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VS Code stuck on “Discovering Python Interpreters”, interpreter picker unresponsive on fresh Windows install #1081

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#1154
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VS Code stuck on “Discovering Python Interpreters”, interpreter picker unresponsive on fresh Windows install#1081
#1154
Assignees
eleanorjboyd
Labels
area-environmentEnvironment, interpreter related issues.bugIssue identified by VS Code Team member as probable bugimportantIssue identified as high-priority
Milestone
Feb Bug Bash

Description

@Rabea707
coding_bsvd (Rabea707)
opened on Jan 6, 2026

Description

On a fresh Windows OS reset, VS Code fails to discover Python interpreters and becomes stuck on
“Discovering Python Interpreters”. The Python: Select Interpreter action becomes unresponsive.

The Run / Play button does not work and Python cannot be selected or used.

Environment

  • VS Code: latest stable
  • Python extension: latest
  • Python Environments extension: installed (ms-python.vscode-python-envs)
  • OS: Windows 10 / 11
  • Python version: 3.14 (installed system-wide)

What I’ve tried

  • Fresh OS reset
  • Reinstalled VS Code and Python multiple times
  • Installed Python Environments extension
  • Enabled "python.useEnvironmentsExtension": true
  • Manually setting python.defaultInterpreterPath
  • Restarting VS Code
  • Issue persists

Observed behavior

  • Status bar shows “Discovering Python Interpreters” indefinitely
  • Interpreter picker does not complete or respond
  • Run button does nothing

Expected behavior

VS Code should discover installed Python interpreters and allow selection and execution.

Screenshots

(Attached below)

Image Image Image

Activity

  1. github-actions
    added
    triage-needed
    on Jan 6, 2026
  2. Anthony Kim (anthonykim1)
    assigned
    Eleanor Boyd (eleanorjboyd)
    on Jan 7, 2026
  3. Anthony Kim (anthonykim1)
    added
    bugIssue identified by VS Code Team member as probable bug
    area-environmentEnvironment, interpreter related issues.
    and removed
    triage-needed
    on Jan 7, 2026
  4. Eleanor Boyd (eleanorjboyd)
    added
    importantIssue identified as high-priority
    on Jan 13, 2026

  5. Rabea707 commented on Jan 14, 2026

    @Rabea707
    coding_bsvd (Rabea707)
    on Jan 14, 2026
    Author

    Anything new?, Im start to lose hope I tried eveything, I rest my whole labtop
    This labtop costed me 2500$ for nothing
    Im using my macbook and my pc
    But I really need python to work in this labtop
    Omg why isnt it workkinngn
    Sorry I got mad :/

    Btw Python works in ever other ide expect vs code 🥲🥲🥲

    I tought my labtop hardwear is the problem but no since IT WORKS IN EVERYTHING EXPECT VS so yeah
    🥲🥲🥲

  6. ericpassmore commented on Jan 14, 2026

    @ericpassmore
    Eric Passmore (ericpassmore)
    on Jan 14, 2026

    Same for me

    Version: 1.108.0 (user setup)
Commit: 94e8ae2b28cb5cc932b86e1070569c4463565c37
Date: 2026-01-08T13:53:10.781Z
Electron: 39.2.7
ElectronBuildId: 12953945
Chromium: 142.0.7444.235
Node.js: 22.21.1
V8: 14.2.231.21-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26100

    C:\Users\E>where python3
C:\Users\E\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\python3.exe
C:\Users\E\AppData\Local\Python\bin\python3.exe

  7. zoofiftyfive commented on Jan 14, 2026

    @zoofiftyfive
    zoofiftyfive
    on Jan 14, 2026

    I was also doing a fresh Windows install last weekend for a family member (partly due to a separate VSCode bug where git was not being detected) when this issue arose.

    Unfortunately after spending 2 hours, I did not find the cause of the problem. I did however notice WSL was able to find interpreters on the same machine no issue. Also the issue did not present on Linux or Mac OS.

    If you're tied to Windows, using WSL should get you by until a fix is pushed.

    I have since removed Windows and installed Linux (Fedora) which resolved both VSCode related bugs.

  8. Rabea707 commented on Jan 14, 2026

    @Rabea707
    coding_bsvd (Rabea707)
    on Jan 14, 2026
    Author

    zoofiftyfive Well I have no idea man
    I have like 3 labtops 2 pc and 1 macbook
    Never in my life came to an issuse like this with vscode Im so tired with that
    This labtop is the newest and most reliable for the projects im working on, but its bugged for somereason
    I can use other IDE but im more conftormable with vscode so if its not gonna get fixex I might just switch to another ide at the end or buy new labtop witch I dont want tbh!

  9. zoofiftyfive commented on Jan 14, 2026

    @zoofiftyfive
    zoofiftyfive
    on Jan 14, 2026

    coding_bsvd (@Rabea707)
    I too hadn't come across an issue like this with VSCode until last week. It is highly likely there is nothing wrong with your laptop.

    You can install WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) on your machine and continue to use VSCode via that. You'll need to use the WSL VScode extension that Microsoft provides.

    Python development on Windows is best done in WSL + uv anyway even if this issue didn't pop up.

  10. kundeng commented on Jan 22, 2026

    @kundeng
    kundeng
    on Jan 22, 2026

    yeah, it doesn't work at all for me:

    Image

  11. manhhomienbienthuy commented on Jan 28, 2026

    @manhhomienbienthuy
    naa (manhhomienbienthuy)
    on Jan 28, 2026

    I had the same issue. Today I enabled Developer Mode on Windows and the problem disappeared.
    I'm not completely sure if it's directly related, but you can try it to see if it helps.

  12. Karthik Nadig (karthiknadig)
    closed this as completedin 5c10ad3on Feb 3, 2026
  13. Eleanor Boyd (eleanorjboyd)
    added a commit that references this issue on Feb 3, 2026

    fix: timeout handling for JSON-RPC requests in NativePythonFinder (mi…

    5c10ad3
  14. Eleanor Boyd (eleanorjboyd)
    added this to the Feb Bug Bash milestone on Feb 3, 2026

  15. eleanorjboyd commented on Feb 3, 2026

    @eleanorjboyd
    Eleanor Boyd (eleanorjboyd)
    on Feb 3, 2026
    Member

    Hello! This fix is now out on python-environment-extension version 1.17.10341640 (the newest pre-release). To switch, go to the marketplace for this extension and either select to install the latest pre-release or click the button that says "switch to pre-release" for the extension version. We would appreciate greatly if you are able to give this a try on the pre-release version and let us know if your bug is fixed!

  16. AnnieKLamar commented on Feb 13, 2026

    @AnnieKLamar
    Annie K. Lamar (AnnieKLamar)
    on Feb 13, 2026

    I'm having the same problem. I installed the pre-release version of Python Environments. Now it no longer loads infinitely, but it times out and still won't locate any Python environments.

  17. eleanorjboyd commented on Feb 17, 2026

    @eleanorjboyd
    Eleanor Boyd (eleanorjboyd)
    on Feb 17, 2026
    Member

    We have added in a timeout so it doesn't run indefinitely. If you could run this command and send the output that can help to debug the root issue:

    1. Open VS Code
    2. Press Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+P
    3. Run: Python: Run Python Environment Tool (PET) in Terminal...
    4. When prompted, choose “Search all”
    5. Wait until it finishes and a terminal called “Python Environment Tool” appears at the bottom
    6. Copy everything printed there and paste it here (or attach it as a text file)

    This will show us which environments VS Code detected and how they were resolved, which is very helpful for debugging interpreter issues 👍

  18. arielpriarone commented on Feb 21, 2026

    @arielpriarone
    Ariel Priarone (arielpriarone)
    on Feb 21, 2026

    We have added in a timeout so it doesn't run indefinitely. If you could run this command and send the output that can help to debug the root issue:

    1. Open VS Code
    2. Press Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+P
    3. Run: Python: Run Python Environment Tool (PET) in Terminal...
    4. When prompted, choose “Search all”
    5. Wait until it finishes and a terminal called “Python Environment Tool” appears at the bottom
    6. Copy everything printed there and paste it here (or attach it as a text file)

    This will show us which environments VS Code detected and how they were resolved, which is very helpful for debugging interpreter issues 👍

    i have the same problem. i did your suggested command list and got:
    PS E:\Documents\Pasticci> PS E:\Documents\Pasticci> & c:\Users\ariel.vscode\extensions\ms-python.vscode-python-envs-1.16.0-win32-x64\python-env-tools\bin\pet.exe find --verbose

    Id Name PSJobTypeName State HasMoreData Location Command

    1 Job1 BackgroundJob Running True localhost PS E:\Doc…

    The problem persists. i link manually the python exe path and nothing happens, it just keep "Discovering python interpreters"

  19. karthiknadig commented on Feb 21, 2026

    @karthiknadig
    Karthik Nadig (karthiknadig)
    on Feb 21, 2026
    Member

    Ariel Priarone (@arielpriarone) the path indicates you are using version 1.16.0. The fix is in 1.20.0, please update.

  20. arielpriarone commented on Feb 21, 2026

    @arielpriarone
    Ariel Priarone (arielpriarone)
    on Feb 21, 2026

    thanks for the reply, how do i find that version? the only available for me are the following:

    Image

  21. karthiknadig commented on Feb 21, 2026

    @karthiknadig
    Karthik Nadig (karthiknadig)
    on Feb 21, 2026
    Member

    Make sure your VS Code version is 1.109.0 or greater.

    Image

  22. arielpriarone commented on Feb 21, 2026

    @arielpriarone
    Ariel Priarone (arielpriarone)
    on Feb 21, 2026

    i re/installed it few hours ago as an attempt to solve this very problem:

    Image

  23. karthiknadig commented on Feb 21, 2026

    @karthiknadig
    Karthik Nadig (karthiknadig)
    on Feb 21, 2026
    Member

    Use Install from VSIX with the following platform-specific package links:

    Platform VSIX download link
    win32-x64 Install from VSIX
    win32-arm64 Install from VSIX
    linux-x64 Install from VSIX
    linux-arm64 Install from VSIX
    linux-armhf Install from VSIX
    darwin-x64 Install from VSIX
    darwin-arm64 Install from VSIX
    alpine-x64 Install from VSIX
    alpine-arm64 Install from VSIX
    web Install from VSIX

    This seems like a bug on VS Code extension refresh.

  24. arielpriarone commented on Feb 21, 2026

    @arielpriarone
    Ariel Priarone (arielpriarone)
    on Feb 21, 2026

    i get:
    Error: Unable to install extension 'ms-python.vscode-python-envs' as it is not compatible with VS Code '1.109.5'.

  25. karthiknadig commented on Feb 21, 2026

    @karthiknadig
    Karthik Nadig (karthiknadig)
    on Feb 21, 2026
    Member

    This looks like VS Code's install system is not able to resolve it for some reason. Do you see any errors in the Help > Toggle Developer tools (console)?

  26. karthiknadig commented on Feb 22, 2026

    @karthiknadig
    Karthik Nadig (karthiknadig)
    on Feb 22, 2026
    Member

    Ariel Priarone (@arielpriarone) I dug into what is going on. Looks like the fix needs a API from VS Code that is currently in insiders. Please try with insiders VS Code https://code.visualstudio.com/insiders/

  27. github-actions
    locked as resolved and limited conversation to collaborators on Apr 25, 2026
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