Error: connect ETIMEDOUT \\.\pipe\... when debug

[Float-Moon]

Prerequisites

• I have written a descriptive issue title.
• I have searched all open and closed issues to ensure it has not already been reported.
• I have read the troubleshooting guide.
• I am sure this issue is with the extension itself and does not reproduce in a standalone PowerShell instance.
• I have verified that I am using the latest version of Visual Studio Code and the PowerShell extension.
• If this is a security issue, I have read the security issue reporting guidance.

Summary

Third debug of Powershell (with manually stop debug and source another ps1 file) cause connect etimedout

PowerShell Version

Name                           Value
----                           -----
PSVersion                      7.5.4
PSEdition                      Core
GitCommitId                    7.5.4
OS                             Microsoft Windows 10.0.26200
Platform                       Win32NT
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0…}
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1
WSManStackVersion              3.0

Name             : ConsoleHost
Version          : 7.5.4
InstanceId       : b97c2998-5772-43c3-b18a-31653b2db7ee
UI               : System.Management.Automation.Internal.Host.InternalHostUserInterface
CurrentCulture   : zh-CN
CurrentUICulture : zh-CN
PrivateData      : Microsoft.PowerShell.ConsoleHost+ConsoleColorProxy
DebuggerEnabled  : True
IsRunspacePushed : False
Runspace         : System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.LocalRunspace

Visual Studio Code Version

PS> code --version
1.105.1
7d842fb85a0275a4a8e4d7e040d2625abbf7f084
x64

Extension Version

PS> code --list-extensions --show-versions | Select-String powershell

ms-vscode.powershell@2025.4.0

Steps to Reproduce

• In C:\Users\<user_name>\Documents\PowerShell\Microsoft.VSCode_profile.ps1

. "C:\Users\<user_name>\Documents\PowerShell\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1"

• In C:\Users\<user_name>\Documents\PowerShell\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1

function prompt {
    Write-Host “===” # here has breakpoint
    Write-Host ">" -NoNewline
    return " "
}

• Add breakpoint (like screenshot below)

• FIRST TIME Click Run button on the right corner of VSCode and everything works fine, then click Stop button in the middle of debug panel.

• SECOND TIME Click Run button then click Stop button, this time it takes longer for debug process to stop

• THIRD TIME Click Run button, after sometime error comes connect etimedout. And maybe result in high CPU usage.

any run debug try after that cause the same error unless restart VSCode

not sourcing another .ps1 in Microsoft.VSCode_profile.ps1 and debug, everthing works well.

Visuals

Logs

No response

[swardinfo]

Hi Float-Moon, I was able to recreate your issue and found that the VSCode_profile.ps1 file is not necessary. Just running the code in PowerShell_profile.ps1 three times will do. The first time it runs and ends without hitting the breakpoint. The second time it stops at the breakpoint and the stop button needs to be clicked. The third time the timeout occurs and VS Code needs to be restarted. This was using either Windows PowerShell 5.1 or PowerShell 7.6.5 in VSCodium.

For anyone reading this, I had a similar issue with creating just a Windows form with no controls which is why I came here. The form would open several times OK and when closed, the debug toolbar would take around 1.5 seconds to disappear until the last time when it would take less than a second. After this the form wouldn't open and the 'connect ETIMEDOUT' dialog would appear after 30 seconds each time it was subsequently run until VSCodium was restarted. That seems to be resolved now I've swapped from using Windows PowerShell 5.1 to PowerShell 7.6.5. A similar issue involving 'connect ETIMEDOUT' was also reported on the PowerShell repository here PowerShell/PowerShell#25287, so is it actually this extension that is at fault or should this issue be reported there?

[JustinGrote]

If it can be reproduced in normal PowerShell without using PSES by debug attaching/detaching, then it's a PowerShell issue. I'm going to flag this as Pending: External for now unless it's proven to be specific to PSES.

[Float-Moon]

Thanks for all your replies!

PowerShell/PowerShell#25287 shows to run PowerShell from VSCode as well. I'm using PowerShell 7.6.5 right now and it seems that normal debug won't show this kind of issue. But the original code snippet (from Step to Reproduce in my post) is still not working.

I guess the issue is related to a initial state of PowerShell, as I change its prompt (and the original prompt would show [debug] prefix if in debug mode). But unfortunately I have no clue about how to go deep into this problem.