From 18c05ae03fe245e488176d6edf15128951ca1e53 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Pratheep Sinnathurai <78587668+psinnathurai@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2025 13:54:00 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] Clarify Unicode handling in Custom Script Extensions

Added note about Unicode smart quotes causing parsing errors in Custom Script Extensions.
---
 articles/virtual-machines/extensions/custom-script-windows.md | 1 +
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)

diff --git a/articles/virtual-machines/extensions/custom-script-windows.md b/articles/virtual-machines/extensions/custom-script-windows.md
index d8a4e20a79..e3670b2a4d 100644
--- a/articles/virtual-machines/extensions/custom-script-windows.md
+++ b/articles/virtual-machines/extensions/custom-script-windows.md
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ If your script is on a local server, you might still need to open other firewall
 - The Custom Script Extension runs under the `LocalSystem` account.
 - If you plan to use the `storageAccountName` and `storageAccountKey` properties, these properties must be collocated in `protectedSettings`.
 - You can have only one version of an extension applied to the VM. To run a second custom script, you can update the existing extension with a new configuration. Alternatively, you can remove the custom script extension and reapply it with the updated script
+- Custom Script Extrensions interpret Unicode "smart quotes" (U+201C and U+201D) as corrupted characters, causing parsing errors even when the file appears correct in your editor. Always use standard ASCII double quotes (") in your scripts. Avoid special Unicode characters like ✓ and ⚠ in output messages.
 
 ## Extension schema