nrF Connect SDK VSCode install fails: "[west]: exited with code -4058"

[Al.]

Context: Windows 10 Pro x64 up to date; VSCode 1.106.2 (installed fresh 2025-11-20); nRF Connect SDK: nrfconnect-setup-5.2.0-x64.exe (downloaded 2025-11-20)

Install VSCode; download and run nrfconnect-setup-5.2.0-x64.exe, follow the prompts to install rRF Connect for Visual Studio Code. Choose directory for install (shown in output below).

Output clearly shows that installer does not respect the chosen install path (installs to c:\ncs), and then a later stage treats the different locations as an error. Note that istalling on C drive is not an option.

Question: How to install SDK/toolset etc. for VSCode to a directory on a different drive? Keep in mind that after install, future updates from within VSCode need to apply properly also, without breaking the install.

[Benjamin]

Hi,
Do you have any anti-virus software on your computer? Try pausing/disabling it. I have seen similar issues where this was the cause.

Regards,
Benjamin

[Al.]

Yes of course there is anti-virus s/w. There are no alerts during the install, and no indication in my system logs that access to my selected install location was blocked.I have installed numerous software packages - including VS Code - to that same drive/folder (D:\Data\ProgramFiles) over the years and have never encountered an issue before. Also, the error messages from your tool(s) DO NOT mention any access or permission errors. However THEY DO complain about --sdk-path and --install-dir being on different drives.

I am not trying to install on different drives. I was asked for only a single path, which apparently set the value of the --sdk-path flag to some command-line tool. Where in your scripts is --install-path being set? Why isn't it set to the directory that I chose? 

It appears that --install-path = c:\ncs is hard-coded. Is it possible to install to a location on a non-system drive? How and/or where is --install-path set?