Error: Extension host terminated unexpectedly

[jdhines]

• VSCode Version: 1.17.2 (normal), Code - Insiders 1.18.0-insider (aaec298, 2017-10-24T04:19:43.883Z)
• OS Version: Windows_NT x64 6.1.7601
• Extensions: none

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Updated to version 1.17.2 (also tried installing Insiders just now)
2. Start up VS Code, get the error
   
3. Restart extension host a bunch of times, no change.

Reproduces without extensions: No, because it seems to be some problem with the extension system

[dbaeumer]

/cc @jrieken

[alexdima]

@jdhines Do you have git installed on your machine ?

[jdhines]

Yes, I do.

[alexdima]

Ok, let's try to see if this is a problem with any of the built-in extensions.

Assuming you have installed VS Code Insiders at C:\VSCode\. Could you please rename the folder C:\VSCode\resources\app\extensions to extensions.old and create a new empty folder called extensions.

This will make it so we start an extension host process without any extensions.

[Dante-101]

Is it possible to print out the name of the extension which crashed? Elimination by trial leads to a lot of wasted time.

[joaomoreno]

ping @jdhines

[jdhines]

@alexandrudima @joaomoreno So sorry for the absence, haven't needed to use VS Code on my PC for several days. I renamed the extensions folder and created a new one, and then Insiders opened without error. I then installed VSCode Icons and enabled it, which is working fine.
I don't understand why the new extensions folder is completely empty though, but I'm not sure enough about the inner workings to know if I should expect to see anything in there anyway.

[alexdima]

@jdhines Thank you. This implies that one of the built-in extensions is causing the crash. The following built-in extensions are activated on startup:

• emmet
• git
• merge-conflict

Can you please add these folders back in to the extensions folder one-by-one until we establish which one of the built-in extensions causes the crash ?

[jdhines]

I added each one in turn, restarting VS Code Insiders each time, and the error did not pop up again. But there were a ton more extensions in the extensions.old folder, as you can see. Besides the VS Code Icons extension I just mentioned, I didn't install anything else, so this was all from a fresh install of Insiders. Just for kicks, I went back and re-renamed extensions.old => extensions and restarted, and no error!

Given that, I fired up regular VS Code, and no error there either! So it doesn't make sense, but it seems like renaming and then switching back the extensions folder in Insiders fixed both versions, at least for the time being.

[alexdima]

@jdhines Most likely something else changed in the past week on your environment... now that the crash is not reproducible ...

[jdhines]

I don't think so, because I fired up Insiders today before renaming the extensions folder as you suggested, and was still getting the error. Seems like renaming it "shook" things somehow to get it back in order.

[alexdima]

I don't think so, because I fired up Insiders today before renaming the extensions folder as you suggested, and was still getting the error. Seems like renaming it "shook" things somehow to get it back in order.

This is super-confusing for me. On each startup we do a readdir in the extensions folder to discover extensions. There is no state saved in between launches that would get changed, we don't cache anything and always read the extensions from this folder again, on each start-up.

Also, VS Code and VS Code Insiders have different installation paths and different extensions folder, so changing something for the VS Code Insiders (renaming extensions to extensions.old and back) should have no effect on VS Code.

I am really puzzled as to what causes the crash now...

[joaomoreno]

Wow. So you can't reproduce the issue in any way any more, @jdhines?

[jdhines]

I just uninstalled Insiders and reinstalled the same version (since it was still in my Downloads folder): 1.18.0-insider, commit aaec298...

And the error is back. So I guess you could say it's reproducible.

[jdhines]

Interestingly, even with a fresh install (and having removed the VS Code Insiders folder from Program Files), the VS Code Icons extensions is still active and working. According to the message in the dev tools, it's pulling from C:\users\jdhines\.vscode-insiders\extensions\robertohuertoasm.vscode-icons-7.17.0... which is the only thing in that folder, and the extensions folder is the only thing in .vscode-extensions
Probably not pertinent, except to say that even though the Extension host is terminating, extensions still work.

I haven't tried renaming the other extensions folder yet.

[joaomoreno]

@jdhines Can you try something out for me? Edit app/extensions/git/out/git.js (within VS Code's installation folder) and comment out the following line. It should be around line 82.

        .then(void 0, () => findSpecificGit('git'));

Does the issue still reproduce with that commented out?

[jdhines]

Commented out that line then started up Insiders; no error.
Un-commented the line and restarted Insiders; still no error.

Makes it seem like making any changes to or within extensions is analogous to smacking the computer to get it to work, except that in this case it keeps working.

[joaomoreno]

OK. How about this build? Can you reproduce it at all with it? Work for a while, make some changes, wait a few minutes before giving up.

[vscodebot]

This issue has been closed automatically because it needs more information and has not had recent activity. Please refer to our guidelines for filing issues. Thank you for your contributions.

[joaomoreno]

@jdhines

[joaomoreno]

Closing as duplicate of #32739

[jdhines]

Sorry, just been working hard on something else, haven't had time to get back to playing with this on my other computer, but I will update here if I found out anything.