I ended up deleting the whole Code folder within the C:\Users\AppData\Roaming.
Note: You have to check the box - view Hidden Files to see these folders within File Explorer.
This solved it.
There must have been some weird corrupted cache issue at the heart of this.
I found this in C:\Users<profile>\AppData\Roaming\Code\logs<datetimestamp>\ptyhost.log
[2022-10-17 07:25:50.695] [ptyhost] [warning] Couldn't get layout info, a terminal was probably disconnected Could not find pty on pty host
[2022-10-17 07:25:54.040] [ptyhost] [warning] Shell integration cannot be enabled for executable "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" and args []
[2022-10-17 07:26:57.939] [ptyhost] [warning] Shell integration cannot be enabled for executable "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" and args []
I think it is related to this.
BTW: I had tried adding a couple of PowerShell VSCode IDE Extensions when things went awry. IIRC they were:
- PowerShell
- PowerShell Preview
I had upgraded PowerShell to the latest version 7 too.
$PSVersionTable yielded the following from the respective executables.
| Executable Path | Version |
|---|---|
| C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe | 5.1.17763.1852 |
| C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7\pwsh.exe | 7.2.6 |
Maybe that combo hosed things
Follow up note: Whilst it seemed to have fixed the issue once... soon after the problem manifested itself again. This time I couldn't reset VS Code to a working environment.
- Then I realised had opened the Project folder in the explorer on the left of the IDE.
- I had a subfolder that had a PS1 file within that.
- It didn't have its own .vscode\settings.json
- When I copied it down from the parent folder, suddenly everything worked again.
.vscode\settings.json just contained this:
{
}
Again this ended up being a one time solution. I ended up back at:
Shell activation failed to activate for cmd.exe
I posted this as a new ticket here
- In the end I found this to be more of a display issue than anything else!
- You can actually type cls then hit ENTER, to restore things to the status quo.
- The Terminal section is black with no prompt to begin with. But you can type in it!!!
- Perhaps the Prompt is black text on a black background initally, since when you start typing cls, it's quite a way to the right of the left margin.
I ended up deleting the whole Code folder within the C:\Users\AppData\Roaming.
Note: You have to check the box - view Hidden Files to see these folders within File Explorer.
This solved it.
There must have been some weird corrupted cache issue at the heart of this.
I found this in C:\Users<profile>\AppData\Roaming\Code\logs<datetimestamp>\ptyhost.log
[2022-10-17 07:25:50.695] [ptyhost] [warning] Couldn't get layout info, a terminal was probably disconnected Could not find pty on pty host
[2022-10-17 07:25:54.040] [ptyhost] [warning] Shell integration cannot be enabled for executable "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" and args []
[2022-10-17 07:26:57.939] [ptyhost] [warning] Shell integration cannot be enabled for executable "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" and args []
I think it is related to this.
BTW: I had tried adding a couple of PowerShell VSCode IDE Extensions when things went awry. IIRC they were:
- PowerShell
- PowerShell Preview
I had upgraded PowerShell to the latest version 7 too.
$PSVersionTable yielded the following from the respective executables.
| Executable Path | Version |
|---|---|
| C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe | 5.1.17763.1852 |
| C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7\pwsh.exe | 7.2.6 |
Maybe that combo hosed things
Follow up note: Whilst it seemed to have fixed the issue once... soon after the problem manifested itself again. This time I couldn't reset VS Code to a working environment.
- Then I realised had opened the Project folder in the explorer on the left of the IDE.
- I had a subfolder that had a PS1 file within that.
- It didn't have its own .vscode\settings.json
- When I copied it down from the parent folder, suddenly everything worked again.
.vscode\settings.json just contained this:
{
}
Again this ended up being a one time solution. I ended up back at:
Shell activation failed to activate for cmd.exe
I posted this as a new ticket here
- In the end I found this to be more of a display issue than anything else!
- You can actually type cls then hit ENTER, to restore things to the status quo.
- The Terminal section is black with no prompt to begin with. But you can type in it!!!
- Perhaps the Prompt is black text on a black background initally, since when you start typing cls, it's quite a way to the right of the left margin.
Closing VSCode, verifying that powershell works, then reopening it worked for me.
visual studio code - VSCode: "Shell Integration failed to activate" - Stack Overflow
If automatic shell integration is failing to activate environment, recommend users to do manual installation
Shell Integration unavailable (Cline)
Shell integration injection failed to activate after installing PowerShell 7
Videos
Closing VSCode, verifying that powershell works, then reopening it worked for me.
I ended up deleting the whole Code folder within the C:\Users\AppData\Roaming.
Note: You have to check the box - view Hidden Files to see these folders within File Explorer.
This solved it.
There must have been some weird corrupted cache issue at the heart of this.
I found this in C:\Users<profile>\AppData\Roaming\Code\logs<datetimestamp>\ptyhost.log
[2022-10-17 07:25:50.695] [ptyhost] [warning] Couldn't get layout info, a terminal was probably disconnected Could not find pty on pty host
[2022-10-17 07:25:54.040] [ptyhost] [warning] Shell integration cannot be enabled for executable "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" and args []
[2022-10-17 07:26:57.939] [ptyhost] [warning] Shell integration cannot be enabled for executable "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" and args []
I think it is related to this.
BTW: I had tried adding a couple of PowerShell VSCode IDE Extensions when things went awry. IIRC they were:
- PowerShell
- PowerShell Preview
I had upgraded PowerShell to the latest version 7 too.
$PSVersionTable yielded the following from the respective executables.
| Executable Path | Version |
|---|---|
| C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe | 5.1.17763.1852 |
| C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7\pwsh.exe | 7.2.6 |
Maybe that combo hosed things
Follow up note: Whilst it seemed to have fixed the issue once... soon after the problem manifested itself again. This time I couldn't reset VS Code to a working environment.
- Then I realised had opened the Project folder in the explorer on the left of the IDE.
- I had a subfolder that had a PS1 file within that.
- It didn't have its own .vscode\settings.json
- When I copied it down from the parent folder, suddenly everything worked again.
.vscode\settings.json just contained this:
{
}
Again this ended up being a one time solution. I ended up back at:
Shell activation failed to activate for cmd.exe
I posted this as a new ticket here
- In the end I found this to be more of a display issue than anything else!
- You can actually type cls then hit ENTER, to restore things to the status quo.
- The Terminal section is black with no prompt to begin with. But you can type in it!!!
- Perhaps the Prompt is black text on a black background initally, since when you start typing cls, it's quite a way to the right of the left margin.
I'm curious if anyone has managed to fix this error on Windows? On all supported shells, in edition to the Shell Unavailable error I also get an error that the terminal process failed to launch, and the current working directory, which is claims is my desktop, does not exist. Perhaps I should launch VSCode from the start menu and not the desktop shortcut? Ask this on the Cline Discord and nobody helps. I'm guessing most users are on Mac or something; I remember when Mac was laughed at for development.