Urgent: "localhost refused to connect" error message

[Sa-Hu]

Type: Performance Issue

When I start debugging my html programs, I receive a "This site can't be reached, localhost refused to connect. ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED" error message. This same program I was running just fine for about 2 weeks (since I created it). I'm not sure how to resolve it and how the issue arose.

VS Code version: Code 1.109.2 (591199d, 2026-02-10T20:18:23.520Z)
OS version: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26200
Modes:

System Info

Item	Value
CPUs	12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-12700H (20 x 2688)
GPU Status	2d_canvas: enabled GPU0: VENDOR= 0x8086, DEVICE=0x46a6 [Intel(R) Iris(R) Xe Graphics], DRIVER_VENDOR=Intel, DRIVER_VERSION=31.0.101.3962 ACTIVE GPU1: VENDOR= 0x1414, DEVICE=0x008c [Microsoft Basic Render Driver], DRIVER_VERSION=10.0.26100.7309 Machine model name: Machine model version: direct_rendering_display_compositor: disabled_off_ok gpu_compositing: enabled multiple_raster_threads: enabled_on opengl: enabled_on rasterization: enabled raw_draw: disabled_off_ok skia_graphite: disabled_off trees_in_viz: disabled_off video_decode: enabled video_encode: enabled webgl: enabled webgl2: enabled webgpu: enabled webnn: disabled_off
Load (avg)	undefined
Memory (System)	15.70GB (4.86GB free)
Process Argv	--crash-reporter-id 71fa8ac7-06aa-4770-a8f0-cd76384a501f
Screen Reader	no
VM	0%

Process Info

CPU %	Mem MB	   PID	Process
    0	   187	 13984	code
    0	    49	  2204	   utility-network-service
    0	   305	  2688	window [1] (html_explanation.html - About HTML - Visual Studio Code)
    0	   125	  4460	pty-host
    0	    75	 12788	     C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -noexit -command "try { . \"c:\Users\safah\Desktop\Microsoft VS Code\591199df40\resources\app\out\vs\workbench\contrib\terminal\common\scripts\shellIntegration.ps1\" } catch {}"
    0	     9	 19572	     conpty-agent
    0	    32	 11104	   crashpad-handler
    0	   143	 12816	shared-process
    0	   122	 25356	     "C:\Users\safah\Desktop\Microsoft VS Code\Code.exe" "c:\Users\safah\Desktop\Microsoft VS Code\591199df40\resources\app\out\bootstrap-fork" ms-vscode.pwa-chrome "{\"common.vscodemachineid\":\"ff6d280e1493e849546e45951c61cd76bd8dd6e0f66e710a19cf67dad26c01d9\",\"common.vscodesessionid\":\"2d11795e-a180-4299-8387-a1ac218eadd71770838113599\"}" 0c6ae279ed8443289764825290e4f9e2-1a736e7c-1324-4338-be46-fc2a58ae4d14-7255
    0	   279	 14556	   gpu-process
    0	   165	 18072	extension-host [1]
    0	   111	  6220	     "C:\Users\safah\Desktop\Microsoft VS Code\Code.exe" "c:\Users\safah\Desktop\Microsoft VS Code\591199df40\resources\app\extensions\json-language-features\server\dist\node\jsonServerMain" --node-ipc --clientProcessId=18072
    0	   128	 13652	     "C:\Users\safah\Desktop\Microsoft VS Code\Code.exe" "c:\Users\safah\Desktop\Microsoft VS Code\591199df40\resources\app\extensions\html-language-features\server\dist\node\htmlServerMain" --node-ipc --clientProcessId=18072
    0	   111	 25512	file-watcher [1]

Workspace Info

|  Window (html_explanation.html - About HTML - Visual Studio Code)
|    Folder (About HTML): 11 files
|      File types: html(4) dwt(2) json(1) zip(1) css(1)
|      Conf files: launch.json(1)
|      Launch Configs: chrome;

Extensions (9)

Extension	Author (truncated)	Version
java	red	1.52.0
intellicode-api-usage-examples	Vis	0.2.8
vscodeintellicode	Vis	1.3.1
vscode-gradle	vsc	3.17.2
vscode-java-debug	vsc	0.58.5
vscode-java-dependency	vsc	0.27.0
vscode-java-pack	vsc	0.30.5
vscode-java-test	vsc	0.44.0
vscode-maven	vsc	0.45.1

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[vs-code-engineering]

We closed this issue because we don't plan to address it in the foreseeable future. If you disagree and feel that this issue is crucial: we are happy to listen and to reconsider.

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Thanks for your understanding, and happy coding!