Pylance requires a latest version of VS Code.

If you open the integrated terminal, go to the Output tab and select Python Language Server from the dropdown, you might see an error message similar to "The language client requires VS Code version ^1.51.0 but received version 1.50.1" If so, updating VS Code to the latest version might resolve the issue.

Answer from Pelle Jacobs on Stack Overflow
🌐
GitHub
github.com › microsoft › vscode-python › issues › 25301
Python extension not starting Pylance · Issue #25301 · microsoft/vscode-python
July 17, 2025 - I am trying to use python on the newest VS Code version on my macbook and no matter what I do the Pylance Intellisense isnt working. When I hover over methods it doesn't show anything and there is ...
Author   andrew-dragoslavic
Discussions

Pylance is not working on my vscode
My understanding is that it's a license violation to run Pylance with self-built VCS. At https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode they say that Visual Studio Code is a build of the repo done by MS, and if you build it then it's “Code - OSS” or something like this. At https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items/ms-python.vscode-pylance/license they say that you are not allowed to use Pylance with Code - OSS, only with Visual Studio Code. IANAL, and this is my reading of how MS interprets the situation. So they will try to prevent you from doing it. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/vscode
3
0
August 24, 2023
Help! After update I think my Pylance stopped working. Things are not highlighting.
After update I think my Pylance stopped working. Things are not highlighting.#184774 ... *caused-by-extensionIssue identified to be caused by an extensionIssue identified to be caused by an extension ... My VSCode was working all day yesterday and last night, then everything stopped working ... More on github.com
🌐 github.com
3
June 10, 2023
Pylance is not work for jupyter notebook in VScode
Applies To Notebooks (.ipynb files) Interactive Window and/or Cell Scripts (.py files with #%% markers) What happened? Pylance is not stable. When I open the notebook, it works for 1-2 hours. Then, the color of variables become white, an... More on github.com
🌐 github.com
32
August 13, 2023
Pylance not detecting python in visual studio code - Development - NixOS Discourse
Hi everyone, I’m currently facing an issue with my NixOS setup for a Django development environment, and I’m hoping someone here might have some insight. Here is what I have set up: I’m using the following flake configuration: { description = "Document Manager API Server"; inputs = { ... More on discourse.nixos.org
🌐 discourse.nixos.org
1
November 14, 2024
🌐
GitHub
github.com › VSCodium › vscodium › discussions › 1641
Solution to Pylance not working with VSCodium · VSCodium/vscodium · Discussion #1641
December 7, 2023 - I have only tested this in Cursor (based on VSCode 1.85), but feel like it should work for VSCodium as well: Have the Python and Pylance extensions installed in VSCode - either through the VSIX or the market place.
Author   VSCodium
🌐
Esri Community
community.esri.com › t5 › python-questions › pylance-in-vs-code › td-p › 1342663
Solved: Pylance in VS Code - Esri Community
October 27, 2023 - Been having issues with the latest Pylance for VS Code not properly following arcpy imports and specifically hanging up the Pylance server on the arcpy imports meaning all syntax highlighting for any python script is lost. Not sure if this is an ESRI bug (the hangup makes me think it might have something to do with the licensing server?), but as of now the workaround is reverting back to v2023.7.40
🌐
Medium
medium.com › lanavajasuiza-tech › part-4-configuring-pylance-in-vs-code-to-recognise-your-python-libraries-d58ae642712a
Part 4: Configuring Pylance in VS Code to Recognise Your Python Libraries | by Ana Ndongo | lanavajasuiza.tech | Medium
November 29, 2025 - Pylance doesn’t always detect Python libraries correctly, especially when you’re using a virtual environment. This can lead to errors like: ... The cause? VS Code is not properly configured to work with your virtual environment.
🌐
GitHub
github.com › microsoft › vscode › issues › 184774
Help! After update I think my Pylance stopped working. Things are not highlighting. · Issue #184774 · microsoft/vscode
June 10, 2023 - After update I think my Pylance stopped working. Things are not highlighting.#184774 ... *caused-by-extensionIssue identified to be caused by an extensionIssue identified to be caused by an extension ... My VSCode was working all day yesterday and last night, then everything stopped working after the update today
Author   HighwayChile
Find elsewhere
🌐
GitHub
github.com › microsoft › pylance-release › issues › 4742
Pylance is not work for jupyter notebook in VScode · Issue #4742 · microsoft/pylance-release
August 13, 2023 - Pylance is not stable. When I open the notebook, it works for 1-2 hours. Then, the color of variables become white, and Pylance is unable to scan error. I check some issue in GitHub (microsoft/vscode-jupyter#8374 (comment)). I try to add a new cell.
Author   mikeyau1
🌐
NixOS Discourse
discourse.nixos.org › development
Pylance not detecting python in visual studio code - Development - NixOS Discourse
November 14, 2024 - Hi everyone, I’m currently facing an issue with my NixOS setup for a Django development environment, and I’m hoping someone here might have some insight. Here is what I have set up: I’m using the following flake configuration: { description = "Document Manager API Server"; inputs = { ...
🌐
Visual Studio Marketplace
marketplace.visualstudio.com › items
Pylance - Visual Studio Marketplace
2 days ago - Extension for Visual Studio Code - A performant, feature-rich language server for Python in VS Code
🌐
Cursor
forum.cursor.com › support › bug reports
Pylance not loading - Bug Reports - Cursor - Community Forum
February 13, 2025 - Hey, I am facing this issue where I am not able to load pylance. And i keep getting this popup: “Cannot activate the ‘Pylance’ extension because it depends on the ‘Python’ extension, which is not loaded. Would you lik…
🌐
Reddit
reddit.com › r/learnpython › problem with pylance in vscode
r/learnpython on Reddit: Problem with Pylance in VSCode
May 25, 2023 -

Please help!
Not so much of a Python problem as a Python development environment problem.. Pylance is unable to see an installed package, which is a package I have created and installed, whereas Jedi can.
The package in question is one that I have created myself, and it was installed into a virtual environment using pip install.
Python is able to run code from the package.
Things I have tried:
- Deleting all extensions from .~/vscode/extensions/
- Uninstalling/reinstalling VSCode
While I am currently able to use Jedi in place of Pylance ( although its missing syntax highlighting) I am concerned that this is indicative of a larger issue which will bite me in the ass if left unchecked.Any help would be great as I have deadlines approaching which depend on me being able to use my Python developing environment. Thanking you in advance.
Have posted in r/learnpython as well.

UPDATE: I am installing the package in question with 'pip install -e', however if i properly install the package with 'pip install', pylance plays nicely. This made me think that it was a workspace problem, so I moved the source code dir into the workspace and tried 'pip install -e' again, but no luck.

🌐
GitHub
github.com › microsoft › pylance-release › blob › main › TROUBLESHOOTING.md
pylance-release/TROUBLESHOOTING.md at main · microsoft/pylance-release
If you are using Pylance in a WSL environment, make sure your workspace is located under a WSL folder (/home/...) and not shared with Windows (/mnt/...). See issues #1443 and vscode-remote-release#5000.
Author   microsoft
🌐
Readthedocs
micropython-stubs.readthedocs.io › en › main › 22_vscode.html
Configuring VSCode, Pylance or Pyright — Micropython-Stubs 1.23.0 documentation
With MicroPython these are part of the firmware image, and not directly available as source files. Therefore it makes sense to ignore these warnings. To suppress these warnings add the following to your VSCode configuration. ... Pylance (and Pyright) do not by default allow you to override the stdlib stubs.
🌐
Arch Linux Forums
bbs.archlinux.org › viewtopic.php
vscode + python - no suggestions. Intellisense not working? / Newbie Corner / Arch Linux Forums
February 10, 2022 - There is/was a way to get around this by editing some lines in the product.json file for non-official builds (e.g. for vscodium, it's /usr/share/vscodium/resources/app/product.json), but in my experience it seems like this was patched for the newest versions of the Pylance extension.
🌐
GitHub
github.com › microsoft › pylance-release › issues › 3649
Pylance completely breaks after using VS Code for extended period of time · Issue #3649 · microsoft/pylance-release
November 18, 2022 - Pylance completely breaks after using VS Code for a long time. I used VS Code for several hours last night, Pylance had broken before this but I simply did a hard re-install to fix it (delete all VS Code related files and uninstall it).
Author   VerathianHD
🌐
Cursor
forum.cursor.com › support › bug reports
Pylance not installed but selected as languageServer causes error and breaks Quick Fix - Bug Reports - Cursor - Community Forum
July 24, 2025 - Describe the Bug Pylance not working despite python.languageServer set to “Pylance” Steps to Reproduce In .vscode/settings.json, I set: { "python.languageServer": "Pylance" } However, the Pylance extension is not ins…