mayapy (Autodesk's Maya python interpreter) is not recognised

[daniele-niero]

Type: Bug

Behavior

It appears that with the latest version of Python Extension (2026.4.0), issue microsoft/vscode-python#20793 has returned.
When selecting Autodesk's Maya embedded Python interpreter (mayapy), Python Extension reports the interpreter as invalid.
This worked with previous versions and, as far as I can tell, the last working version was 2026.2.0.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Using Autodesk Maya 2024
2. Install Python extension v2026.4.0
3. Select C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2024\bin\mayapy.exe as Python interpreter
4. The following notification appears: "An Invalid Python interpreter is selected, please try changing it to enable features such as IntelliSense, linting, and debugging."

---

Extension version: 2026.4.0
VS Code version: Code 1.113.0 (cfbea10c5ffb233ea9177d34726e6056e89913dc, 2026-03-24T15:07:18+01:00)
OS version: Windows_NT x64 10.0.22631
Modes:

• Python version (& distribution if applicable, e.g. Anaconda): 3.10.8
• Type of virtual environment used (e.g. conda, venv, virtualenv, etc.): Unknown
• Value of the python.languageServer setting: Default

User Settings

Multiroot scenario, following user settings may not apply:

languageServer: "Pylance"

testing
• unittestEnabled: true
• autoTestDiscoverOnSaveEnabled: false

experiments
• enabled: false

Installed Extensions

Extension Name	Extension Id	Version
close-other-tabs	dre	0.0.2
code-spell-checker	str	4.5.6
debugpy	ms-	2025.18.0
explorer-exclude	Pet	1.3.2
jinja	who	0.0.8
js-debug	ms-	1.112.0
js-debug-companion	ms-	1.1.3
perforce	mjc	4.17.0
python	ms-	2026.4.0
svg-gallery	dev	3.0.0
vscode-favorites	how	1.11.0
vscode-great-icons	emm	2.1.120
vscode-js-profile-table	ms-	1.0.10
vscode-pylance	ms-	2026.1.1
vscode-usda-syntax	ani	0.2.0
vscode-xml	red	0.29.0

[eleanorjboyd]

can you see if the behavior changes when you toggle the setting python.useEnvsExtension: true

[daniele-niero]

Hi @eleanorjboyd,

I don't have the Python Environments extension active, I'm not using it.

I did try to activate it though, and immeditely I got notified that the deafult intepreter pointing to MayaPy could not be resolved.

But as I said, I don't use Python Environments.
So the problem exists with and without it, and I've tried again, Python Extension v2026.2.0 works, while version v2026.4.0 does not.
Python Environmnets seems to break it for me, despite the version of the Python extension.

[karthiknadig]

This is fixed in commit b8bff92