Invalid characters in path

Hello,
whenever I open the Site Manager or try to open a session I get:

Invalid characters in path

With process monitor I figured out the following candidates:

"CreateFile","C:\Users\...\Documents\...\""C:\Users\...\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\pageant.exe","NAME INVALID","Desired Access: Read Attributes, Disposition: Open, Options: Open Reparse Point, Attributes: n/a, ShareMode: Read, Write, Delete, AllocationSize: n/a"

"CreateFile","C:\Program Files (x86)\tools""\pageant.exe","NAME INVALID","Desired Access: Read Attributes, Disposition: Open, Options: Open Reparse Point, Attributes: n/a, ShareMode: Read, Write, Delete, AllocationSize: n/a"

But I have no idea where these paths are configured!
When I start WinSCP as a different user (local administrator in this case), there is no issue.

Thanks for any hint!

BR
Uli

WinSCP does not try to start Pageant on its own.
Don't you have Automatically open new sessions in PuTTY option enabled with some fancy custom PuTTY command-line that may try to run the Pageant?
https://winscp.net/eng/docs/ui_pref_integration_app

If this does not help, can you send me an email, so I can send you back a debug version of WinSCP to track the problem? Please include a link back to this topic in your email. Also note in this topic that you have sent the email. Thanks.

mail sent to Martin

This issue has been added to the tracker:
https://winscp.net/tracker/1942

Hi Martin,
Problem appears not only when opening Site Manager, but when I try to start a freshly unzipped portable WinSCP.
After double-clicking WinSCP.exe the GUI opens for the blink of an eye and then closes with the message "Invalid characters in path".
The path of the executable itself should be fine. WinSCP-5.17.7-Portable runs fine from there.
Is there any log I can use to troubleshoot this?
Calling WinSCP.exe with the /log parameter does not create a logfile, neither writes to it if it exists.

Cheers
Matzerich

Well, the freshly unzipped/installed WinSCP starts with opened Login dialog (Site Manager). So it seems to be the same problem.
So does (portable) 5.18.x work for you?

I'm facing the exact same issue as soon as opening WinSCP. Please help to resolve

@KarthikeyanSabari: What version of WinSCP are you using? Did you test 5.18, where the problem should be fixed?
https://winscp.net/eng/download.php?n=5.18