On Windows with a non-UTF-8 system code page, a venv path containing non-English characters (commonly a CJK username) killed the interpreter during startup, before any VoiceStudio code ran — Python reads .pth files in the active code page, and uv's editable install writes the project path there in UTF-8. The backend could never start, and the setup screen only said it had stalled.
A new or genuinely broken environment now builds at an ASCII-safe short path; an existing environment that starts cleanly is never relocated. When no safe path can be produced, the app says so before downloading rather than after. The failure message names the cause and a remedy that works for the install mode in use, since portable installs ignore the setting managed installs use.
Fixes#1783.
Palash Debnath
8b4e4ebf56