VS Code (1.30.1) fails to start/open when offline

Technical Programming
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This is more of an FYI but there appears to be a known bug in the version of VS Code currently being distributed (1.30.1) where it will not start if your machine is offline. I don’t know if it varies by OS (and version of OS) or not but our team is experiencing it on Windows 10 (Version 1809, OS Build 17763.107).

This issue is from 2016 but you’ll note it’s still open and is being updated with new comments by people having the same problem:

One workaround, of course, is to connect to the Internet.

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Reading about it, it seems specific to 1809. Can you try this workaround (install Microsoft loopback adapter)? https://discuss.atom.io/t/atom-wont-start-without-internet/60939/6

1 Like
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It’s a kluge, but it works. Thanks so much for suggesting the workaround! We can use this until it’s fixed within VS Code.

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Just ran into this while setting up at competition today. Incredible that this is a still a problem. Thank you, Peter, your workaround seems to have done the trick.

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VS Code 1.31.1 fixes this issue, however it was a major change in VS Code to fix the issue, that had the potential to break things, and we were not willing to risk that with a known workaround. I’ve been testing since that release and it does seem to work just fine, however its not something we would be pushing for an update this season. But if willing to take the risk, that is another way, and the full way to solve the issue (I’ve tested a ton and it does work, its just not worth the risk of pushing).

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Thanks Thad. With the workaround in place, indeed probably not worth the risk. Also, my “incredible this is still a problem” comment was toward Microsoft, as I found bug reports of this or a similar issue from up to 2 years ago. Luck of the draw that it was actually fixed shortly after this season’s kickoff.

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