Vscode-powershell: Frequent crashes (10-30) daily with no discernible pattern

[carsontwilson]

While attempting to debug VS Code using the powershell console, the console itself will crash many, many times per day.

The behaviour is always the same, but I can't determine why it happens or see any pattern. When it does happen, it's always when you first start debugging, console just sits there as if frozen.

After a few moments, VS will alert me of an issue with the window, ask me to re-open or wait. Waiting doesn't seem to be helpful (though I've not waited for more than 5 minutes). Re-opening the window will basically restart VS Code and I can typically proceed from there.

I can mitigate this, somewhat, if I "trash" all console instances before I start (i.e. hit the little garbage can on the bottom of the console essentially restarting it), though that doesn't always work either.

VS Version:

Extensions:

Powershell Version:

Logs:
vscode-powershell.log
EditorServices.log
DebugSession-1.log

In this case, I consistently see this error across multiple sessions:

2019-07-29 16:53:25.033 [ERROR] tid:15 in 'ExecuteCommand' C:\PowerShellEditorServices\src\PowerShellEditorServices\Session\PowerShellContext.cs: line 565
    Execution of the following command(s) completed with errors:
c:\Work\devops\powershell\test.ps1
        Out-Default

There are days when my extension can crash 30+ times which is challenging to say the least.
I've completely uninstalled / reinstalled the extension, VS Code etc. but the results remain the same.

One thing that may or may not be worth noting, in that script (and all my scripts basically) I reference multiple powershell classes as well, that are being imported like this:

using module .\modules\EnvironmentData.psm1
using module .\modules\Tenant.psm1
using module .\modules\ADManager.psm1
using module .\modules\AzureFunction.psm1

Thanks!

[carsontwilson]

Here are my user settings in case these are helpful:
{
"git.autofetch": true,
"git.confirmSync": false,
"window.menuBarVisibility": "default",
"editor.minimap.enabled": false,
"powershell.developer.editorServicesWaitForDebugger": true,
"window.zoomLevel": 0,
"terminal.integrated.rendererType": "dom",
"workbench.colorTheme": "One Monokai",
"powershell.codeFormatting.useCorrectCasing": true,
"workbench.iconTheme": "vscode-icons",
"powershell.debugging.createTemporaryIntegratedConsole": true,
"csv-preview.resizeColumns": "all"
}

[SydneyhSmith]

@carsontwilson thanks for reporting this, if you do notice a pattern please let us know..more examples of logs from the crashes you are experiencing would also be helpful in determining the cause...thanks!

[carsontwilson]

The logs don't seem to show much, but I've included a zip file with all logging information - I just had two such crashes in a row. Many of the log files are 0kb with no data, but there are a couple with sparse info.

Let me know if I can do more or if there's more logging elsewhere I can include (this is coming from: C:\Users\CarsonWilson\AppData\Roaming\Code\logs)

20190823T093944.zip

Edit: Ugh my bad I was at normal logging, I've changed to verbose - let's see what it turns up! :)

[SydneyhSmith]

@carsontwilson thanks for the additional information, please update with the diagnostic logging if you continue to see these crashes --instructions for how to do that are here

In VSCode you can open and read the logs directly from the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) with PowerShell: Open PowerShell Extension Logs Folder.

[carsontwilson]

Ok I have additional logging - I do have it set to verbose, but it doesn't seem to have added much in the logging. The crash occurred right about 9:20a...
2-PowerShell Extension Logs.log
exthost.log
main.log
4-PowerShell Editor Services.log
2-PowerShell Extension Logs.log

[SydneyhSmith]

@carsontwilson thanks for providing these logs..every bit of information helps! Some of these logs files arent ones we typically see though...where are you grabbing these files from?

[carsontwilson]

Hey there - I'm getting the logs from this location:
C:\Users\CarsonWilson\AppData\Roaming\Code\logs

Is there somewhere else I should get them from as well / instead of?

[SydneyhSmith]

@carsontwilson the logs we are looking for should live in:
$HOME/.vscode/extensions/ms-vscode.powershell-2019.5.0/logs/
Thanks!

[carsontwilson]

Ok I've got logs from a crash that happened just a moment ago from that location. My script threw an exception and the powershell shell then terminated. I fixed my code, and started the shell via debug again and that's when it locked.

I can see the exception that my code threw in the logs, but I didn't see anything else that indicated an error. Still, I've attached the logs.

Thanks!
DebugAdapter.log
DebugSession-1.log
DebugSession-2.log
EditorServices.log
vscode-powershell.log

[rkeithhill]

This is a curious exception:

System.Management.Automation.RuntimeException: t is not a valid choice

Are you (or a script you're using) prompting with $Host.UI.PromptForChoice?