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VS Code for macOS Ventura immediately crashes on startup

I've done some research into this happening in the past, but can't find any relevant discussions/solutions for the more recent versions of macOS and VSCode.


I downloaded the zip file, expanded it, then dragged the "Visual Studio Code.app" file to the /Applications directory. But, when I open it, I can see the "Code" menu momentarily appear in the top-bar as the application attempts to initialize. (On the first try, I'm prompted about opening the application downloaded from the internet, etc. I choose "Open."). Then the application immediately crashes (give-or-take 1 second). No window appears; no error dialogs; nothing.


I tried removing the quarantine xattr(ibute) from the application, using the prescribed CLI command. But, it didn't seem to help.


My Mac mini has an intel CPU. I've tried downloading both options: "Intel chip" and "universal" .zip files. They both behave the same way. I tried setting VS Code up to run as a portable instance. This made no difference. I've tried turning hardware acceleration off (to false) in the .json config. No change.


The one major caveat of my system is that I'm using an external drive to host the home directory of the primary user account. (I have a 2ndary admin account locally on the mini if anything terrible happens.)

The soldered-in 128GB of PCIe storage quickly disappears, so copying the folder to the external drive and reassigning the account's home directory to point to it seemed like the more feasible option than buying a new Mac to get more storage. All of the other applications on the mac seem to be running normally, including ones I've installed since migrating this home directory to the ext. drive.


Any suggestions, or ways for me to troubleshoot this?

Thanks in advance!


Posted on Apr 26, 2023 11:42 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jul 4, 2024 4:08 PM

Hi there.

Same for me: BigSur 11.7.10, VSC worked fine untill yesterday with v 1.9 (May 2024).

Today VSC doesn't open at all.

Solved by downgrade VSC to darwin universal stable 1.90.2:


Pay attention:

disable auto updates by searching "Updates" in Settings, then locate Application > Updates and select "none" or "manual".

Restart VSC.

Probably it will restart with an auto update checked in background while you was setting none/manual.

So repeat the installation (copy again app into Application folder and overwrite it again).

Now it will work fine.


[Edited by Moderator]

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16 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jul 4, 2024 4:08 PM in response to bmo_developer_tn

Hi there.

Same for me: BigSur 11.7.10, VSC worked fine untill yesterday with v 1.9 (May 2024).

Today VSC doesn't open at all.

Solved by downgrade VSC to darwin universal stable 1.90.2:


Pay attention:

disable auto updates by searching "Updates" in Settings, then locate Application > Updates and select "none" or "manual".

Restart VSC.

Probably it will restart with an auto update checked in background while you was setting none/manual.

So repeat the installation (copy again app into Application folder and overwrite it again).

Now it will work fine.


[Edited by Moderator]

Jul 9, 2024 2:10 AM in response to MBB-mac

Hi,


@MBB-mac


to downgrade your VSC version, go to Visual Studio Code website, select Updates from top navigation bar and select the version that fits well for you (try the May 2024 Universal).


code . visualstudio . com / updates /


or try directly


update . code . visualstudio . com / 1.90.2 / darwin-universal / stable


P.S. Sorry for not providing links, but apple policies don't allow these kind of links into messages.


Original reply was here: VS Code for macOS Ventura immediately cra… - Apple Community


NOTE: Microsoft collaborators are working on this issue, maybe they are fixing it...

VS Code for macOS Ventura immediately cra… - Apple Community





Apr 30, 2023 4:44 PM in response to bmo_developer_tn

Do you have an older version of this software with the same name already in the Application Folder? Or a sub-folder within the Application Folder? If so, delete it if found.

I've run into this problem with other apps. What I did that seemed to work was copy the .app file to the desktop. Try to run it from there. If it works, Then close it and move it to the Applications Folder and try running it again. If that doesn't work, go to Terminal, cd Desktop, the use cp -XR program.app /Applications/program.app.

VS Code for macOS Ventura immediately crashes on startup

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