"Extensions have been modified on disk. Please reload the window."

[SetTrend]

Type: Bug

Occasionally, when I open VS Code, a notification pops up saying "Extensions have been modified on disk. Please reload the window."

Even after I uninstalled all extensions, the message still popped up when starting VS Code. So I re-installed two of them. (Just informing because they are listed in the VS Code data below.)

I have no clue what's causing this notification.

This is more or less a follow-up to: microsoft/vscode-discussions#82

VS Code version: Code 1.119.1 (974500e64f0d1cfdf7c9821a2a51c2cb3bf0e561, 2026-05-12T01:20:22+09:00)
OS version: Windows_NT x64 10.0.19045
Modes:

System Info

Item	Value
CPUs	Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3940XM CPU @ 3.00GHz (4 x 3190)
GPU Status	2d_canvas: unavailable_software GPU0: VENDOR= 0x1414, DEVICE=0x008c [Microsoft Basic Render Driver], DRIVER_VENDOR=Google, DRIVER_VERSION=10.0.19041.5794 GPU1: VENDOR= 0x1414, DEVICE=0x008c [Microsoft Basic Render Driver], DRIVER_VERSION=10.0.19041.5794 Machine model name: Machine model version: direct_rendering_display_compositor: disabled_off_ok gpu_compositing: disabled_software multiple_raster_threads: enabled_on opengl: disabled_off rasterization: disabled_software raw_draw: disabled_off_ok skia_graphite: disabled_off trees_in_viz: disabled_off video_decode: disabled_software video_encode: disabled_software webgl: unavailable_software webgl2: unavailable_software webgpu: unavailable_software webnn: unavailable_software
Load (avg)	undefined
Memory (System)	12.00GB (1.56GB free)
Process Argv	--crash-reporter-id 3adafd8f-f8e0-4b32-a620-96f9a0b87d3e
Screen Reader	no
VM	33%

Extensions (2)

Extension	Author (truncated)	Version
vscode-language-pack-de	MS-	1.118.2026050120
powershell	ms-	2025.4.0

[vs-code-engineering]

Thanks for creating this issue! It looks like you may be using an old version of VS Code; the latest stable release is 1.120.0. Please try upgrading to the latest version and checking whether this issue remains.

Happy Coding!

[SetTrend]

I just tried with the latest version:

Version: 1.120.0 (user setup)
Commit: 0958016b2af9f09bb4257e0df4a95e2f90590f9f
Datum: 2026-05-12T20:17:22Z
Electron: 39.8.8
ElectronBuildId: 13870025
Chromium: 142.0.7444.265
Node.js: 22.22.1
V8: 14.2.231.22-electron.0
Betriebssystem: Windows_NT x64 10.0.19045

[ymx5061004]

Axel D. (@SetTrend)
Hi, has this issue been resolved?

[SetTrend]

Hi, I just installed v1.121. The issue happens there, too.

[ymx5061004]

Here's the AI-generated content. I tested it and the issue looks fixed.

Problem: VSCode prompts "Extension has been modified on disk. Please reload the window." every time the workspace opens, even though all extensions are actually present.

Root cause: The .obsolete file in the extensions directory had stale entries pointing to old versions of extensions (often caused by frequent extension updates or switching VSCode installers, e.g. from User Installer to System Installer). On each startup VSCode reads .obsolete and tries to clean up the listed entries; the inconsistent state triggers the "extension modified on disk" prompt.

Fix: Close VSCode, then delete the following two files in the extensions directory. VSCode will rebuild them on next launch:
.obsolete
extensions.json

Extensions directory location:
Default: %USERPROFILE%.vscode\extensions
If the VSCODE_EXTENSIONS environment variable is set, use that path instead.

[sandy081]

Thanks for following up! Could you share more details to help us investigate further?

• When this happens next time, please open the Output panel and select Window from the dropdown — are there any relevant error messages or warnings logged around the time the notification appears?
• Also, does this happen on every VS Code startup, or only after an update/reinstall?

[SetTrend]

Sorry for the late reply. We had holidays here.

Sandeep Somavarapu (@sandy081): Would you want me to test YeMingxin (@ymx5061004)'s fix first? Or would you prefer to get the log first to see which extension causes the issue?

[SetTrend]

Sandeep Somavarapu (@sandy081): How do you want me to progress with logging?

[sandy081]

Thanks for your patience, Axel D. (@SetTrend)! To help me investigate, could you please capture the Window log the next time this happens? Open the Output panel (View → Output), select Window from the dropdown, reproduce/observe the "Extensions have been modified on disk" prompt, and then paste the relevant log entries here. That should help pinpoint which extension or entry is triggering the false prompt. Thank you!

[HolmesZ]

Axel D. (@SetTrend) Besides VS Code, did you install Cursor, Trae, or any other editors that are based on VS Code? Have you modified the environment variables VSCODE_APPDATA or VSCODE_EXTENSIONS? I also encountered this problem when using VS Code, Cursor, and Trae together, and after modifying the environment variables VSCODE_APPDATA and VSCODE_EXTENSIONS.

[SetTrend]

So, here's the log now: VS Code Window log.zip

Unfortunately, it's in German, I'm afraid. After I copied the log I switched to US English but the issue didn't occur since then. So probably, the issue may be related to the German Language extension coming with VS Code?

[SetTrend]

Sandeep Somavarapu (@sandy081): This issue still has the info-needed label set. Was my log of any help to you?

[SetTrend]

Holmes Zhi (@HolmesZ): Thank you for taking the time. No, I don't have any extensions installed other than the German Language extension. And the only VS Code based IDE on my machine is VS Code.