Question 136021 in Visual Studio Code Question posted in
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Visual Studio Code – VSCode: "Shell Integration failed to activate"

It used to work fine, but recently whenever I run my code (Python), I get the message "Shell Integration failed to activate" when I hover my mouse over the active terminal. The active Python terminal doesn’t recognize any command line commands like "pip" anymore (see screenshot)

What can I do? I played around with a couple of settings as described here, but nothing seems to work. My current setting.json file looks like this:

{    
"python.defaultInterpreterPath": "C:\Users\cleme\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\python.exe",
"terminal.integrated.profiles.windows": {
    "PowerShell": {
        "path": "C:\Windows\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe",
        "source": "PowerShell",
        "icon": "terminal-powershell",
    }
},
"terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.windows": "PowerShell"

}

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2

Answers


  1. 0

    I ended up deleting the whole Code folder within the C:UsersAppDataRoaming.

    Note: You have to check the box – view Hidden Files to see these folders within File Explorer.

    This solved it.

    There must have been some weird corrupted cache issue at the heart of this.

    I found this in C:Users<profile>AppDataRoamingCodelogs<datetimestamp>ptyhost.log

    [2022-10-17 07:25:50.695] [ptyhost] [warning] Couldn't get layout info, a terminal was probably disconnected Could not find pty on pty host
[2022-10-17 07:25:54.040] [ptyhost] [warning] Shell integration cannot be enabled for executable "C:WindowsSystem32cmd.exe" and args []
[2022-10-17 07:26:57.939] [ptyhost] [warning] Shell integration cannot be enabled for executable "C:WindowsSystem32cmd.exe" and args []

    I think it is related to this.

    BTW: I had tried adding a couple of PowerShell VSCode IDE Extensions when things went awry.
    IIRC they were:

    • PowerShell
    • PowerShell Preview

    I had upgraded PowerShell to the latest version 7 too.

    $PSVersionTable yielded the following from the respective executables.

    Executable Path Version
    C:WindowsSystem32WindowsPowerShellv1.0powershell.exe 5.1.17763.1852
    C:Program FilesPowerShell7pwsh.exe 7.2.6

    Maybe that combo hosed things

    Follow up note: Whilst it seemed to have fixed the issue once… soon after the problem manifested itself again. This time I couldn’t reset VS Code to a working environment.

    • Then I realised had opened the Project folder in the explorer on the left of the IDE.
    • I had a subfolder that had a PS1 file within that.
    • It didn’t have its own .vscodesettings.json
    • When I copied it down from the parent folder, suddenly everything worked again.

    .vscodesettings.json just contained this:

    {
}

    Again this ended up being a one time solution.
    I ended up back at:

    Shell activation failed to activate for cmd.exe

    I posted this as a new ticket here

    • In the end I found this to be more of a display issue than anything else!
    • You can actually type cls then hit ENTER, to restore things to the status quo.
    • The Terminal section is black with no prompt to begin with. But you can type in it!!!
    • Perhaps the Prompt is black text on a black background initally, since when you start typing cls, it’s quite a way to the right of the left margin.
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  2. 0

    Closing VSCode, verifying that powershell works, then reopening it worked for me.

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