For Windows - Open your Default Browser - Tested on VS Code v 1.1.0

Answer to both opening a specific file (name is hard-coded) OR opening ANY other file.

Steps:

  1. Use ctrl + shift + p (or F1) to open the Command Palette.

  2. Type in Tasks: Configure Task or on older versions Configure Task Runner. Selecting it will open the tasks.json file. Delete the script displayed and replace it by the following:

    {
        "version": "0.1.0",
        "command": "explorer",    
        "windows": {
            "command": "explorer.exe"
        },
        "args": ["test.html"]
    }
    

    Remember to change the "args" section of the tasks.json file to the name of your file. This will always open that specific file when you hit F5.

    You may also set the this to open whichever file you have open at the time by using ["${file}"] as the value for "args". Note that the $ goes outside the {...}, so ["{$file}"] is incorrect.

  3. Save the file.

  4. Switch back to your html file (in this example it's "text.html"), and press ctrl + shift + b to view your page in your Web Browser.

Answer from yushulx on Stack Overflow
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Visual Studio Code
code.visualstudio.com › docs › languages › html
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How to view an HTML file in the browser with Visual Studio Code - Stack Overflow
How can I view my HTML code in a browser with the new Microsoft Visual Studio Code? With Notepad++ you have the option to Run in a browser. How can I do the same thing with Visual Studio Code? More on stackoverflow.com
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How to run code in HTML from Visual Studio Code in the browser?
You can use a vscode addon called live server. Then right click the html file in vscode and click the option with live server in the name. It auto opens it in your webbrowser. It even auto reloads it when you change and save a file. More on reddit.com
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Run HTML in Visual Studio Code
You can just open the HTML document in a browser, that's what they're designed for. But I'm visual studio has some kind of front end dev kit More on reddit.com
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vscode.dev
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In Visual Studio Code’s Explorer pane, click on your development folder’s name. You’ll see four icons appear to the right of the folder name. Click the ’New File’ icon. Type the new file’s name with its appropriate file extension ( for example, .html, .css, .csv).
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/node › how to run code in html from visual studio code in the browser?
r/node on Reddit: How to run code in HTML from Visual Studio Code in the browser?
June 19, 2022 -

I'm working on an assignment in Visual Studio Code and currently only my index.html page is running smoothly. With the other pages, I keep getting this error message, "Can't find Node.js binary "node": path doesn't exist. Make sure Node.js is installed and in your path or set the :runtimeExecutable" in your launch.json". I asked my professor and he told me I shouldn't be running the code via VS Code but in the browser. Now I'm a little lost. I was running my index file through Microsoft Edge but I'm unsure how what he means or how to do so.

EDIT: I figured it out. Thanks for the responses everyone.

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Microsoft Learn
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How I Run HTML Code in VS Code
April 29, 2025 - Extension for Visual Studio Code - Launch a development local Server with live reload feature for static & dynamic pages ... I personally find this handy when I’m editing CSS, no need to jump back and forth refreshing the browser manually just to check if a margin is still being ignored or if my color: salmon; is really the vibe I want (spoiler: it usually isn’t). In this guide, I’ll show you how to use Live Server to preview your HTML files in the browser and also share a few workflow tips to make working with HTML in VS Code faster and easier.
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wikihow.com › computers and electronics › internet › website and blog creation › markup languages › html › 4 ways to run a html file in visual studio code - wikihow
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YouTube
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Medium
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January 3, 2024 - In this brief tutorial, we’ll walk through the steps to set up and run HTML code within the Visual Studio Code environment. Step 1: Install Visual Studio Code: If you haven’t installed Visual Studio Code yet, visit the official website (https://code.visualstudio.com/) and download the latest version for your operating system.
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DhiWise
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CSS-Tricks
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VS Code Extensions for HTML | CSS-Tricks
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Medium
nikki-ricks.medium.com › 10-steps-to-setup-html-css-js-in-vscode-2b6a8fccdd39
10 Steps to Setup HTML, CSS, & JS in VSCode | by nikki ricks | Medium
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