Cannot remove temporary directory

I use WinSCP for a long time now and have installed versions from 5.9.6 up to 5.13.3 without problems, but since a couple of weeks I get a very peculiar error whose cause I was not able to determine yet. It occurs when I edit a remote file with a local editor and close it.

If I interpret the error message correctly, it complains to not being able to remove a directory without a name. What's going on here?

Most probably the cause is some kind of setting, because the error now appears with any version I tested. If the reason were to be found in the program, it should have appeared after an update, but it didn't.

Indeed I changed the settings for storage recently. Some time ago I changed the storage directory but this did not cause any problem. As far as I remember the problems began when I began experimenting with the "append" checkboxes.

Now checking on or off any of these doesn't change the behavior. Clearing the whole directory doesn't change anything either.

Please see the attached screenshots.

Please attach a full session log file showing the problem (using the latest version of WinSCP).

I noticed 2 files in the directory which were dubious and deleted them to no avail, which was no surprise, as this phenomenon applies to every file in every directory.

To me, everything looks good in this log file. The file I opened and closed was up.sh.

Thanks for your report.
I have sent you an email with a debug version of WinSCP to the address you have used to register on this forum.

Thanks a lot. Fixed. Great software, by the way.

As I exited I received a note to send the trace log. As I had 2 of them, I produced a zip file of about 5 MB. Upload resulted in a general error, supposedly the file was empty.

Should I give it another try?

I'm very sorry, but the problem persists. Trying to integrate the new version into my workflow, it turned out that the problem most probably is related to my way of starting WinSCP.

I use to open a dozen tabs and hate to select my workspace or whatever I called this collection from the startup dialog (b2d). Long time ago I figured out how to do that automatically, but somehow this got lost a couple of weeks ago.

So I turned to the help online and managed to work out a solution. I created a batch file winscp.bat
and from this batch file a shortcut which I could stick to my taskbar. Now whenever I do this with whatever version, I get this error.

On the contrary, if I start WinSCP conventionally and take my workspace from the dialogue, I don't get this error with either version.

Thanks. I'm sending you a new debug build. Please do the same and send me new log files.

First of all, thank you very much.

I have 3 executables at hand:
I attached WinSCP_5.13.3.exe to my taskbar not starting my workspace automatically, so it did not produce an error whenever I closed a file in the editor. It was such a relief which showed me which amount of stress the error had put on me before.

WinSCP20180622.exe seemed to have the same problem, i.e. produce this error when automatically opening the workspace.

WinSCP20180627.exe does not show this error anymore.

Is there a switch to turn off tracing in this debug version?

PS: Now the last problem I have is adding a shortcut to the taskbar which automatically opens my preferred workspace.

I tried different scenarios (... omitted ...) -- I found the solution (simple and logical indeed):
https://www.digitalcitizen.life/shortcut-arguments-parameters-windows/

Well, I think I knew this before but had forgotten about it. Just for the record, if anybody reads this.

I actually didn't change anything between WinSCP20180622.exe and WinSCP20180627.exe to fix the problem.
So it looks suspicious.
Anyway, I'm sending you a release build of the latest version for testing.

Thank you. Works fine.

Well, these things happen... Chances are higher if your program gets more complex...

I will let you know if I get more clues...

Guess what... the error is back. With all versions.

What can I do except step back to manual login?

Something new: with WinSCP20180629, I get the error now even without automatically loading workspace.

Will test with the other versions as well.

Well, as this applies to all versions, I guess the reason for the failure might be in my in file.

Will test.

I assumed my workspace data was in WinSCP.ini, but renaming this file did not change anything. Opening a single tab only or creating a new session did not help either.

What can I do?

Looks like I found something -- see attachment.

Preferences/Storage/Keep... seems to be the one -- if I understand correctly, this is what I'd like to have.

Thanks for all the information.
So can you now reproduce the error with the debug version?

Yes.

In a running session, I call preferences, check this mark, close a file in the editor, and get no error.

Next I open this file again, close it immediately, and get the error.

I remove the checkmark in preferences, open this file, close it and get no error.

Thanks, I see now.

This bug has been added to the tracker:
Issue 1660 – Error when closing edited/opened files with "Keep temporary copies of remote files in deterministic paths" option enabled