VS Code Debugger not working for python

Question

VS Code Debugger not working for python

GHANASHYAM SATPATHY 306

I am experiencing debugging issue for my VS Code in WIN-10. It happened since weekend when I did OS restart . It was working fine before and I had launch.json configured too. Debugging was working fine. Any troubleshooting tips. It seems when I do Run->"start Debugging' no command comes to terminal. Any VS Code log file that I can look at to troubleshoot the issue. Following is the VS Code version I have in my system.

Version: 1.64.0 (user setup)
Commit: 5554b12acf27056905806867f251c859323ff7e9
Date: 2022-02-03T04:22:20.678Z
Electron: 13.5.2
Chromium: 91.0.4472.164
Node.js: 14.16.0
V8: 9.1.269.39-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.18363

An early response is highly appreciated.

Thanks

Ken Tucker 5,866 Reputation points

2022-02-07T11:18:18.13+00:00

Do you have a python vs code extension installed?

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-python.python
GHANASHYAM SATPATHY 306 Reputation points

2022-02-07T11:24:26.097+00:00

Yes it is there, hence it was working before too.
NickS 326 Reputation points

2022-02-07T14:03:30.013+00:00

I have the exact same issue. When VS Code was updated to 1.64.0 it seems to have broken Python debugging.

Clicking on "Run Python File" works fine. Clicking on "Debug Python File" now does nothing. This worked fine before the update.

I might need to look at how to roll-back this latest update.

Thanks.
GHANASHYAM SATPATHY 306 Reputation points

2022-02-07T14:10:52.393+00:00

Great! Exactly same issue I am facing.
Clicking on "Run Python File" works fine. Clicking on "Debug Python File" now does nothing.

Let me know if you get any workaround.

Thanks.
Joe McDaniel 1 Reputation point

2022-03-22T16:38:26.533+00:00

I have a similar problem -- launch.json seems to be completely ignored for run or debug. I tried the switch to an old version of the intellisense extension to no effect. I am running latest VSCode on Ubuntu (also latest version). This has been a problem since I first installed VSCode -- I keep looking for a fix, but nada .....
John Romania 1 Reputation point

2022-08-26T16:50:58.647+00:00

Money!....thanks!
Yuval Kuperberg 5 Reputation points

2023-01-31T08:24:41.5533333+00:00

Still happening in 2023... Switching python version didn't help, how is this still an issue??
Brouwer, Suzanne 0 Reputation points

2023-02-10T07:32:03.6666667+00:00

I also still have this issue in 2023... Using a remote SSH and when trying to use my venv on remote location as Interpreter, the dubugger does not do anything anymore...
Stefan E 0 Reputation points

2023-03-11T21:36:17.92+00:00

Same here (on two machines) ... rolling back to 2021 does not help either.

Seems to work on WSL2/Ubuntu - but then, I thought MS was the Windows company ...
Stefan E 0 Reputation points

2023-03-11T21:38:38+00:00

Jupiter debugging still broken - roll-back of Python extension doesn't help
Anonymous

2025-01-29T23:15:20.2533333+00:00

In Jan 2025, and I am facing the same issue "Clicking on "Run Python File" works fine. Clicking on "Debug Python File" does nothing". I re-installed VS Code, and re-created my venv. I also tried to select the right Python Debug Console, Uncheck "Watch", revert to an older version of both Python and Python Debugger extension but nothing worked. Here is my VS Code info:
Version: 1.96.4 (user setup)

Commit: cd4ee3b1c348a13bafd8f9ad8060705f6d4b9cba

Date: 2025-01-16T00:16:19.038Z

Electron: 32.2.6

ElectronBuildId: 10629634

Chromium: 128.0.6613.186

Node.js: 20.18.1

V8: 12.8.374.38-electron.0

OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.22631

Can someone please help?

Answer accepted by question author

6 additional answers

Your answer

Ken Tucker 5,866 Reputation points

2022-02-07T11:18:18.13+00:00

Do you have a python vs code extension installed?

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-python.python
GHANASHYAM SATPATHY 306 Reputation points

2022-02-07T11:24:26.097+00:00

Yes it is there, hence it was working before too.
NickS 326 Reputation points

2022-02-07T14:03:30.013+00:00

I have the exact same issue. When VS Code was updated to 1.64.0 it seems to have broken Python debugging.

Clicking on "Run Python File" works fine. Clicking on "Debug Python File" now does nothing. This worked fine before the update.

I might need to look at how to roll-back this latest update.

Thanks.
GHANASHYAM SATPATHY 306 Reputation points

2022-02-07T14:10:52.393+00:00

Great! Exactly same issue I am facing.
Clicking on "Run Python File" works fine. Clicking on "Debug Python File" now does nothing.

Let me know if you get any workaround.

Thanks.
Joe McDaniel 1 Reputation point

2022-03-22T16:38:26.533+00:00

I have a similar problem -- launch.json seems to be completely ignored for run or debug. I tried the switch to an old version of the intellisense extension to no effect. I am running latest VSCode on Ubuntu (also latest version). This has been a problem since I first installed VSCode -- I keep looking for a fix, but nada .....
John Romania 1 Reputation point

2022-08-26T16:50:58.647+00:00

Money!....thanks!
Yuval Kuperberg 5 Reputation points

2023-01-31T08:24:41.5533333+00:00

Still happening in 2023... Switching python version didn't help, how is this still an issue??
Brouwer, Suzanne 0 Reputation points

2023-02-10T07:32:03.6666667+00:00

I also still have this issue in 2023... Using a remote SSH and when trying to use my venv on remote location as Interpreter, the dubugger does not do anything anymore...
Stefan E 0 Reputation points

2023-03-11T21:36:17.92+00:00

Same here (on two machines) ... rolling back to 2021 does not help either.

Seems to work on WSL2/Ubuntu - but then, I thought MS was the Windows company ...
Stefan E 0 Reputation points

2023-03-11T21:38:38+00:00

Jupiter debugging still broken - roll-back of Python extension doesn't help
Anonymous

2025-01-29T23:15:20.2533333+00:00

In Jan 2025, and I am facing the same issue "Clicking on "Run Python File" works fine. Clicking on "Debug Python File" does nothing". I re-installed VS Code, and re-created my venv. I also tried to select the right Python Debug Console, Uncheck "Watch", revert to an older version of both Python and Python Debugger extension but nothing worked. Here is my VS Code info:
Version: 1.96.4 (user setup)

Commit: cd4ee3b1c348a13bafd8f9ad8060705f6d4b9cba

Date: 2025-01-16T00:16:19.038Z

Electron: 32.2.6

ElectronBuildId: 10629634

Chromium: 128.0.6613.186

Node.js: 20.18.1

V8: 12.8.374.38-electron.0

OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.22631

Can someone please help?

Answer 1

NickS 326

The Python extension is broken - just seems to have updated at the same time as VS Code.

Go back to extension version v2021.12.1559732655 by clicking on the extensions control and selecting "Install another version...". Note that you will have to disable "Extensions: Auto Update", which might be a good thing. I also set "Update: Mode" to "none" for good measure.

GHANASHYAM SATPATHY 306 Reputation points

2022-02-07T15:24:41.837+00:00

Thanks a lot @NickS it worked.
cole shaler 6 Reputation points

2022-06-01T04:54:31.06+00:00

thanks that worked. so weird
dudemcfro 1 Reputation point

2022-06-01T16:39:39.62+00:00

That didn't work for me :( Strange...
dudemcfro 1 Reputation point

2022-06-01T16:51:34.85+00:00

That didn't work for me :( Strange...
David Powell 1 Reputation point

2022-07-05T16:21:22.403+00:00

Thank you for this solution. Worked for me.
Tavakkolmoghaddam, Farid [ETHUS] 1 Reputation point

2022-07-18T21:49:33.197+00:00

Thanks, that worked!
21077577 1 Reputation point

2022-07-26T07:49:14.103+00:00

Thank you, it worked for me. I was struggling to find the reason why my python code not use debug.

Thanks again
kamal 1 Reputation point

2022-09-15T16:09:07.68+00:00

If it didn;t work for you, make sure your configurations looks like this one: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/python/debugging#_additional-configurations. This was my problem.
Svyatoslav Pchelintsev 1 Reputation point

2022-10-21T10:44:06.943+00:00

Hello from October 2022. The extension versions are changing, but the bug persists (I use python 3.6.9). Thank you @NickS !
Kostadin Krushkov 0 Reputation points

2023-02-22T06:11:47.5066667+00:00

This version no longer works as a fix, at least for me. And the problem persists
Santiago Fortes 0 Reputation points

2024-06-25T20:55:17.79+00:00

Thank you for this. Worked.
Emre 0 Reputation points

2025-05-01T09:56:55.4566667+00:00

Thank you, my computer is working again.. :)
Hossein TwoK 0 Reputation points

2025-10-11T03:12:28.2233333+00:00

this debug extention's every updates seems to have this issue i save this answer for later uses
thank you very much

Answer 2

Neely, Ronald 16

So this bug is back with Python Extension version v2022.10.1 running on Ubuntu 18.04 with python 3.6.9.
This is a serious bug that keeps happening.
I had to roll back to extension version v2021.12.1559732655 to debug.

Anonymous

2022-07-27T03:33:51.997+00:00

Maybe it's caused by low python version,
Following is the release note:
A Visual Studio Code extension with rich support for the Python language (for all actively supported versions of the language: >=3.7), including features such as IntelliSense (Pylance), linting, debugging, code navigation, code formatting, refactoring, variable explorer, test explorer, and more!
After changing from python 3.6->3.9, it worked!
Deston Chung 6 Reputation points

2022-08-01T03:33:58.39+00:00

I faced the same issue to. I rolled back to v2022.8.1 and it worked for my python 3.6.

I think RickChen is right too though, 3.9 worked for me but 3.6 didnt.
Tom Bertalan 1 Reputation point

2022-08-08T01:01:48.097+00:00

That's definitely the problem. But 3.7.13 is listed as released less than five months ago. insisting that all my environments use such a new python version seems a little draconian for a core IDE tool like this. Surely they can go without f-strings or whatever. Many of my virtual environments are 3.5, or even 2.7, and they worked fine in the debugger until a few weeks ago, AFAICT.
Tom Bertalan 1 Reputation point

2022-08-08T01:04:31.557+00:00

Ah, sorry. I didn't realize the releases were out-or-order. 3.7.0 was indeed in June 27, 2018. But I still think asking my debugger to work for at least non-EoL versions is reasonable, and actually think it should also work for some still-widely-used EoL versions like 2.7 as well.
Luis Borbon 1 Reputation point

2022-10-14T23:17:08.677+00:00

this solved my issue. happy debugging!

Answer 3

Mickey Cohen 11

Click on the python extention (publisher microsoft) and select "install pre-release". It would be V2022.5.10961002 (you can see it when you hover with the mouse above the extension)

Fixed the problem for me.

0 comments

Answer 4

Moritz Wolf 5

I had the same issue in September 2024 and resolved it by

removing ./venv/ and ./.venv/ in my working directory
recreate the virtual environment
run my debug launch config specified in ./.vscode/launch.json (via F5)
redirect missing python interpreter path to the one specified in the venv

0 comments

Answer 5

pk_1996 1

+1
Happening repeatedly to me too. I am on a Windows OS. Was not happening previously when I was on a Ubuntu system!
Need to downgrade the Python extension version. The above-mentioned version mentioned worked for me.

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VS Code Debugger not working for python

6 additional answers

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