Claude models not available in Copilot Chat when VS Code is connected to WSL and session target is Claude

[mukundshah]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Bug

💬 Feature/Topic Area

VS Code

Body

VSCode in Windows

VSCode connected to WSL

When I select Claude as the session target in WSL, it shows "No models available." However, Claude works as expected when running directly on Windows.

I couldn't find anything useful in the logs. WSL and Windows have separate Claude Code installations, but both are configured identically.

WSL — /home/mukund/.claude/settings.json

{
  "effortLevel": "medium",
  "autoUpdatesChannel": "latest",
  "enabledPlugins": {
    "someplugins": true,
  },
  "env": {
    "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL": "us.anthropic.claude-haiku-4-5-20251001-v1:0",
    "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL": "us.anthropic.claude-opus-4-7",
    "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL": "us.anthropic.claude-sonnet-4-6",
    "ANTHROPIC_MODEL": "us.anthropic.claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929-v1:0",
    "ANTHROPIC_SMALL_FAST_MODEL": "us.anthropic.claude-haiku-4-5-20251001-v1:0",
    "AWS_CREDENTIAL_PROCESS": "/home/mukund/claude-code-with-bedrock/credential-process --profile ClaudeCode-Shared",
    "AWS_PROFILE": "ClaudeCode-Shared",
    "AWS_REGION": "us-east-1",
    "CLAUDE_CODE_USE_BEDROCK": "1",
    "NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS": "/etc/pki/ca-trust/extracted/pem/tls-ca-bundle.pem"
  },
  "extraKnownMarketplaces": {
    "lmnr": {
      "source": {
        "repo": "lmnr-ai/lmnr-claude-code-plugin",
        "source": "github"
      }
    },
    "ponytail": {
      "source": {
        "repo": "DietrichGebert/ponytail",
        "source": "github"
      }
    }
  },
  "model": "sonnet",
  "theme": "auto",
  "tui": "fullscreen"
}

Windows — C:\Users\Mukund\.claude\settings.json

{
  "effortLevel": "medium",
  "autoUpdatesChannel": "latest",
  "enabledPlugins": {
    "someplugins": true,
  },
  "env": {
    "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL": "us.anthropic.claude-haiku-4-5-20251001-v1:0",
    "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL": "us.anthropic.claude-opus-4-7",
    "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL": "us.anthropic.claude-sonnet-4-6",
    "ANTHROPIC_MODEL": "us.anthropic.claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929-v1:0",
    "ANTHROPIC_SMALL_FAST_MODEL": "us.anthropic.claude-haiku-4-5-20251001-v1:0",
    "AWS_CREDENTIAL_PROCESS": "C:\\Users\\Mukund\\claude-code-with-bedrock\\credential-process-windows.dist\\credential-process-windows.exe --profile ClaudeCode-Shared",
    "AWS_PROFILE": "ClaudeCode-Shared",
    "AWS_REGION": "us-east-1",
    "CLAUDE_CODE_USE_BEDROCK": "1",
    "NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED": "0"
  },
  "extraKnownMarketplaces": {
    "lmnr": {
      "source": {
        "repo": "lmnr-ai/lmnr-claude-code-plugin",
        "source": "github"
      }
    },
    "ponytail": {
      "source": {
        "repo": "DietrichGebert/ponytail",
        "source": "github"
      }
    }
  },
  "model": "sonnet",
  "theme": "auto",
  "tui": "fullscreen"
}

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[hippi345]

The two settings files aren't quite identical, and the difference is in TLS:

Windows: "NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED": "0" (certificate checks off, which usually means a corporate TLS-inspecting proxy)

WSL: "NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS": "/etc/pki/ca-trust/extracted/pem/tls-ca-bundle.pem"

That /etc/pki/... path only exists on RHEL/Fedora-family distros. On Ubuntu/Debian WSL the system bundle is /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt. Node doesn't fail when NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS points at a missing file, it just ignores it. The Bedrock/credential calls from WSL would then fail TLS against the proxy, and the picker shows "No models available".

To check, in the WSL terminal:

ls -l /etc/pki/ca-trust/extracted/pem/tls-ca-bundle.pem aws sts get-caller-identity --profile ClaudeCode-Shared claude -p "hi"

If the file is missing or claude -p fails there, add your corporate root CA to WSL (sudo cp corp-root.crt /usr/local/share/ca-certificates/ && sudo update-ca-certificates) and point NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS at /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt. Then reload the VS Code window. If claude -p "hi" works in WSL but the picker is still empty, it's specific to the VS Code WSL integration and worth an issue on microsoft/vscode with the Copilot Chat logs.

[mukundshah]

~ ❯ cat /etc/fedora-release
Fedora release 44 (Forty Four)
~ ❯ ls -l /etc/pki/ca-trust/extracted/pem/tls-ca-bundle.pem
.r--r--r-- 192k root  8 Oct 07:58 /etc/pki/ca-trust/extracted/pem/tls-ca-bundle.pem
~ ❯ asp ClaudeCode-Shared
~ ❯ claude -p hi                                                           on ☁️  ClaudeCode-Shared (us-east-1) took 3s
Hi! How can I help you today?
~ ❯                                                                       on ☁️  ClaudeCode-Shared (us-east-1) took 16s

I'm indeed on fedora. The certificate path is also correct. In WSL NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS and on Windows, NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED, these differ to make the Claude Code CLI work. And yes, I'm behind corporate VPN. Claude Code CLI and the Claude Code UI in VSCode has been working without any problem. The issue is with the Copilot Chat's session target mode. It's not that it never worked. It has worked twice. and then i update the VS Code, and it disappeared again.

[mukundshah]

Magically it has started working again. Closing for now.