Integrated console does not write output on Windows Insider build 16193

[yhvicey]

System Details

• Operating system name and version: Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.16193.1001]
• VS Code version: 1.12.1
• PowerShell extension version: 1.0.0
• Output from $PSVersionTable:

Issue Description

VSCode cannot launch integrated powershell and stuck at showing "starting powershell..." like this:

Attached Logs

log.zip

[jaapbrasser]

I have the same issue on the 10.0.16193.1001 build and also on the previous Insider Fast Ring build. Does anyone know of a workaround for this issue?

Just realized killing the integrated PowerShell session and pressing CTRL + ` will open a powershell.exe session. This one does not get stuck at loading and seems to be a workaround until we get an insider build that doesn't have this issue.

[daviwil]

I was able to repro the issue on Friday, looks like Windows broke the console APIs that I use to read input. I was trying to install a newer canary build to test with but it kept rolling back. I'll try again today to see if the latest builds fix the issue.

[daviwil]

Just tried this with internal canary build 16199 and I'm still seeing the problem. I'll try to debug the issue and see where it's coming from.

/cc @bgelens @jdhitsolutions

[jaapbrasser]

Thanks for following up on this @daviwil, I appreciate that!

[mud5150]

@jaapbrasser How are you killing the integrated console? Mine comes back whenever I try to debug. Having no luck trying to work around this issue.

[jaapbrasser]

This is what I do, click this button and then hit CTRL + `

I do end up with this error message, so it is not a full workaround as this blocks me from seeing my open files.

[jdhitsolutions]

I still see this issue with VSCode 1.12.2

[daviwil]

Updates to VS Code won't fix this unfortunately, it's an issue that manifests in PowerShell Editor Services.

[daviwil]

Workaround

OK folks, I've got a workaround for this issue. Open up your VS Code profile at one of the following paths (create the file if it doesn't already exist):

Windows PowerShell 5.1

$HOME\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Microsoft.VSCode_profile.ps1

PowerShell Core 6.0

$HOME\Documents\PowerShell\Microsoft.VSCode_profile.ps1

Insert this line at the top of the file:

[System.Console]::OutputEncoding = [System.Text.Encoding]::ASCII

Now restart VS Code. When the Integrated Console appears, you should start to see output again.

Explanation

Something happened in the latest Windows Insider builds to cause output in the Integrated Console to not be written inside of VS Code's integrated terminal. My guess is that there's some specific set of factors that contribute to this issue since it doesn't happen when you set powershell.exe to use UTF-8 output encoding inside of VS Code. I'll continue investigating this issue to try and find a real solution, but the workaround should suffice for now.

[mud5150]

@daviwil Thanks man. That got me going.