vscode-powershell: PowerShell Extension terminal hangs when using Windows PowerShell

Prerequisites

I have written a descriptive issue title.
I have searched all open and closed issues to ensure it has not already been reported.
I have read the troubleshooting guide.
I am sure this issue is with the extension itself and does not reproduce in a standalone PowerShell instance.
I have verified that I am using the latest version of Visual Studio Code and the PowerShell extension.
If this is a security issue, I have read the security issue reporting guidance.

Summary

While investigating another issue I switched to “Windows PowerShell (x64)” in the “PowerShell Session Menu.”

Now the session doesn’t start anymore, it hangs at:

PowerShell Extension v2023.6.0
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation.

https://aka.ms/vscode-powershell
Type 'help' to get help.

PowerShell Version

Name                           Value
----                           -----
PSVersion                      5.1.19041.3031
PSEdition                      Desktop
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0...}
BuildVersion                   10.0.19041.3031
CLRVersion                     4.0.30319.42000
WSManStackVersion              3.0
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1

(assumed, given that I can't get that PowerShell version to run within VScode)

Visual Studio Code Version

1.81.1
6c3e3dba23e8fadc360aed75ce363ba185c49794
x64

Extension Version

ms-vscode.powershell@2023.6.0
TylerLeonhardt.vscode-inline-values-powershell@0.0.7

Steps to Reproduce

switch to “Windows PowerShell (x64)” via the PowerShell Session Menu (resulting in powershell.powerShellDefaultVersion being set to Windows PowerShell (x64).
A “session restart” occurs
The session never finishes initializing

When powershell.powerShellDefaultVersion is set to PowerShell (x64) the problem goes away.

(I know support for Windows PowerShell 5.1 is “best effort”)

Visuals

No response

Logs

169408~1.ZIP

About this issue

Original URL
State: closed
Created 10 months ago
Comments: 25 (4 by maintainers)

Most upvoted comments

@sba923, yes, this is still an issue for me. I resorted to using Windows PowerShell ISE to edit and debug my script for Windows PowerShell 5.1, so while this is a workaround the issue raised by this work item still applies to me and isn’t seemingly related to oh-my-posh. I have oh-my-posh installed, but this problem remains even when I have profile loading disabled.

I just went through and updated everything (Oh-My-Posh, PowerShell 7.4.0), again, and restarted VSCode. The extension is now working with Windows PowerShell 5.1, so this has been resolved now for me. Neither update seems as though it should have had an impact, because the 5.1 profile wasn’t being loaded, only $PROFILE.CurrentUserCurrentHost exists for both Windows PowerShell 5.1 and PowerShell Core 7.4.0, different scripts, and with regard to Windows PowerShell $PROFILE.CurrentUserCurrentHost only adds a directory to the $env:Path so Oh-My-Posh wasn’t being initiated at all. I’m not sure what changed to make it work.

ryan-beesley on Nov 22, 2023

@sba923 last time I checked 5 worked, but also on my end that’s “best effort”. It’s legacy 😅

JanDeDobbeleer on Nov 1, 2023

I’ve found the culprit, and it’s not PSReadLine-related.

Wrapping the loading of oh-my-posh within

if (($PSVersionTable.PSVersion.Major -ne 5) -or ($host.Name -notmatch 'Visual Studio Code Host'))
{
[...]
}

gives me a working session.

I’ll ping @JanDeDobbeleer about this.

sba923 on Nov 1, 2023