ERR_PNPM_LINKING_FAILED when running pnpm i

[atsjo]

Verify latest release

• I verified that the issue exists in the latest pnpm release

pnpm version

8.12.1 - 8.13.1

Which area(s) of pnpm are affected? (leave empty if unsure)

No response

Link to the code that reproduces this issue or a replay of the bug

No response

Reproduction steps

Updating for instance nx in my repo, then running pnpm i to install the new deps often fails with

ERR_PNPM_LINKING_FAILED  Error: The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect. (os error -2147024773), reflink...

running pnpm i again, after the failure usually works...

Describe the Bug

When updating package.json and then running pnpm i on windows, the last two versions often fail with

 ERR_PNPM_LINKING_FAILED  Error: The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect. (os error -2147024773), reflink 'D:\.pnpm-store\v3\files\aa\5bab73d5f67e005dbe01f7f5aec6b9e7b03dfa3d300507b2056c2c82de9fae75ebce3cdbc3c28bf2e8311e3219b05802d115d854f88689014c78b09454c00b' -> 'D:\repos\teve-no\task4s\node_modules\.pnpm\@nx+eslint-plugin@17.2.8_@swc-node+register@1.6.8_@swc+core@1.3.101_@types+node@20.10.5_@type_alsrajq2zdvzzqi5j3o5xsqlle\node_modules\@nx\eslint-plugin_tmp_16432\src\migrations\update-17-2-6-rename-workspace-rules\rename-workspace-rules.js'

The error is resolved if running pnpm i again...

The error is not present in 8.12.0 it seems, but the error is not completely deterministic, so it might be present there as well (but have so far not encountered it with 8.12.0)...

Expected Behavior

No error when running pnpm i

Which Node.js version are you using?

20.10.0

Which operating systems have you used?

• macOS
• Windows
• Linux

If your OS is a Linux based, which one it is? (Include the version if relevant)

No response

[Hazmi35]

Are you using ReFS in Windows Dev Drives? if yes there's a bug right in pnpm right now.

See #7313 (comment) and pnpm/reflink#9

In the meantime you can set package-import-method to hardlink or downgrade

[atsjo]

yes, I'm using ReFS. I'll try to upgrade from 8.12.0 and set package-import-method=hardlink.
I also had this problem back in 8.9.0 when cloning was introduced...