ERROR: Template partial `C:[DEDACTED]\share\formats\html\templates\_title-meta-author.html` was not found

[odysseu]

I have:

• searched the issue tracker for similar issues
• installed the latest version of Quarto CLI
• formatted my issue following the Bug Reports guide

Bug description

On my windows enterprise laptop, I installed quarto in a special directory because there are rules that disable any installation the classic way.

Therefore when I create a simple project using quarto CLI, I can't render it because there appear to be a issue with a template file directory (see following steps to reproduce)

I think this issue is similar to : #8103

Steps to reproduce

• 0. Install quarto

But put the binary in a direcotry which contains a ! in its name.
Since I'm on a windows, for me it is located at C:\!DEP-USER\DEDACTED\quarto-1.8 so you would have :

$ C:\!DEP-USER\DEDACTED\quarto-1.8.27-win> tree /f | head -50

+---bin
?   ?   quarto.cmd
?   ?   quarto.exe          <-- quarto.exe is here 
?   ?   quarto.js
?   ?
?   +---tools
?       ?   pandoc.exe
?       ?
?       +---x86_64
?           ?   deno.exe
?          ...
?
+---share
    ?   COPYING.md
    ?   COPYRIGHT
    ?   version
    ? ...

• 1. Make a new project :

$ quarto --version

Which gives :

1.8.27

$ mkdir foobar
$ cd foobar

• 2. Make a new quarto book, named "Coucou"

$ quarto create

Which gives:

? Create » project
? Type » book
? Directory » .
? Title (book) » Coucou
Creating project at C:\Users\DEDACTED\foobar:
  - Created _quarto.yml
  - Created index.qmd
  - Created intro.qmd
  - Created summary.qmd
  - Created references.qmd
  - Created cover.png
  - Created references.bib

• 3. I render my book :

$ quarto render

Which gives:

[1/4] index.qmd
ERROR: Template partial C:\!DEP-USER\DEDACTED\quarto-1.8\share\formats\html\templates\_title-meta-author.html was not found. Please confirm that the path to the file is correct.

Stack trace:
    at file:///C:/!DEP-USER/DEDACTED/quarto-1.8/bin/quarto.js:79036:13
    at Array.flatMap (<anonymous>)
    at readPartials (file:///C:/!DEP-USER/DEDACTED/quarto-1.8/bin/quarto.js:79030:18)
    at runPandoc (file:///C:/!DEP-USER/DEDACTED/quarto-1.8/bin/quarto.js:113732:26)
    at eventLoopTick (ext:core/01_core.js:178:7)
    at async renderPandoc (file:///C:/!DEP-USER/DEDACTED/quarto-1.8/bin/quarto.js:115282:24)
    at async Object.onRender (file:///C:/!DEP-USER/DEDACTED/quarto-1.8/bin/quarto.js:140305:34)
    at async renderFileInternal (file:///C:/!DEP-USER/DEDACTED/quarto-1.8/bin/quarto.js:123952:9)
    at async renderFiles (file:///C:/!DEP-USER/DEDACTED/quarto-1.8/bin/quarto.js:123681:9)
    at async renderProject (file:///C:/!DEP-USER/DEDACTED/quarto-1.8/bin/quarto.js:124208:23)

Whih is odd, because the fille C:\!DEP-USER\DEDACTED\quarto-1.8\share\formats\html\templates\_title-meta-author.html actually exists.

Actual behavior

No response

Expected behavior

No response

Your environment

• Windows 10 or 11
• any terminal

Quarto check output

quarto check

Gives me :

Quarto 1.8.27
[✓] Checking environment information...
      Quarto cache location: /home/onyxia/.cache/quarto
[✓] Checking versions of quarto binary dependencies...
      Pandoc version 3.6.3: OK
      Dart Sass version 1.87.0: OK
      Deno version 2.3.1: OK
      Typst version 0.13.0: OK
[✓] Checking versions of quarto dependencies......OK
[✓] Checking Quarto installation......OK
      Version: 1.8.27
      Path: /usr/local/lib/quarto-1.8.27/bin

[✓] Checking tools....................OK
      TinyTeX: v2026.01
      Chromium: (not installed)

[✓] Checking LaTeX....................OK
      Using: TinyTex
      Path: /home/onyxia/.TinyTeX/bin/x86_64-linux
      Version: 2025

[✓] Checking Chrome Headless....................OK
      Chrome:  (not detected)

[✓] Checking basic markdown render....OK

[✓] Checking Python 3 installation....OK
      Version: 3.13.11
      Path: /opt/python/bin/python3
      Jupyter: 5.9.1
      Kernels: python3

[✓] Checking Jupyter engine render....OK

[✓] Checking R installation...........(None)

      Unable to locate an installed version of R.
      Install R from https://cloud.r-project.org/

[cderv]

Is the special character (!) mandatory in the path you use ?

Having such special character can have bad side effect, depending on which context is used. For filepath, it is indeed supported, but then depending on how it is used (passed to another command line tool that may not support it), it can cause issue.

I bet this is related here. Did you confirm that doing the same but in another path without ! it works ?

I'll try to reproduce using this assumption.

On my windows enterprise laptop, I installed quarto in a special directory because there are rules that disable any installation the classic way.

Let me just says that this seems bad practice to go over your IT rule. You should try to make quarto a validated tool. Know also that quarto is available a zip bundle which requires no installation ! You just download, and unzip and you have access to quarto.exe.

Also know that quarto install does provide some other tools (like deno, pandoc, typst, ...) and so they must be allowed on your environment for quarto to run well.

[odysseu]

Yes unfortunately, any .exe out of this directory or the classic one (requiring admin priviledges) will fail.
I agree for the bad IT practice and the fact that quarto should be validated but this is just how it is out here... (sight)

Anyway, I guess the path should be understood as a character variable in the methods so this could be corrected regardless my situation :)

thx for the time taken