PowerShellEditorServices not working on Windows 2012 R2 Servers.

[matthew8gibson]

I just downgraded to the previous PowerShell Extension and the issue appears to be resolved:
v2020.1.0 - Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Issue Description

PowerShell editor services are not starting on 3 different Windows 2012 R2 servers (they are in 3 different environments.). These have all been working successfully in the past.

Version: 1.43.0 (system setup)
Commit: 78a4c91400152c0f27ba4d363eb56d2835f9903a
Date: 2020-03-09T19:47:57.235Z
Electron: 7.1.11
Chrome: 78.0.3904.130
Node.js: 12.8.1
V8: 7.8.279.23-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 6.3.9600

note:
this is happening on 3 different Windows 2012 R2 servers in 3 different environments that I use.

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Let PowerShell Extension start, when creating or opening a PowerShell file.
2. PS prompt doesn't start.

I think this is the core issue:

PS C:\Users\userid\.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode.powershell-2020.3.0\modules\PowerShellEditorServices>  Import-Module
 .\PowerShellEditorServices.psd1
Import-Module : The module manifest 'C:\Users\userid\.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode.powershell-2020.3.0\modules\Power
ShellEditorServices\PowerShellEditorServices.psd1' could not be processed because it is not a valid Windows PowerShell
restricted language file. Remove the elements that are not permitted by the restricted language:
At C:\Users\userid\.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode.powershell-2020.3.0\modules\PowerShellEditorServices\PowerShellEdit
orServices.psd1:12 char:18
+ RootModule = if ($PSEdition -eq 'Core')
+                  ~~~~~~~~~~
A variable that cannot be referenced in restricted language mode or a Data section is being referenced. Variables that
can be referenced include the following: $PSCulture, $PSUICulture, $true, $false, and  $null.
At line:1 char:2
+  Import-Module .\PowerShellEditorServices.psd1
+  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : ResourceUnavailable: (C:\Users\wGibso...orServices.psd1:String) [Import-Module], Missing
   MemberException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Modules_InvalidManifest,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.ImportModuleCommand

Here is error from log:
3/19/2020 2:10:27 PM [NORMAL] - Visual Studio Code v1.43.0 64-bit
3/19/2020 2:10:27 PM [NORMAL] - PowerShell Extension v2020.3.0
3/19/2020 2:10:27 PM [NORMAL] - Operating System: Windows 64-bit
3/19/2020 2:10:27 PM [NORMAL] - Language server starting --
3/19/2020 2:10:27 PM [NORMAL] - PowerShell executable: C:\windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe
3/19/2020 2:10:27 PM [NORMAL] - PowerShell args: -NoProfile -NonInteractive -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command Import-Module 'c:\Users\Administrator.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode.powershell-2020.3.0\modules\PowerShellEditorServices\PowerShellEditorServices.psd1'; Start-EditorServices -HostName 'Visual Studio Code Host' -HostProfileId 'Microsoft.VSCode' -HostVersion '2020.3.0' -AdditionalModules @('PowerShellEditorServices.VSCode') -BundledModulesPath 'c:\Users\Administrator.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode.powershell-2020.3.0\modules' -EnableConsoleRepl -LogLevel 'Normal' -LogPath 'c:\Users\Administrator.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode.powershell-2020.3.0\logs\1584645027-a0abfe13-cba6-46a9-a1ef-f6bafc0e81221584645008564\EditorServices.log' -SessionDetailsPath 'c:\Users\Administrator.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode.powershell-2020.3.0\sessions\PSES-VSCode-3692-740215' -FeatureFlags @()
3/19/2020 2:10:27 PM [NORMAL] - PowerShell Editor Services args: Import-Module 'c:\Users\Administrator.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode.powershell-2020.3.0\modules\PowerShellEditorServices\PowerShellEditorServices.psd1'; Start-EditorServices -HostName 'Visual Studio Code Host' -HostProfileId 'Microsoft.VSCode' -HostVersion '2020.3.0' -AdditionalModules @('PowerShellEditorServices.VSCode') -BundledModulesPath 'c:\Users\Administrator.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode.powershell-2020.3.0\modules' -EnableConsoleRepl -LogLevel 'Normal' -LogPath 'c:\Users\Administrator.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode.powershell-2020.3.0\logs\1584645027-a0abfe13-cba6-46a9-a1ef-f6bafc0e81221584645008564\EditorServices.log' -SessionDetailsPath 'c:\Users\Administrator.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode.powershell-2020.3.0\sessions\PSES-VSCode-3692-740215' -FeatureFlags @()
3/19/2020 2:10:27 PM [NORMAL] - powershell.exe started.
3/19/2020 2:10:27 PM [NORMAL] - Waiting for session file
3/19/2020 2:12:27 PM [NORMAL] - Error occurred retrieving session file
3/19/2020 2:12:27 PM [NORMAL] - Language server startup failed.
3/19/2020 2:12:27 PM [ERROR] - The language service could not be started:
3/19/2020 2:12:27 PM [ERROR] - Timed out waiting for session file to appear.

Does this issue occur when all extensions are disabled?: No

[rjmholt]

This is because Windows Server 2012R2 runs PowerShell 4 by default, which is no longer supported by the PowerShell extension. See #1310.

Because of the way the extension loads, there's no way for us to improve the error message here unfortunately.

Some workarounds:

• Install WMF 5.1
• Pin the PowerShell extension to 2020.1.0
• Install PowerShell 7

We're doing work to enable development on client OS SKUs while providing compatibility checking for deployment SKUs. See this blog post for the work here so far.

[matthew8gibson]

thanks for the quick response!

can you tell me how to do this?
Pin the PowerShell extension to 2020.1.0
I think that's what i want as a fallback if PS itself can't be upgraded.
i got that version installed, but i'm thinking it is going to upgrade automatically at some point.

[NoralK]

I have a similar issue. I also have Window Server 2012-R2 but I have upgraded to WMF 5.1 as part of the VM OS image. I get the same error message as above. Is PowerShell v7 required to be installed, I did not see a prereq for this?

Using PowerShell Extension v2020.3.0 - is there a reason for a specific version of 2020.1.0?

[matthew8gibson]

I was able to apply WMF 5.1 on one box and it resolved the issue.

On another box, I was able to stay at version 2020.1.0 and it resolved the issue. I also configured all extensions to NOT autoupdate..

note: I don't see a way to let others update automatically and keep this one at the old version. I wonder if there is one

PowerShell Extension v2020.3.0 no longer supports old versions of PowerShell.

[TylerLeonhardt]

@NoralK

Is PowerShell v7 required to be installed, I did not see a prereq for this?

This is not a requirement. You can also use Windows PowerShell 5.1. If you're still seeing an issue on startup, please open a new issue and also attach the logs so we can get a better idea of what's going on.

@matthew8gibson I'm in the process of adding a docs change to make this easier to discover:

MicrosoftDocs/PowerShell-Docs#5617

You'll want the "extensions.autoUpdate": false setting.

[matthew8gibson]

Thanks, Tyler. If others can understand the underlying problem more quickly than I did that'd be great.

[BrendonOSullivan]

upgrading to WMF 5.1 fixed this issue for me.
Currently it is a real blocker for anyone affected and I only found this solution after hours of googling, re-installing, restarting and the usual nightmare.
Two years after the first post this issue should be fixed by now or at least an understandable error message!

[ghost]

Thank you for your comment, but please note that this issue has been closed for over a week. For better visibility, consider opening a new issue with a link to this instead.

[andyleejordan]

Thanks @BrendonOSullivan, I'll get this added to the troubleshooting guide.