VSCode hangs when switching between local login and remote desktop login

[shaunco]

Does this issue occur when all extensions are disabled?: Yes

• VS Code Version: 1.73.1
• OS Version: Windows_NT x64 10.0.22621

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Log in locally to your Windows desktop
2. Set scaling to 150% (Control Panel-->System-->Display)
3. Take note of the display resolution
4. From a local login, open a project in VSCode
5. Lock the local workstation (do not log out)
6. From a different system where scaling is set to something other than 150%, and preferably the resolution is also different
7. Open Remote Desktop Connection
8. Enter the IP of the original system
9. Click Connect
10. Log in

VSCode will resize the outermost frame of the window, but will leave Explorer and code windows smaller, and will be unresponsive to mouse or keyboard input. After about 15 seconds, you'll get a popup that says:

"The window is not responding. You can reopen or close the window or keep waiting"

If you choose "Reopen", a new instance of VSCode will launch and will work fine. If you Keep Waiting, it will never come back.

[ringwraith]

same problem for a long time

[vware]

same here, but not for a long time. started to happen after most recent win11 upgrade. chrome actually had the same problem, but that one is fixed now. vscode isnt, sadly.

[jozocai]

Similar here

[XianwuLin]

same issue.

[liberize]

very annoying

[yo1dog]

If you Keep Waiting, it will never come back.

In my case, if you wait 1-2 minutes it eventually comes back.

[zerkz]

weird. started the profiler through the developer tools, disconnected RDP, reconnected, waited couple mins for vscode to unfreeze, and stopped the profiler.

Nothing stood out to me as "stuck" or taking a long time from the gpu or main.js thread.

[yo1dog]

For context, this is not unique to vscode for me. The Slack desktop app (pretty sure is also web/browser based) exhibits similar behavior.

[zerkz]

@yo1dog That seems to point to an issue with electron or browserview then.

[cicorias]

I've seen this with Google Chrome too. VS Code, and Windows Terminal.

For Windows Terminal I've tried their Preview and it uses different rending logic apparently. Team indicate some issues with NVIDIA -- but that has done better in haven't seen freezes.

Edge surprisingly "recovers" after a bit; where as Google Chrome never does.

VS Code I've affected the experimental terminal GPU rendering flag to "canvas" for now to see if that helps.

This seems like a Windows/NVIDIA driver issue on desktop resizing.

So, kinda seems Chromium based.

[zerkz]

I have a AMD card so that throws the nvidia issue out -- but could still be chromium/windows related 🤔

[cpbotha]

I am seeing similar behaviour as @cicorias

Windows Terminal will freeze completely. Their main issue for this is microsoft/terminal#12607 -- I have disabled hardware rendering for Terminal, and it seems to help.

My VSCode is also frozen when I re-attach, either via RDP, or at the machine in question, but indeed it ofter recovers after a few minutes, sometimes asking to reconnect. (I use WSL) For now I have added "disable-hardware-acceleration": true to Preferences: Runtime arguments

So far, my Edge has not yet been able to recover, but I have never been able to wait long enough.

I have an nvidia in this machine.

[xgfone]

The trouble still exists for me.

Version: 1.81.1 (user setup)
Commit: 6c3e3dba23e8fadc360aed75ce363ba185c49794
Date: 2023-08-09T22:22:42.175Z
Electron: 22.3.18
ElectronBuildId: 22689846
Chromium: 108.0.5359.215
Node.js: 16.17.1
V8: 10.8.168.25-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.22621

Windows OS Build: 22621.2134

[iruis]

same issue. has long time.

VS Code Version: 1.81.1
Windows Version: Windows 11 Pro for Workstations, 22H2, Build 22621.2134

[hdformat]

same issue. i always restart vscode, slack and the other apps based electron when i face this

• vscode1.81.1
• windows 11 pro, 22H2, build 22621.2215

[DUWENINK]

I think this has something to do with Chromium, because I also have this problem when using the remote Edge browser.

[ZiJiaW]

same issue

[iruis]

My solution

1. add a keyboard layout (Add a keyboard: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/manage-the-input-and-display-language-settings-in-windows-12a10cb4-8626-9b77-0ccb-5013e0c7c7a2#WindowsVersion=Windows_11)
2. change keyboard layout (Win + Space bar)
   
3. get back keyboard layout (Win + Space bar)

Problem solving!

[Senorsen]

My solution

1. add a keyboard layout (Add a keyboard: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/manage-the-input-and-display-language-settings-in-windows-12a10cb4-8626-9b77-0ccb-5013e0c7c7a2#WindowsVersion=Windows_11)
2. change keyboard layout (Win + Space bar)
   
3. get back keyboard layout (Win + Space bar)

Problem solving!

Wow thanks, your workaround is a life saver, it works not only for VSCode but also for the frozen Edge, Teams, Chrome, etc...

[timhub]

My solution

1. add a keyboard layout (Add a keyboard: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/manage-the-input-and-display-language-settings-in-windows-12a10cb4-8626-9b77-0ccb-5013e0c7c7a2#WindowsVersion=Windows_11)
2. change keyboard layout (Win + Space bar)
   
3. get back keyboard layout (Win + Space bar)

Problem solving!

This works for me, it's not the first time that Microsoft keyboard yields a major issue.

[hezzze]

same issue here

版本: 1.83.1 (user setup)
提交: f1b07bd
日期: 2023-10-10T23:48:05.904Z
Electron: 25.8.4
ElectronBuildId: 24154031
Chromium: 114.0.5735.289
Node.js: 18.15.0
V8: 11.4.183.29-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.22621

My issue more specifically is whenever I login again after a remote session, the terminal stop working as every time I try to type something it stuck

[reitowo]

It's been a year, is anyone reporting this to chromium upstream? Anyway to track the upstream fix?

[saltfishmx]

same issue

[lbmeng]

Yes, I have seen this issue for more than one year when remote desktop to my office PC running VSC or Edge browser.

I had to restart VSC or Edge when I hit this nasty issue every time.

Windows 11 22H2 (22621.2248)
VSC: 1.84.2

[march1993]

My solution

1. add a keyboard layout (Add a keyboard: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/manage-the-input-and-display-language-settings-in-windows-12a10cb4-8626-9b77-0ccb-5013e0c7c7a2#WindowsVersion=Windows_11)
2. change keyboard layout (Win + Space bar)
   
3. get back keyboard layout (Win + Space bar)

Problem solving!

I tried to kill ChsIME.exe and then the problem got solved too.

[DUWENINK]

this issue make me unhappy a lot,i can not solve by my self ,if have some solution about this, call back me ,thankyou

[reitowo]

I started a Chromium Issue, vote and comment if you are interested:

https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1514402

I'm not sure if it duplicates, but the bug exists for years so I guess not. 😂

[k773920063]

Now, the EDGE has the same problem!

[DUWENINK]

Maybe this just happened in the China Language Env?

[jackyzy823]

Some hint: Prevent using Microsoft's IME ( like Microsoft Pinyin/Wubi , Japanese ...). Using third-party IME instead helps on this issue.

[iruis]

My solution

1. add a keyboard layout (Add a keyboard: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/manage-the-input-and-display-language-settings-in-windows-12a10cb4-8626-9b77-0ccb-5013e0c7c7a2#WindowsVersion=Windows_11)

2. change keyboard layout (Win + Space bar)

3. get back keyboard layout (Win + Space bar)

Problem solving!

It seems to not work after windows 11, version 23h2 update.

[reitowo]

The simplest solution is:

1. Press Windows key
2. After Windows Menu pops up, switch to another keyboard layout (Alt + Shift, and English layout in my case)
3. Go back to your app window
4. Switch back to previous layout, and continue your work

[iruis]

windows 11, version 23h2 update

My solution

1. add a keyboard layout (Add a keyboard: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/manage-the-input-and-display-language-settings-in-windows-12a10cb4-8626-9b77-0ccb-5013e0c7c7a2#WindowsVersion=Windows_11)

2. change keyboard layout (Win + Space bar)

3. get back keyboard layout (Win + Space bar)

Problem solving!

It seems to not work after windows 11, version 23h2 update.

in windows 11, version 23h2 update.
(korean) https://sanctacrux.tistory.com/1930

summary

1. 설정
2. 시간 및 언어
3. 언어 및 지역
4. 한국어 / 언어옵션
5. Microsoft 입력기 /  키보드옵션
6. 호환성 / 이전 버전의 Micorosoft IME 켬

google tranlation

1. Settings
2. Time and language
3. Language and region
4. Korean / language option (your input language)
5. Microsoft input method / keyboard options
6. Compatibility / Turn on older versions of Microsoft IME

couldn't find any official microsoft documentation.

[yindaheng98]

I found an extremely ugly but effective temporary solution to recover from an unresponsive window input without needing to restart VSCode.
When the window becomes unresponsive, losing and regaining focus can restore operation, but if you enter any character again, the window will freeze.
In a fortuitous circumstance, I found that you can continuously input any characters(Press a character button without releasing it) when the window freezes, then click any other character-inputable area within the frozen window (while still inputting characters), then make the window to lose focus and regain it. This will restore the window from freezing.
You might not have enough hands to make the window lose focus, but remember, the Windows key (Win key) can also do the trick.

I found an extremely ugly but effective temporary solution to recover from an unresponsive window input without needing to restart VSCode.
When the window becomes unresponsive, losing and regaining focus can restore operation, but if you enter any character again, the window will freeze.
In a fortuitous circumstance, I found that you can continuously input any characters(Press a character button without releasing it) when the window freezes, then click any other character-inputable area within the frozen window (while still inputting characters), then make the window to lose focus and regain it. This will restore the window from freezing.
You might not have enough hands to make the window lose focus, but remember, the Windows key (Win key) can also do the trick.

it works! My operation process: 1: When vscode freezes and does not respond, open any other software (such as chrome or edge); 2: Switch back to vscode, press and hold any key on the keyboard without releasing it, and use the mouse to click on the frozen vscode window at the same time; 3: After clicking, switch to other open software, and switch back again to exit the frozen state.

it works! thank you so much!

[reitowo]

This should fix (at least partially) once VSCode upgrade to a electron version that based on Chromium 124.0.6367.0
https://chromium-review.googlesource.com/c/chromium/src/+/5365680

[soulee-dev]

Struggle same issue now. This should be fixed.