"Live Reload is not possible as body or head tag or defined tag is missing in HTML" warning shows on every reload #22

skelesp · 2017-09-10T12:48:50Z

Every time I save a watched file, my page reloads, but in VS code the warning appears "Live Reload is not possible as body or head tag or defined tag is missing in HTML". I have to close the warning every time (very annoying) and there is no option to disable this warning.

ritwickdey · 2017-09-10T13:06:27Z

okay! It's added in new version. Add or tag in html. It will disappear.

ritwickdey · 2017-09-10T13:07:40Z

Without or tag live reload is not possible.

ritwickdey · 2017-09-10T13:08:07Z

Have you meant that? or am I getting wrong point? Let me know.

If you have better suggestion, you're also welcome.

skelesp · 2017-09-10T13:37:41Z

I don't understand the current behaviour, because the warning is saying that live reload won't work, but it is working... So, I think the warning comes at the wrong time. So this might be a bug... (or I don't fully understand the purpose of the warning :-) )
If this tag-problem occurs, I think it's better to show the warning only once in VS code and not on every save. And it might be better to show the warning in the console.

ritwickdey · 2017-09-10T13:57:43Z

Okay! I understand. And definitely as I always give priority on feedback, I am adding a settings so that we can turn off the warring message.

And If it is bug, can you tell me that what platform you are using? and please give a try as follow : ->

Make a new folder
Create a new HTML file.
Open the folder to VSCODE
type exclamation sign (!) and tab. (Emmet Snippet)
Start Live Server.

And now please tell me, is this working? or you're still getting the warning?.

ritwickdey · 2017-09-10T14:07:21Z

I want to know if it is a bug or not before releasing new version. Because it is working on my Windows 10

skelesp · 2017-09-10T14:08:19Z

It is working (without a warning) when I create a new file in new folder. So there must be something wrong in my file?

The structure of my file is :

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html ng-app="TestApp">
	<head>
        </head>
        <body ng-controller="testCtrl">
        </body>
</html>

So I think there shouldn't be a warning, because I have head and body tags?

(I'm also working in windows 10)

ritwickdey · 2017-09-10T14:14:29Z

Is this not working for you?........ I tried....

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html ng-app="TestApp">
	<head>
        </head>
        <body ng-controller="testCtrl">
        </body>
</html>

it is working for me....

skelesp · 2017-09-10T14:32:59Z

yes, it works if I try it with that simple structure, but with my complete code, it is still showing the warning.

Does it matter which code is between the head and body tags? I would expect that the existence of head/body-tags is enough? But apparently, some of my code between the head-tags or the body-tags is triggering that warning...

ritwickdey · 2017-09-11T12:19:54Z

This issue has been fixed with v2.1.1 update. Please update it from vscode marketplace 😄.

If you like the extension, please drop a review to vscode marketplace.

irakliykech · 2018-12-24T10:18:10Z

Hello. Sorry for request, but I have same problem with LiveServer. When I create new document, type (!) and tab, VSCode create base html structur automaticly. But if i add some tags in head or body, than LiveReload warning than "Live Reload is not possible without body or head tag."

martonberecz · 2019-02-27T07:21:59Z

Same issue here. As per above.

jonas-girdzijauskas · 2019-08-03T09:03:57Z

Same issue here. As per above.
@martonberecz
I think I found a solution - try creating the html file in the file explorer instead of powershell/terminal.

meberg · 2019-08-21T09:48:22Z

I had the same problem. I just "solved" it by pressing 'I understand - don't show again'.

gordwelling · 2019-10-15T03:36:02Z

I had the same problem. I just "solved" it by pressing 'I understand - don't show again'.

I had the same problem and tried the same step to 'Don't show again'. I had to reload the page in the browser and then make a change to the html file and save it in VSCode.

ChrisColeTech · 2019-12-12T19:45:03Z

My HTML has body and head tag, and I am still getting the message ...

Adam-Ponting · 2020-01-07T20:41:07Z

I have just had the same problem having not had an issue for 12+ months.
A new .html file with exactly the same content would work so slightly confused. Ended up deleting my index.html and creating a new one then pasting the content over and it worked.
As a side note - my original .html file was created in the terminal and my "working" .html created in VSC as referenced above.
Strange one.

acestronautical · 2020-01-16T20:32:32Z

Also having this problem

index (copy).html.txt

vpopescu · 2020-04-26T04:03:08Z

I've seen issues with the file encoding (UTF-16 has caused it to complain about HEAD or BODY missing)

Tronic · 2020-05-24T13:41:57Z

I'm working with HTML5 which doesn't need these tags, and should have Live Server's snippet simply appended to the end of the document. Could you change the extension so that if </body> is not found, it just adds its code to the end and doesn't give this warning?

henk9 · 2020-06-24T19:11:38Z

I̵ ̵b̵e̵l̵i̵e̵v̵e̵ ̵t̵h̵i̵s̵ ̵m̵i̵g̵h̵t̵ ̵b̵e̵ ̵a̵ ̵p̵r̵o̵b̵l̵e̵m̵ ̵w̵i̵t̵h̵ ̵t̵h̵e̵ ̵e̵x̵t̵e̵n̵s̵i̵o̵n̵ ̵"̵B̵r̵o̵w̵s̵e̵r̵ ̵P̵r̵e̵v̵i̵e̵w̵"̵ ̵a̵t̵ ̵h̵t̵t̵p̵s̵:̵/̵/̵m̵a̵r̵k̵e̵t̵p̵l̵a̵c̵e̵.̵v̵i̵s̵u̵a̵l̵s̵t̵u̵d̵i̵o̵.̵c̵o̵m̵/̵i̵t̵e̵m̵s̵?̵i̵t̵e̵m̵N̵a̵m̵e̵=̵a̵u̵c̵h̵e̵n̵b̵e̵r̵g̵.̵v̵s̵c̵o̵d̵e̵-̵b̵r̵o̵w̵s̵e̵r̵-̵p̵r̵e̵v̵i̵e̵w̵.̵ ̵B̵u̵t̵ ̵I̵ ̵a̵d̵m̵i̵t̵ ̵i̵t̵ ̵i̵s̵ ̵j̵u̵s̵t̵ ̵a̵ ̵g̵u̵e̵s̵s̵ ̵-̵ ̵I̵ ̵h̵a̵v̵e̵ ̵n̵o̵t̵ ̵d̵u̵g̵ ̵d̵e̵e̵p̵ ̵i̵n̵t̵o̵ ̵i̵t̵.̵
̵O̵n̵e̵ ̵w̵a̵y̵ ̵t̵o̵ ̵s̵e̵e̵ ̵i̵f̵ ̵m̵y̵ ̵h̵u̵n̵c̵h̵ ̵i̵s̵ ̵r̵i̵g̵h̵t̵,̵ ̵w̵o̵u̵l̵d̵ ̵b̵e̵ ̵t̵o̵ ̵i̵n̵v̵e̵s̵t̵i̵g̵a̵t̵e̵ ̵i̵f̵ ̵t̵h̵i̵s̵ ̵i̵s̵s̵u̵e̵ ̵e̵v̵e̵r̵ ̵o̵c̵c̵u̵r̵s̵ ̵w̵h̵e̵n̵ ̵t̵h̵e̵ ̵L̵i̵v̵e̵ ̵S̵e̵r̵v̵e̵r̵ ̵e̵x̵t̵e̵n̵s̵i̵o̵n̵ ̵s̵e̵t̵t̵i̵n̵g̵ ̵"̵U̵s̵e̵ ̵B̵r̵o̵w̵s̵e̵r̵ ̵P̵r̵e̵v̵i̵e̵w̵"̵ ̵i̵s̵ ̵u̵n̵c̵h̵e̵c̵k̵e̵d̵.̵
ONE work-around that works for me, whether you like it or not, is to click the reload button of the "Preview" browser.

mrmatata · 2020-07-17T11:19:52Z

it happened to me too and it was very irritating so i turned it off from settings.json

"liveServer.settings.donotShowInfoMsg": true,
"liveServer.settings.donotVerifyTags":true,

Tronic · 2020-07-22T10:55:15Z

it happened to me too and it was very irritating so i turned it off from settings.json

"liveServer.settings.donotVerifyTags": off,

How did you get this working? It would appear that this takes true or false rather than off but I couldn't get rid of the warning or get live reloads working with any value.

mrmatata · 2020-07-28T13:43:02Z

it happened to me too and it was very irritating so i turned it off from settings.json
"liveServer.settings.donotVerifyTags": off,

How did you get this working? It would appear that this takes true or false rather than off but I couldn't get rid of the warning or get live reloads working with any value.

i think this did it for me
"liveServer.settings.donotShowInfoMsg": true,
"liveServer.settings.donotVerifyTags":true,

Tronic · 2020-07-29T06:36:37Z

@mrmatata That gets rid of the message but auto reloading still doesn't work unless there is </body> in the document (no other tags are needed).

ryancbolton · 2020-11-13T19:48:43Z

I had the same problem. I just "solved" it by pressing 'I understand - don't show again'.

This somehow fixed it for me a s well, btw I know this is old but still happening in version 5.6.1

christian-white1 · 2021-03-06T00:38:52Z

Hey everyone, so today I got the live server to work by downloading an older version (v 1.0) and it worked so far. I'm not getting that dreaded live server needs a head or body tag message and more importantly my webpage reloads without me having to hit ctrl + R (or F5). I haven't received any issues, you can give a try and let me know

christian-white1 · 2021-03-06T02:11:42Z

For anyone downloading an older version, please note that you'll have to make consistent changes for the web page to refresh by itself. In other, words if you take a break from coding you'll probably have to refresh the page a couple times after making a change, usually I have to manually refresh 3 times before live server works.

stephennickalls · 2021-08-27T04:05:14Z

I have just had the same problem having not had an issue for 12+ months.
A new .html file with exactly the same content would work so slightly confused. Ended up deleting my index.html and creating a new one then pasting the content over and it worked.
As a side note - my original .html file was created in the terminal and my "working" .html created in VSC as referenced above.
Strange one.

Yep - had stopped working after I started creating the bulk of my structure ahead of time in the terminal. Fixed by deleting .html files and using the New File GUI in VS Code to recreate and paste over code.

Amosi-04-sanga · 2021-09-04T20:49:51Z

the same to me!

phoenixeliot · 2021-09-27T19:34:20Z

I find that I get this erroneous message if I have an invalid import in a CSS file that is imported by the CSS file imported in my HTML.

In particular, a line was trying to import a folder, and one was trying to import by name without .css, and fixing/removing those removed the warning message:

@import url(../blocks/footer/__columns/_content/);
@import url(../blocks/header/__square-pic/header__square-pic);

nanyou225 · 2021-12-07T21:14:54Z

why the {% load static %} tag
is still displayed in my html page?

Casonyx · 2021-12-13T15:22:51Z

Idk guys but I got this error too.
So I got it when fixed my webpack.config. Lol. I didn't notice that my loader has two svg handlers. I fixed it and the error disappeared.

melindamorales · 2022-03-18T03:10:36Z

helloo, i received this error message today every time i reload my live server. i have both head tags and body tags so this issue is still happening today it seems.-.

roke741 · 2022-04-03T04:17:17Z

Hello, I also had the error, but I think I solved it, simply add the tag and in the extension settings, look for Live Server>Settings: Custom Browser, in my case select microsoft edge, because it is the that I usually use to observe the changes, and finally restart VS code, with that I solve the problem, I hope it works for you

neospud1 · 2022-04-13T16:57:03Z

I solved it by changing the html file's encoding in the VSCode.
Click current encoding

Click save with encoding

Click UTF-8

CAPI-48 · 2022-05-06T12:38:34Z

I solved it by changing the html file's encoding in the VSCode. Click current encoding Click save with encoding Click UTF-8

Thanks it worked!
Also need to run server again.

chillgiova · 2022-07-23T22:55:56Z

I had this problem randomly appeared after 1 year. I finally solved it, it was and @import row in the style.css file. This was the specific row: @import 'https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Montserrat:300, 400, 700&display=swap';

Ramjius · 2022-10-21T08:12:56Z

It is because you have made a media query on your file and your display screen/window is in that size, and since you don't have a body or head in your media query----That's why!!! Had a similar case, try resizing your window, save and see.

nafismahamudshahin · 2023-08-08T16:46:14Z

This is my problem please help me

wegaro · 2023-08-18T21:38:42Z

Same problem as above right now, my structure has head and body tag, so I don't know what it refers too. Any ideas?

overholted · 2023-08-30T21:06:38Z

I had this problem, too. I opened my .scss file, saved it and my extension recompiled the CSS. The pop-up is now gone.

Sarveshreg · 2023-10-19T19:45:11Z

Make sure that your HTML tab is active, not the CSS or JS!

justingolden21 · 2024-03-25T22:19:16Z

Same issue as above. I previously never had this issue. It's a simple html file:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
    <title>Project</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    hello
  </body>
</html>

It's a syntactically valid HTML file with head and body tag, and it serves other html files in the directory fine. The HTML tab is active and works when I open it without live server.

WeaponXiii · 2024-03-30T01:31:41Z

@justingolden21 it might be the utf-16 LE encoding issue. I created the file using ps7 prompt using Out-File cmdlet. Never had this issue crating empty file from command prompt though. Check these answer by @neospud1

I solved it by changing the html file's encoding in the VSCode. Click current encoding Click save with encoding Click UTF-8

yeon-dong · 2024-08-26T03:09:27Z

I had the same problem with live-server.
When I turned on live-server by pressing the Go Live button and modified index.html and saved it, an error message saying "live reload is not possible without a head or body tag" appeared and the Chrome browser turned white.
I thought it was because I didn't turn on live-server in the direct folder,
I was right!

I'll attach a screenshot of the folder structure.
Please try opening the folder that contains the index.html file in vscode!

Good Case

Bad Case

Additionally, this error appears to appear if you turn on the live server on a drive other than the primary drive, such as the D drive instead of the C drive!

Move the file and give it a try!

martigej · 2024-09-21T23:28:31Z

This bug was not fixed yet?
I have the warning "Live Reload is not possible as body or head tag or defined tag is missing in HTML" if in my I have included JQuery:

Removing this line the warning do not appear anymmore.

desaroger · 2024-11-06T16:53:07Z

I had the same problem with a very simple html and the reason was the encoding. Thanks @WeaponXiii !!

@justingolden21 it might be the utf-16 LE encoding issue. I created the file using ps7 prompt using Out-File cmdlet. Never had this issue crating empty file from command prompt though. Check these answer by @neospud1

I solved it by changing the html file's encoding in the VSCode. Click current encoding Click save with encoding Click UTF-8

ScottBeeson · 2025-01-21T15:19:06Z

I'm having this same issue. It's not encoding. The HTML file is in the root of the project and is named Index.html. I have the index.html file selected when clicking "Go Live". It has a head and body tag.

The only thing I can think of is that I do have an HTML file in a folder called "templates" which doesn't have a head or body, and it is being loaded by the "loadMenu" function. But I still get the error when ONLY index.html is open in the editor. And live update is working.

Here is the full index.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">

<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <title>MSAL Login Demo - Index</title>
    <script src="https://alcdn.msauth.net/browser/2.30.0/js/msal-browser.min.js"></script>
    <script src="auth.js"></script>
    <script src="common.js"></script>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="main.css">
</head>

<body>
    <div id="menuContainer"></div>
    <div id="mainContent">
        <h1>Index Page</h1>
        <div id="user-info">Checking login...</div>
    </div>
    <script>
        window.onload = function () {
            checkLogin();
            loadMenu("Home");
        };
    </script>
</body>

</html>

ritwickdey self-assigned this Sep 10, 2017

ritwickdey added the enhancement label Sep 10, 2017

ritwickdey closed this as completed in a4db2a9 Sep 11, 2017

ritwickdey added a commit that referenced this issue Sep 11, 2017

v2.1.1 update with #22 & #23

56297b3

rjoydip-zz added closed and removed closed labels May 14, 2018

askvittorio mentioned this issue Aug 25, 2021

Live server addon not working with Chrome (Code addon version is 5.6.1) #2053

Open

abhayashish mentioned this issue Jul 2, 2022

okay! It's added in new version. Add <body> or <head> tag in html. It will disappear. #2470

Open

"Live Reload is not possible as body or head tag or defined tag is missing in HTML" warning shows on every reload #22

"Live Reload is not possible as body or head tag or defined tag is missing in HTML" warning shows on every reload #22

Comments

skelesp commented Sep 10, 2017

ritwickdey commented Sep 10, 2017

ritwickdey commented Sep 10, 2017

ritwickdey commented Sep 10, 2017 • edited Loading

skelesp commented Sep 10, 2017 • edited Loading

ritwickdey commented Sep 10, 2017

ritwickdey commented Sep 10, 2017

skelesp commented Sep 10, 2017 • edited by ritwickdey Loading

ritwickdey commented Sep 10, 2017 • edited Loading

skelesp commented Sep 10, 2017

ritwickdey commented Sep 11, 2017

irakliykech commented Dec 24, 2018 • edited Loading

martonberecz commented Feb 27, 2019

jonas-girdzijauskas commented Aug 3, 2019 • edited Loading

meberg commented Aug 21, 2019

gordwelling commented Oct 15, 2019

ChrisColeTech commented Dec 12, 2019

Adam-Ponting commented Jan 7, 2020

acestronautical commented Jan 16, 2020

vpopescu commented Apr 26, 2020

Tronic commented May 24, 2020 • edited Loading

henk9 commented Jun 24, 2020 • edited Loading

mrmatata commented Jul 17, 2020 • edited Loading

Tronic commented Jul 22, 2020

mrmatata commented Jul 28, 2020

Tronic commented Jul 29, 2020

ryancbolton commented Nov 13, 2020

christian-white1 commented Mar 6, 2021

christian-white1 commented Mar 6, 2021

stephennickalls commented Aug 27, 2021

Amosi-04-sanga commented Sep 4, 2021 • edited Loading

phoenixeliot commented Sep 27, 2021

nanyou225 commented Dec 7, 2021

Casonyx commented Dec 13, 2021

melindamorales commented Mar 18, 2022

roke741 commented Apr 3, 2022

neospud1 commented Apr 13, 2022

CAPI-48 commented May 6, 2022

chillgiova commented Jul 23, 2022

Ramjius commented Oct 21, 2022

nafismahamudshahin commented Aug 8, 2023

wegaro commented Aug 18, 2023

overholted commented Aug 30, 2023

Sarveshreg commented Oct 19, 2023

justingolden21 commented Mar 25, 2024

WeaponXiii commented Mar 30, 2024

yeon-dong commented Aug 26, 2024 • edited Loading

Good Case

Bad Case

martigej commented Sep 21, 2024

desaroger commented Nov 6, 2024

ScottBeeson commented Jan 21, 2025 • edited Loading

ritwickdey commented Sep 10, 2017 •

edited

Loading

skelesp commented Sep 10, 2017 •

edited

Loading

skelesp commented Sep 10, 2017 •

edited by ritwickdey

Loading

ritwickdey commented Sep 10, 2017 •

edited

Loading

irakliykech commented Dec 24, 2018 •

edited

Loading

jonas-girdzijauskas commented Aug 3, 2019 •

edited

Loading

Tronic commented May 24, 2020 •

edited

Loading

henk9 commented Jun 24, 2020 •

edited

Loading

mrmatata commented Jul 17, 2020 •

edited

Loading

Amosi-04-sanga commented Sep 4, 2021 •

edited

Loading

yeon-dong commented Aug 26, 2024 •

edited

Loading

ScottBeeson commented Jan 21, 2025 •

edited

Loading