itself already exists on disk.
We need to robustly check if the link entry exists (without following it) using typeSync(followLinks: false) and delete it before recreating.
Note: This issue was identified as a top-10 crasher in the Flutter stable release version 3.44.8.
Activity
[flutter_tools] Reference issue flutter#190235 in plugin symlinks reg…
bkonyi commentedon Sep 4, 2026
Fixed in #191496 (commit 00bd762).
github-actions commentedon Sep 18, 2026
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