VS Code debugger error: Windows cannot find 'C:\Program'

Summary

• Goal: to debug a C++ program I am working on.
• Expected Results: After configuration, debugger runs to breakpoint and shows current state of variables, etc.
• Actual Results: When trying to run the debugger on C++ code in VS Code, I get the error in the title. The pop up happens during the pre-launch build task:

The interruption occurs here:

 *  Executing task: cd C:\Users\wesle\source\repos\raycast/build && cmake --build . --config Debug 

Microsoft (R) Build Engine version 16.11.2+f32259642 for .NET Framework
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

  cuda_test.vcxproj -> C:\Users\wesle\source\repos\raycast\build\Debug\cuda_test.exe

Code:

I am using the auto-generated debug configuration for the Windows (launch) option, with the only addition being a preLaunchTask:

{
    // Use IntelliSense to learn about possible attributes.
    // Hover to view descriptions of existing attributes.
    // For more information, visit: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=830387
    "version": "0.2.0",
    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "(Windows) Launch",
            "type": "cppvsdbg",
            "request": "launch",
            "program": "${workspaceFolder}/build/Debug/cuda_test.exe",
            "args": [],
            "preLaunchTask": "build",
            "stopAtEntry": false,
            "cwd": "${fileDirname}",
            "environment": [],
            "console": "externalTerminal"
        }
    ]
}

and this simple tasks.json:

{
    "version": "2.0.0",
    "tasks": [
        {
            "label": "build",
            "type": "shell",
            "command": "cd ${workspaceFolder}/build && cmake --build . --config Debug"
        }
    ]
}

Question:

How do I fix this?

Things I tried:

1. I think it might be because, somewhere, a path to "C:/Program Files/..." is being called without the surrounding quotes, and the space is an issue. However, I have searched for a reference to the Program Files directory in all of the following. Nowhere does a reference exist in these files:

   • settings.json
   • launch.json
   • c_cpp_properties.json
   • tasks.json

2. Another thing I tried was to delete the tasks.json file completely and pre-build with debug configuration from the command line. I thought maybe cmake was being replaced with its full, unquoted path via the path env variable. The error persisted (actually popped up a little faster).

3. I have uninstalled all plugins, except the C++ Tools and CMake Tools extensions.

4. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the C++ and CMake extensions.

5. I am most definitely running an instance of VS Code started from the developer console.

Notes

1. The error is not present in the text output console. It is a system pop-up box. I don't know if this might be a clue:

2. The build command in the pre-launch task works fine from the command line.