Overriding extensions directory in vscode - visual-studio-code

One can specify the extension dir by running from command line:
code --extensions-dir c:\path\to\ext
However, I would like to set this parameter even when running from the windows menu.
I tried to modify the argv.json file located in the .vscode folder (like for https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/getstarted/locales).
It didn't work.
Does anybody know how to fix this?
Bests

Try creating an environment variable called VSCODE_EXTENSIONS with the value of c:\path\to\ext

As a complement to DG's response
If the VSCODE_EXTENSIONS environment variable is created as a system variable, it seems to affect all users.
In my case, I performed the following steps:
close VSCode on all users (I usually have one session open as
administrator and another as non-administrator)
set the variable VSCODE_EXTENSIONS = c:\ProgramData\Code\extensions\
moved all extensions from the extensions folder of the administrator to c:\ProgramData\Code\extensions\
restart the computer
log in with both users and the extensions were available
It is convenient to mention since then the extensions installed by administrator are available to all users and are installed in the folder mentioned previously.

Related

Changed Starting Path with PowerShell Profile But Cannot Change it Back

While learning Anaconda I had a problem with "cd" not working in Anaconda PowerShell, so I did what is recommended here, manually created a profile and set the path to a specific folder. It worked.
But today somehow I found "cd" is working for me again, so I was going to delete that ps1 file. But the folder together with the file in that was no loner there, completely gone. Now I am stuck with my temporary path on every PowerShell start-up.
According to Microsoft documentation, $profile should return my profile variables, which it did:
C:\Users\myname\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1
But first, this is not the file name I gave it; second, this path is also non-existent, both folder and file.
I tried notepad $profile, then Notepad told me "The system cannot find the path specified." But it is exactly the path the system told me.
Some answer I saw here says that is because my profile is non-existent, I need to create one first. That is not the case here. I definitely overwrote my starting path, but I cannot find the actual profile file to edit that back.
I also tried doing it the same way again but changing "YOUR_FILE_PATH" into "%Home" hoping to "overwrite" it back, yet somehow this time it did not work and the file did not disappear as it did the first time.
I am really confused on this.
If you want to reset PowerShell to the original settings when PowerShell was installed.
Uninstall PowerShell from the Add or Remove Programs.
Restart your computer.
Reinstall PowerShell.

Flutter Command - Powershell.exe not in PATH error message

I have flutter installed and everything works fairly alight but every time I run a flutter command I get the following message before the command actually runs.
Error: PowerShell executable not found.
Either pwsh.exe or PowerShell.exe must be in your PATH.
I added the Powershell.exe path to my PATH variable (both System & User) and also added C:\Windows\System32 as I read that on one of the Github/SO forums. Any idea how to get rid of this? I am following a Udemy course and have followed every instruction to the dot but the instructor does not get this message.
Go "Edit environment variables for your account" under "User variables" add to Path this line
C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0
It solved my problem.
Add this to user Path variables and system path variables
C:\src\flutter\bin
Add these to Environment System Path Variables
C:\Program Files\Git\cmd
C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\
C:\Windows\System32
My problem was the missing of 3rd from System path variables.
I have lost half a day to solve it and used all instructions on flutter site and and answers about powershell path. It didnt work until add C:\Windows\System32 to Path variable.
copy the path, for my case, it is "C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0" and pastes it in environment variables as a path
In case you encountered this problem and none of the above solutions worked for you. In my case, I set all the environment variables - I am using Windows 10. I even reinstalled flutter; but the problems persisted.
It turns out my Anti Virus had quarantined the Powershell executable file. I had to open the anti virus quarantine chest, restored the Powershell executable and restarted my VS Code.
Problems solved, after three days of searching for solutions.

PyCharm - automatically set environment variables

I'm using virtualenv, virtualenvwrapper and PyCharm.
I have a postactivate script that runs an "export" command to apply the environment variables needed for each project, so when I run "workon X", the variables are ready for me.
However, when working with PyCharm I can't seem to get it to use those variables by running the postactivate file (in the "before launch" setting). I have to manually enter each environment variable in the Run/Debug configuration window.
Is there any way to automatically set environment variables within PyCharm? Or do I have to do this manually for every new project and variable change?
I was looking for a way to do this today and stumbled across another variation of the same question (linked below) and left my solution there although it seems to be useful for this question as well. They're handling loading the environment variables in the code itself.
Given that this is mainly a problem while in development, I prefer this approach:
Open a terminal
Assuming virtualenvwrapper is being used, activate the virtualenv of the project which will cause the hooks to run and set the environment variables (assuming you're setting them in, say, the postactivate hook)
Launch PyCharm from this command line.
Pycharm will then have access to the environment variables. Likely because of something having to do with the PyCharm process being a child of the shell.
https://stackoverflow.com/a/30374246/4924748
I have same problem.
Trying to maintain environment variables through UI is a tedious job.
It seems pycharm only load env variables through bash_profile once when it startup.
After that, any export or trying to run a before job to change bash_profile is useless
wondering when will pycharm team improve this
In my case, my workaround for remote interpreter works better than local,
since I can modify /etc/environment and reboot the vm
for local interpreter, the best solution I can do are these:
1. Create a template Run/Debug config template and clone it
If your env variables are stable, this is a simple solution for creating diff config with same env variables without re-typing them.
create the template config, enter the env variables you need.
clone them
see picture
2. Change your script
Maybe add some code by using os.environ[] = value at your main script
but I don't want to do this, it change my product code and might be accidentally committed
Hope someone could give better answer, I've been spent too much time on this issue...
Another hack solution, but a straightforward one that, for my purposes, suffices. Note that while this is particular to Ubuntu (and presumably Mint) linux, there might be something of use for Mac as well.
What I do is add a line to the launch script (pycharm.sh) that sources the needed environment variables (in my case I was running into problems w/ cx_Oracle in Pycharm that weren't otherwise affecting scripts run at command line). If you keep environment variables in a file called, for example, .env_local that's in your home directory, you can add the following line to pycharm.sh:
. $HOME/.env_local
Two important things to note here with respect to why I specifically use '.' (rather than 'source') and why I use '$HOME' rather than '~', which in bash are effectively interchangeable. 1) I noticed that pycharm.sh uses the #!/bin/sh, and I realized that in Ubuntu, sh now points to dash (rather than bash). 2) dash, as it turns out, doesn't have the source "builtin", nor will ~ resolve to your home dir.
I also realize that every time I upgrade PyCharm, I'll have to modify the pycharm.sh file, so this isn't ideal. Still beats having to manage the run configurations! Hope it helps.
OK, I found better workaround!
1.install fabric in your virtualenv
go to terminal and
1. workon your virtualenv name
2. pip install fabric
2. add fabric.py
add a python file and named it "fabric.py" under your project root, past the code below,and change the path variables to your own
from fabric.api import *
import os
path_to_your_export_script = '/Users/freddyTan/workspace/test.sh'
# here is where you put your virtualenvwrapper environment export script
# could be .bash_profile or .bashrc depend on how you setup your vertualenvwrapper
path_to_your_bash_file = '/Users/freddyTan/.bash_profile'
def run_python(py_path, virtualenv_path):
# get virtualenv folder, parent of bin
virtualenv_path = os.path.dirname(virtualenv_path)
# get virtualenv name
virtualenv_name = os.path.basename(virtualenv_path)
with hide('running'), settings(warn_only=True):
with prefix('source %s' % path_to_your_export_script):
with prefix('source %s' % path_to_your_bash_file):
with prefix('workon %s' % virtualenv_name):
local('python %s' % py_path)
3. add a external tool
go to
preference-> External tools -> click add button
and fill in following info
Name: whatever
Group: whatever
Program: "path to your virtualenv, should be under '$HOME/.virtualenvs' by default"/bin/fab
Parameter: run_python:py_path=$FilePath$,virtualenv_path=$PyInterpreterDirectory$
Working directory: $ProjectFileDir$
screenshot
wolla, run it
go to your main.py, right click, find the external name (ex. "whatever"), and click it
you could also add shortcut for this external tool
screenshot
drawbacks
this only work on python 2.x, because fabric don't support python 3

xcopy is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file

I have a problem using 'xcopy' command.
I'm building a C# project with msbuild. At the end of the build, a batch file is called to copy my assemblies from Debug/Release to some other folders.
Here is the problem, my build fail and the error log is 'xcopy is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file'.
The path is correctly set, xcopy do works from a windows command line and from the visual studio command line (the one set with the project environment).
I tried to set the path in the batch file but it doesn't help.
Any suggestion?
I'm using windows 7
Cheers :)
I encountered the same problem.
It seems to be a problem with the path environment variable within Visual Studio.
When I added a "path" statement to the beginning of my build event, it produced the following output:
PATH=
This seems to indicate that the path is empty within the VS build environment.
When I specify the full path to xcopy like this, the problem went away:
%systemroot%\System32\xcopy ...
I'm not sure what caused Visual Studio to lose it's path.
Set Environment variable PATH = %SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem;%SYSTEMROOT%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\
This is not a problem with Windows 7 or 8. It's actually a problem with applications that update environment variables such as PATH.
The PATH is stored in the Registry as an "Expandable string value" (REG_EXPAND_SZ), but a lot of applications write it back to the Registry as a "String Value" (REG_SZ). If your path contains anything like %SYSTEMROOT%, this will not be expanded into C:\Windows (or whatever yours is) if the path is stored in a REG_SZ.
The fix is simply to edit your path manually from the control panel. You need to make a change (eg add a ; to the end of the path) and then apply it. This will fix up your path in the Registry to be a REG_EXPAND_SZ.
(Go to the System Control Panel and select Advanced System Settings. Edit the Path Environment variable in the lower box, and that should fix it.
You can tell whether your path is broken in this way by opening a command prompt and typing PATH. Your path will be listed. If you can see anything enclosed in % % then your path is not being expanded.
It happened to me after I updated one of my Visual Studio extensions, during which Visual Studio was closed and reopened by the updater. I could no longer properly build my project. I closed Visual Studio and reopened it and the problem went away.
I just experienced this for the first time with a batch file I use to copy an Access front-end app to the user's local machines. Their environment is a mix of Windows 7 & 8 and 32-64 bit machines. I noticed that the xcopy.exe was both in the System32 and the SysWOW64 folders and I wondered if there was some conflict. So -- I copied the xcopy.exe into the folder where the batch file resides and it now seems to be working. Just thought I'd share this.
Eileen
I also had a problem with xcopy (same error message) - with a very simple batch program that I use to backup files to a removable drive. Have been using that program for at least 5 years with never a problem. Then yesterday xcopy is unknown to Win7. The replacement of xcopy with %systemroot%\System32\xcopy at each instance solved the problem. Very strange.
Go to environment variable and correct PATh including ; in last.
It will work, this is not at all related to OS or Technology.
It's working for me, Not even need to restart OS, Just open new command prompt.
[Fixed for me]
After adding the correct paths to "Path" environmental variable it still doesn't work (for cmd and VisualStudio) (even after restarting the PC).
The problem was in broken register parameter:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment]
ParameterName=PATHEXT
I had the value .wlua;.|exe. Maybe was broken after installing something.
Everything works again after changing it to:
.COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD;.VBS;.VBE;.JS;.JSE;.WSF;.WSH;.MSC
Hope this helps if nothing other works.

emacs trips over make-directory: File exists: c:/Users/USER/My Documents/.emacs.d/

I try to install/run emacs on a Win7 64-bit machine after using it for years on a WinXP 32-bit machine and run into a problem I do not find any help for in the documentation or on the web.
Symptom:
when starting runemacs.exe for the first time it creates the file
*C:\Users\USER\My Documents.emacs.d*
as one would expect (for my administrator as well as for my user account)
and comes up operational
from the second start of runemacs.exe it breaks in the startup phase,
displaying the scratch buffer, ringing the warning bell and displaying in
bottom line the error:
File exists: c:/Users/USER/My Documents/.emacs.d/
buffer messages specifies:
make-directory: File exists: c:/Users/USER/My Documents/.emacs.d/
if runemacs was called with a file to open, i.e. because the file type was
associated with it and the file was opened to edit, the file is not open
and ready to be edited, but a file can be opened via the menu File->Open File...
but my configurations in the file
C:\Users\USER\My Documents.emacs
are not loaded
My goal:
I want to regain the way I used emacs on the old WinXP 32-bit system:
click a file associated with emacs, get it opened and ready for editing, get my configurations in .emacs loaded automatically, i.e. work with emacs seamlessly.
Checks done and failed attempts to fix this:
I tried the following newly downloded versions of emacs
emacs-23.4-bin-i386.zip
emacs-23.2-bin-i386.zip (the one I used on the WinXP)
I had the emacs directory containing the directory stucture (bin, etc, ...)
located at:
C:\Program Files (x86)\emacs-23.4\ (my preferred location)
C:\Emacs\emacs-23.4\
in the download directory, where I originally extracted it
My HOME variable points to:
C:\Users\USER\My Documents (default)
C:\Users\USER\My Documents\ (tried)
My PATH variable contains:
C:\Program Files (x86)\emacs-23.4\bin (default)
or the corresponding other locations which I tried
The ownership and permissions of my C:\Users\USER\My Documents.emacs.d
look OK:
owner is the USER (administrator or standard_user)
permissions grant Full Control
Having originally installed emacs to *C:\Program Files (x86)\emacs-23.4*
using the administrator account, I also tried to use user account installation
instead (to check for some non- obvious parameter/access permission not set
right if the admin account is uses for setup)
For the runemacs.exe executable I manually set the compatibility settings to
Windows XP (Service Pack 3)
default setting after unpacking: no compatibility setting enabled
I removed the private configuration file C:\Users\USER\My Documents.emacs
(inherited from my XP installation) to check whether it produces a screw-up
All that did not change a bit of the described symptom, i.e. either I screwed up
in testing the above and missed a particular setting which should work, or I am looking into the wrong direction...
It is still unclear to me whether this has anything to do with:
W7 64-bit vs. XP 32-bit
environmental parameter screw-up
emacs configuration (.emacs, .emacs.d) screw-up
general stupidity (of me ;-)
... and why is it has emacs a problem with it in the first place, that the .emacs.d directory already exists... That should be the standard case...
Any help and wisdom much appreciated.
First of all, nice question. The details and listing of what you've already tried is helpful.
Some points:
Don't have spaces in key paths (Emacs, and %HOME%). Generally, things work
fine. But when things break it's often hard to debug and trace back to the
fact that some package author didn't take spaces properly into account.
Set a HOME environment variable to your %USER_PROFILE%. Make it
%USER_PROFILE%/home if you must, but I use the former.
Start by running emacs without any customization.
runemacs -Q
When that works, add your customizations one at a time.
n.b. This answer is not relevant to the original question (which was about Windows), but may be useful to Unix users searching for this error message
You will get this error also if emacs does not have the correct permissions on the .emacs.d directory.
Check it
ls -ld $HOME/.emacs.d
And make sure the user you are running under has rwx permissions!
I got similar problems when I installed the new version of emacs on a new installation of the ubuntu 12.10. I get the problem fixed by chmod 777 .emacs.d, that is, as the previous post pointed out, the emacs does not have the access right to .emacs.d directory. Hope this help.