unable to run codespace due to Failed to start VS Code Remote server

[moshederri]

Hey,

we are constantly getting the following error when launching codespace:

An unexpected error occurred that requires a reload of this page.
The workbench failed to connect to the server (Error: )

And after reload, it still doesn't work and there is not indication of a downtime in the status page

Any ideas what could be the problem?

[david-engelmann]

Do you have a lot of browser extensions installed?

[moshederri]

No, i dont.

Some additional context i gathered:
Most of the time the error returns empty (Error: ) and sometimes (Error: Failed to start VS Code Remote server.).

Looking at the console output while the codespace runs, i get:

vscs:web-client:efeb:codespaces-component:connection-hub:liveshare:connection:9895F2E1A03F7DE818C222ED008555FA1083:liveshare:WorkspaceClient Creating proxy for sourceEvent service
async.ts:30 Uncaught (in promise) Canceled: Canceled
...

however, few lines after, it seems like codespace is available:
vscs:web-client:efeb:codespace-state-watcher codespace state -> Available

Then, im getting the following Errors:

ERR Error while registering log channel vscode-log:/20221106T235607/remoteTunnel.log Timed out while waiting for file to be created
log.ts:324   
ERR Error while registering log channel file:///20221106T235607/ptyhost.log Timed out while waiting for file to be created

vscs:web-client:efeb:codespaces-component:connection-hub:liveshare:connection:........:liveshare:WorkspaceClient > IVSCodeServerHostService.startRemoteServerResult() error: 
vscs:web-client:efeb:codespaces-component:connection-hub:vscode:connection:.......:vscode Failed to complete start-remote-server with Live Share RPC Failed to start VS Code Remote server. code:-32098
Error: Failed to start VS Code Remote server.

the extensions we are using in the devcontainer are:
"extensions": [
"ms-python.python",
"ms-python.vscode-pylance",
"MarkLarah.pre-commit-vscode",
"mhutchie.git-graph",
"PKief.material-icon-theme",
"sgoley.lookml-syntax-highlighter",
"ms-vscode.test-adapter-converter"
]

Thanks for all the helpers!

[moshederri]

Some more context:

• we using an image which is based on mcr.microsoft.com/vscode/devcontainers/python:0-3.9
• we install the following package - debugpy pre-commit tox poetry dbt-core dbt-spark dbt-spark[PyHive] dbt-spark[ODBC]
• the codespace started failing since yesterday, but worked well before. No changes were made to .devcontainer or our image
• When running locally, we are getting

[Client:extension:1d29:liveshare:connection:....:liveshare:WorkspaceClient V] < streamManager.getStream()
[Client:extension:1d29:liveshare:connection:....:liveshare:WorkspaceClient V] > streamManager.getStream() succeeded t:89.0
[Client:extension:1d29:liveshare:connection:....:liveshare:WorkspaceClient I] openStreamingChannel -> streamId:ServerSharing_1
[Client:extension:1d29:resolver:tunnel:16635:127.0.0.1:liveshare-tunnel[16635]:local-port-forwarder[16635] I] Forwarding connection on channel #2.
[Client:extension:1d29:liveshare:connection:....:liveshare:WorkspaceClient V] > IVSCodeServerHostService.devContainerConfigChanged: 
[Client:extension:1d29:liveshare:connection:....:liveshare:WorkspaceClient V] > IVSCodeServerHostService.devContainerConfigChanged: 
[Client:extension:1d29:liveshare:connection:....:liveshare:WorkspaceClient V] > IVSCodeServerHostService.devContainerConfigChanged: 
[Client:extension:1d29:liveshare:connection:....:liveshare:WorkspaceClient V] > IVSCodeServerHostService.devContainerConfigChanged: 
[Client:extension:1d29:resolver:resolve:1:connection:....-34b44a1fa326_stable_129500ee4c8ab7263461ffe327268ba56b9f210d:vscode E] Failed to complete start-remote-server with gRPC, attempting to use Live Share RPC> object #0: "Exception was thrown by handler. Exception: Failed to start VS Code Remote server.
Error: Exception was thrown by handler. Exception: Failed to start VS Code Remote server.
    at Object.onEnd (/Users/..../.vscode/extensions/grpc/dist/src/clients/GrpcClientBase.js:29:1)
    at /Users/..../.vscode/extensions/node_modules/@improbable-eng/grpc-web/dist/grpc-web-client.js:1:24231
    at /Users/..../.vscode/extensions/node_modules/@improbable-eng/grpc-web/dist/grpc-web-client.js:1:11490
    at Array.forEach (<anonymous>)
    at e.rawOnError (/Users/..../.vscode/extensions/node_modules/@improbable-eng/grpc-web/dist/grpc-web-client.js:1:11322)
    at e.onTransportHeaders (/Users/..../.vscode/extensions/node_modules/@improbable-eng/grpc-web/dist/grpc-web-client.js:1:9020)
    at NodeHttp.responseCallback (/Users/..../.vscode/extensions/node_modules/@improbable-eng/grpc-web-node-http-transport/lib/index.js:31:1)
    at Object.onceWrapper (node:events:646:26)
    at ClientRequest.emit (node:events:526:28)
    at HTTPParser.parserOnIncomingClient (node:_http_client:618:27)
    at HTTPParser.parserOnHeadersComplete (node:_http_common:128:17)
    at Socket.socketOnData (node:_http_client:482:22)
    at Socket.emit (node:events:526:28)
    at addChunk (node:internal/streams/readable:315:12)
    at readableAddChunk (node:internal/streams/readable:289:9)
    at Socket.Readable.push (node:internal/streams/readable:228:10)
    at TCP.onStreamRead (node:internal/stream_base_commons:190:23)"
[Client:extension:1d29:liveshare:connection:....:liveshare:WorkspaceClient V] < IVSCodeServerHostService.startRemoteServerResult()
[Client:extension:1d29:resolver:tunnel:16635:127.0.0.1:liveshare-tunnel[16635]:local-port-forwarder[16635] I] Port-forward channel #2 closed.
[Client:extension:1d29:liveshare:connection:....:liveshare:WorkspaceClient V] > IVSCodeServerHostService.devContainerConfigChanged: 
[Client:extension:1d29:liveshare:connection:....:liveshare:WorkspaceClient V] > IVSCodeServerHostService.devContainerConfigChanged: 
[Client:extension:1d29:liveshare:connection:....:liveshare:WorkspaceClient V] > IVSCodeServerHostService.devContainerConfigChanged: 
[Client:extension:1d29:liveshare:connection:....:liveshare:WorkspaceClient V] > IVSCodeServerHostService.devContainerConfigChanged: 
[Client:extension:1d29:liveshare:connection:....:liveshare:WorkspaceClient E] > IVSCodeServerHostService.startRemoteServerResult() error: 
[Client:extension:1d29:resolver:resolve:1:connection:....-34b44a1fa326_stable_129500ee4c8ab7263461ffe327268ba56b9f210d:vscode E] Failed to complete start-remote-server with Live Share RPC> object #0: "Failed to start VS Code Remote server. code:-32098
Error: Failed to start VS Code Remote server.
    at handleResponse (/Users/..../.vscode/extensions/node_modules/vscode-jsonrpc/lib/main.js:436:1)
    at processMessageQueue (/Users/..../.vscode/extensions/node_modules/vscode-jsonrpc/lib/main.js:263:1)
    at Immediate.<anonymous> (/Users/..../.vscode/extensions/node_modules/vscode-jsonrpc/lib/main.js:247:1)
    at processImmediate (node:internal/timers:466:21)"
[Client:extension:1d29:resolver:resolve:1:connection:....-34b44a1fa326_stable_129500ee4c8ab7263461ffe327268ba56b9f210d:vscode I] Failed to execute start-remote-server: undefined
[perf V] name:start vscode server duration:22308.085333824158
[Client:extension:1d29:resolver:resolve:1:connection:....-34b44a1fa326_stable_129500ee4c8ab7263461ffe327268ba56b9f210d:vscode E] connection failed: > object #0: Failed to start VS Code Remote server. code:-32098
  at handleResponse (/Users/..../.vscode/extensions/node_modules/vscode-jsonrpc/lib/main.js:436:1)
  at processMessageQueue (/Users/..../.vscode/extensions/node_modules/vscode-jsonrpc/lib/main.js:263:1)
  at Immediate.<anonymous> (/Users/..../.vscode/extensions/node_modules/vscode-jsonrpc/lib/main.js:247:1)
  at processImmediate (node:internal/timers:466:21)
[Client:extension:1d29:resolver:resolve:1:connection:....-34b44a1fa326_stable_129500ee4c8ab7263461ffe327268ba56b9f210d:vscode I] connection status changed: connecting -> disconnected, error:> object #0: Failed to start VS Code Remote server. code:-32098
  at handleResponse (/Users/..../.vscode/extensions/node_modules/vscode-jsonrpc/lib/main.js:436:1)
  at processMessageQueue (/Users/..../.vscode/extensions/node_modules/vscode-jsonrpc/lib/main.js:263:1)
  at Immediate.<anonymous> (/Users/..../.vscode/extensions/node_modules/vscode-jsonrpc/lib/main.js:247:1)
  at processImmediate (node:internal/timers:466:21)
[Client:extension:1d29:resolver:resolve:1:connection:....-34b44a1fa326_stable_129500ee4c8ab7263461ffe327268ba56b9f210d:vscode I] firing change event: > object #0: {
  "status": "disconnected",
  "previousStatus": "connecting"
}
[Client:extension:1d29:vscode:onConnectionChanged:....-34b44a1fa326_stable_129500ee4c8ab7263461ffe327268ba56b9f210d I] connecting -> disconnected

Any help would be appreciated :)

[jkeech]

A couple questions/things to try:

1. Does it work on a new codespace or if you rebuild your current codespace? You could try rebuilding through the GH CLI gh codespace rebuild.
2. Can you share more of your devcontainer.json? In particular, what remoteUser are you using?

[jkeech]

I think I understand what is going on here. The Python image has remoteUser set to vscode by default, and the devcontainer CLI is now honoring config set in the underlying image if it is present. My guess is that something in your custom Dockerfile is trying to use the root user, such as hardcoding $HOME to /root or something similar, but your devcontainer config likely doesn't have remoteUser set to root. So in the end, the VS Code server is trying to start using the vscode user in the container, but it is pointing to the /root home directory, which it doesn't have permissions to install the remote server there.

If you want the devcontainer to run as root, could you try adding "remoteUser": "root" to your devcontainer config to override what is in the base image? Or alternatively, to run as vscode, remove any config in the Dockerfile which is forcing things back to paths owned by root.

[moshederri]

hey,

In our Dockerfile we had ENV HOME pointing to /root (without overriding remoteUser). We didn't understand why after we removed it, codespaces started working again, and after reading your comment, it all makes sense now.

thank you @jkeech !

[jkeech]

Glad it's working!

[kmp9928]

@moshederri I am having the same error, but can't launch the Codespace so I cannot remove Dockerfiles or anything to try to solve it. How did you do?

[david-engelmann]

@moshederri Are you currently hosting it on docker? If you are, it seems like it could be related to docker/wsl being down. What are the results from running the wsl -l -v command?

[huabin]

Same issue now, I tried to open it on firefox, chrome and safari, and I get the same issue.

[severd01]

same, was using earlier today now broken

[jumpmanjay]

+1

[AlainDevs]

same, we can't use it for now

[Vibhor7-7]

Can use it either

[blackopsinc]

After a quick dive in the ocean. Azure is down (VS Code Error) if you have a VPN jump to East Coast and its working. Note you will have to recreate space.

[JamesHutchison]

I am presently seeing this issue. I have a codespace and a backup on opposite regions. First codespace worked, then couldn't start it again. Switched to other, worked shut it down, then couldn't start it again.

[PuppiesUnite421]

I am having this issue while trying to log into https://cs50.dev/. I get the error message: An unexpected error occurred that requires a reload of this page. The workbench failed to connect to the server (Error: exception was thrown by handler. exception: failed to start vs code remote server.)

[supriyaritgithub]

Delete the current codespace and create a new one with repository cs50/... it worked for me.

[SkTauseef]

what about the files?

[supriyaritgithub]

files will be there since it was already auto saved in that (cs50's) repository.

[neverada]

can you please explain it step by step cuz i am having the same issue and i have zero idea what to do

[supriyaritgithub]

first, i deleted the codespace and created a new one in the repository called cs50/... , and then the new codespace opened and asked to rebuild i clicked on and it took some while to load then it worked.

[Nolikegreek]

I am having the exact same issue. I found this webpage to look at the status of cs50.dev. https://cs50.statuspage.io/

[owen800q]

Same issue

[yodakkak]

I can confirm. I've got the same issue, tried 3 different browsers, reset firewall settings, reset browser history and settings and issue persists. Site appears to be down

[Nolikegreek]

Seems to work again now

[yaswant2403]

For a temporary work-around, opening the codespace in JupyterLab (Beta) seems to be working for me.

Seems to be working for me as of 7/18/24 9:51 PM CDT

[sridbulli]

An unexpected error occurred that requires a reload of this page.
The workbench failed to connect to the server (Error: exception was thrown by handler. exception: failed to start vs code remote server.)

today plz help

[moeedcaesar]

did your problem resolved?

[chanedwin]

same issue for me - codespaces seems down

[neprasad-microsoft]

I am facing this issue today. Is there a solution for this?

[achasik]

same issue for me too

[moeedcaesar]

I am also facing this issue, is there any solution around?

[bandana-edtech]

I am facing this issue today. Is there a solution for this?

[RefreX-0]

same here, it was working fine yesterday

[bandana-edtech]

working now

[neverada]

hey, u said its working now. I am facing the same issue. It just stopped working today. Just wanted to know what did u do to make it work again

[jaroslav25]

working. It usually takes a day or two, or a few hours and starts to work on its own.

[s-abdulrehman12]

No

…

On Thu, Aug 8, 2024, 8:00 PM moeedcaesar ***@***.***> wrote: did your problem resolved? — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#38410 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/BED7H7Z7Y3VW2A3EUMZ7D5LZQOBYXAVCNFSM6AAAAAARYMEJHGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTAMRXGY3TMOI> . You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: ***@***.*** com>

[s-abdulrehman12]

I am searching on it

…

On Thu, Aug 8, 2024, 8:02 PM moeedcaesar ***@***.***> wrote: I am also facing this issue, is there any solution around? — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#38410 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/BED7H72RP6HG6LMNWOUAOEDZQOCAVAVCNFSM6AAAAAARYMEJHGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTAMRXGY3TQNI> . You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: ***@***.*** com>

[bandana-edtech]

same here not working again

[tasneim-github]

I got the same issue. Do I just wait until they fix it or is there something I should do?

[Anay-v2]

Same issue

[jaroslav25]

same here

[Magnesium0306]

and the same here

[neverada]

Thanks for the help, I was actually quite worried on what to do or what not

…

On Mon, Aug 12, 2024 at 9:36 PM jaroslav25 ***@***.***> wrote: working. It usually takes a day or two, or a few hours and starts to work on its own. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#38410 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/BJFBGHCJAGIBG4MMUZJWOI3ZRDP7RAVCNFSM6AAAAAARYMEJHGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTAMZRGY3TEMY> . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[sellwawy]

It's internet connection problem. try to restart your router, that works for me.

[florianm]

It is the year 2025. The world is on fire and so is Codespaces ...again. The error "failed to start VS Code remote server" haunts our developers. Two weeks ago, this error appeared, apparently with no changes to our devcontainer setup. The error persists across repositories, GH organisations, even a blank devcontainer fails to start. It happens across browsers, work locations (home on private network but still corporate firewall/Windows group policy, VPN, work intranet, phone hotspot), browser extensions and privacy blocks (all off).

No solutions found on the web worked. It felt like a networking problem, but no logs and no debugging gave us any actionable insight.

We ended up figuring out that the reason for our breakage was ...our corporate firewall blocking dodgy domains used by "beta" host images.

The solution was:

• GitHub profile > Settings > Codespaces at https://github.com/settings/codespaces
• Host image version preference: Stable

A runner-up would have been "VS Code settings sync" for the possibility of the beta image using a newer VS Code version which might incompatible with the older settings.

(The second problem we experience is that a Codespace, once stopped and re-started, loses its DNS settings and cannot reach GitHub.)

[partglm]

I tried but it’s not working

[florianm]

Secondary problem: Using a docker compose setup to run a postgres sidecar I tried to customise the postgres container command.

This broke the docker compose build, which broke the Codespace's DNS, which broke the connection of Codespaces to GitHub so I couldn't run any git commands. Nothing anywhere in the logs pointed to the compose file error.

[MichaelChirico]

We had WORKDIR /root in our Dockerfile in order for a following COPY command to WAI, but neither removing it nor adding "remoteUser": "root" to the config changed anything -- the codespace still fails to launch with a useless internal error. Frustrating.