vscode-powershell: `Write-Output` broken
Prerequisites
- I have written a descriptive issue title.
- I have searched all 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
Edit: Changed title to remove “for elevated accounts” as it is now not working at all regardless of account used.
The PowerShell Extension is not starting correctly. I worked with folks over at discord who guided me through finding the issue. Attaching diagnostic log files for review as well as screen shots of the symptoms. Essentially I cannot get output from scripts I’m writing in VSCode in the PowerShell Extension terminal window
WARNING: In development mode but PowerShellEditorServices dev module path cannot be found (or has not been built yet): c:\Users\u598743a.vscode\extensions\PowerShellEditorServices\module
PowerShell Version
PS C:\Users\u598743a\.vscode> $PSVersionTable
Name Value
---- -----
PSVersion 5.1.19041.1682
PSEdition Desktop
PSCompatibleVersions {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0...}
BuildVersion 10.0.19041.1682
CLRVersion 4.0.30319.42000
WSManStackVersion 3.0
PSRemotingProtocolVersion 2.3
SerializationVersion 1.1.0.1
Visual Studio Code Version
PS C:\Users\u598743a\.vscode> code --version
1.67.2
c3511e6c69bb39013c4a4b7b9566ec1ca73fc4d5
x64
Extension Version
PS C:\Users\u598743a\.vscode> code --list-extensions --show-versions | select-string powershell
ms-vscode.powershell@2022.5.1
Steps to Reproduce
Just run a script, run a code snippet and nothing gets returned. Interestingly though if I change my code to write-host instead of write-output then I get results to the Extension’s terminal.
Visuals

Logs
vscode-powershell.log EditorServices.log StartEditorServices.log
About this issue
- Original URL
- State: closed
- Created 2 years ago
- Reactions: 1
- Comments: 46 (18 by maintainers)
Ok! v2023.5.4-preview is out and available for testing. I hope it’s resolved everything 🙏 if not, then you definitely have something else going on, but I was very happy to be able to repro this with Patrick and see at least a very real bug with a transcription running, in PowerShell 5.1, with a known cause and a verifiable (if not unit-testable) fix. Please enjoy your vacation! Don’t worry about getting back to us too soon. I need to start writing some talks any how.
I will.
I just got back in from vacation and am glad baywack said something, reminded me to test this. Can confirm it’s finally working. Thank you so much Andy @andschwa , this has been a really weird issue to track down. Appreciate your efforts to get it fixed up!
So far so good in my testing! I’ve been running 5.4-preview for the last few days and all the previous steps I was able to complete to reproduce the issue have stopped. Thank you so much @andschwa for pushing through this. It was an annoying bug for me to deal with and sounds like you got to join in the fun as well 😃
Thank you Andy! I’ll try to test it out in the next day or two. I’m on vacation this week so trying hard to stay away from my workstation when I can. 🙂
Well…it’s take three. Define constants got messed up. So sorry. This has been a doozy. I tested it too which is the weird thing. Maybe it’s a compilation order issue…I don’t know for sure.
Here’s something interesting about this. I just found it. When I’m developing with PS 5.1 and I set a breakpoint to debug, while in debug mode I can get results. As soon as I exit debug mode the terminal stops giving me output.