GitHub Actions Artifact upload fails silently on Windows runners—no error logs

[Crealify]

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Discussion Details

Issue Description :
Artifact uploads on Windows runners fail silently during workflow execution. No error logs appear in the Actions UI or runner logs, even with ACTIONS_STEP_DEBUG enabled.

Reproduction Steps :

1. Use a Windows runner (windows-latest).
2. Upload artifacts via actions/upload-artifact@v4.
3. Observe workflow completes "successfully" but artifacts are missing.

Expected Behavior :

• Upload succeeds or fails with explicit errors.

Environment :
Runner: windows-latest (GitHub-hosted)
upload-artifact version: v4
Workflow YAML snippet:

yaml :
uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
with:
name: build-output
path: ./dist
Failed workflow run (#123)](https://ghp.lvmhsh.cnCrealify/typing-trainer/actions/runs/15647378032)
Note: Artifacts panel is empty despite green checkmark.
@github-actions

[R41CY]

---

This seems to be a known intermittent issue with actions/upload-artifact@v4 on Windows runners. Here's what you can do:

✅ Steps to Troubleshoot:

1. Ensure the path is valid on Windows:

   path: ./dist

   Make sure dist exists at runtime. You can confirm with:

   - run: dir ./dist

2. Use Absolute Paths:
   GitHub Actions on Windows sometimes has issues with relative paths. Change to:

   path: ${{ github.workspace }}\\dist

3. Enable Full Debugging:
   Add both:

   env:
     ACTIONS_RUNNER_DEBUG: true
     ACTIONS_STEP_DEBUG: true

4. Use continue-on-error: false:
   Force the step to fail visibly if upload fails:

   - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
     with:
       name: build-output
       path: ${{ github.workspace }}\\dist
     continue-on-error: false

5. Check for special characters or long paths:
   Windows has trouble with >260 char paths or special characters.

---

If all else fails, try running the exact same workflow on a Linux runner (ubuntu-latest) to confirm it’s Windows-specific. If the Linux runner works, then it’s likely a path or file lock issue in the Windows environment.

Let me know if you want help rewriting your YAML to apply these fixes.