C++ in Visual Studio Code: Include path not found - visual-studio-code

Question

I use Visual Studio code with the extensions "C/C++ for Visual Studio Code" (ms-vscode.cpptools) for developing simple C++ programs. I have added the configuration file cpp_properties.json to the .vscode subfolder to get intellisense support (see below). Unfortunately VS code does not honor the include path defined herein. I always get green swiggles under #include directives saying #include errors detected. Please update your includePath. ....
What's strange is, that the before mentioned error disappears when I select the correct configuration using the command C/Cpp: Select a configuration .... I have to repeat this command everytime I reopen the project. So obviously the include paths seems to be correct.
Is it possible to make VS Code or the CPP extension store the active configuration? Or is it at least possible to define a default configuration?
c_cpp_properties.json:
{
"configurations": [{
"name": "MinGW on Windows",
"includePath": [
"${workspaceRoot}",
"${MINGW_HOME}\\include\\c++\\7.1.0",
"${MINGW_HOME}\\include\\c++\\7.1.0\\x86_64-w64-mingw32",
"${MINGW_HOME}\\include\\c++\\7.1.0\\backward",
"${MINGW_HOME}\\lib\\gcc\\x86_64-w64-mingw32\\7.1.0\\include",
"${MINGW_HOME}\\include",
"${MINGW_HOME}\\x86_64-w64-mingw32\\include"
],
"defines": [],
"browse": {
"path": [
"${workspaceRoot}",
"${MINGW_HOME}\\include\\c++\\7.1.0",
"${MINGW_HOME}\\include\\c++\\7.1.0\\x86_64-w64-mingw32",
"${MINGW_HOME}\\include\\c++\\7.1.0\\backward",
"${MINGW_HOME}\\lib\\gcc\\x86_64-w64-mingw32\\7.1.0\\include",
"${MINGW_HOME}\\include",
"${MINGW_HOME}\\x86_64-w64-mingw32\\include"
],
"limitSymbolsToIncludedHeaders": true,
"databaseFilename": ""
},
"intelliSenseMode": "clang-x64"
},
{
"name": "GCC on Linux",
"includePath": [
"${workspaceRoot}",
"/usr/include/c++/6",
"/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu/c++/6",
"/usr/include/c++/6/backward",
"/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/6/include",
"/usr/local/include",
"/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/6/include-fixed",
"/usr/include"
],
"defines": [],
"browse": {
"path": [
"/usr/include/c++/6",
"/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu/c++/6",
"/usr/include/c++/6/backward",
"/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/6/include",
"/usr/local/include",
"/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/6/include-fixed",
"/usr/include",
"${workspaceRoot}"
],
"limitSymbolsToIncludedHeaders": true,
"databaseFilename": ""
},
"intelliSenseMode": "clang-x64"
}
],
"version": 2
}