Python extension thinks Python is not installed

[kwmlodozeniec]

I have been using VS Code with the Python extension on Windows 10 for years but suddenly after a reboot, it no longer detects my python installation. Python works from any other tool, being PyCharm or from the terminal. I have tried so many things now but I cannot solve it. I reinstalled Python, reinstalled vs code, deleted my settings, run vs code as admin, made sure my PATH is all good but with no luck. Any ideas?

[brettcannon]

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/python/environments#_where-the-extension-looks-for-environments explains how we search for Python installations. Which of those scenarios do you expect to work?

You can also manually specify the location of your Python installation to work around this issue.

[kwmlodozeniec]

I reset my setting back to basics and python is still not detected.

[kwmlodozeniec]

I get this error in the Python extension output

Error 2021-06-03 09:17:23: Failed to get interpreter information for 'C:\Program Files\Python39\python.exe' [Error: Command failed: "C:\\Program Files\Python39\python.exe" "c:\Users\mlodozk\.vscode\extensions\ms-python.python-2021.5.842923320\pythonFiles\pyvsc-run-isolated.py" "c:\Users\mlodozk\.vscode\extensions\ms-python.python-2021.5.842923320\pythonFiles\interpreterInfo.py"
�[91mParserError: 
�[96mLine |
�[96m   1 | �[0m … python.exe" �[96m"c:\Users\mlodozk\.vscode\extensions\ms-python.python-202�[0m …
�[96m     | �[91m               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
�[91m�[96m     | �[91mUnexpected token
�[96m     | �[91m'"c:\Users\mlodozk\.vscode\extensions\ms-python.python-2021.5.842923320\pythonFiles\pyvsc-run-isolated.py"' in expression or statement.
�[0m

	at ChildProcess.exithandler (child_process.js:317:12)
	at ChildProcess.emit (events.js:315:20)
	at maybeClose (internal/child_process.js:1048:16)
	at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:288:5)] {
  killed: false,
  code: 1,
  signal: null,
  cmd: '"C:\\\\Program Files\\Python39\\python.exe" "c:\\Users\\mlodozk\\.vscode\\extensions\\ms-python.python-2021.5.842923320\\pythonFiles\\pyvsc-run-isolated.py" "c:\\Users\\mlodozk\\.vscode\\extensions\\ms-python.python-2021.5.842923320\\pythonFiles\\interpreterInfo.py"'
}

[brettcannon]

What happens when you run "C:\\Program Files\Python39\python.exe" "c:\Users\mlodozk\.vscode\extensions\ms-python.python-2021.5.842923320\pythonFiles\pyvsc-run-isolated.py" "c:\Users\mlodozk\.vscode\extensions\ms-python.python-2021.5.842923320\pythonFiles\interpreterInfo.py in the terminal?

If you have any extra info printed when your Python installation runs that typically trips this sort of things up.

[kwmlodozeniec]

  "C:\\Program Files\Python39\python.exe" "c:\Users\mlodozk\.vscode\extensions\ms-python.python-2021.5.842923320\pythonFiles\pyvsc-run-isolated.py" "c:\Users\mlodozk\.vscode\extensions\ms-python.python-2021.5.842923320\pythonFiles\interpreterInfo.py"
ParserError:  
Line |
   1 |  … python.exe" "c:\Users\mlodozk\.vscode\extensions\ms-python.python-202 …
     |                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     | Unexpected token '"c:\Users\mlodozk\.vscode\extensions\ms-python.python-2021.5.842923320\pythonFiles\pyvsc-run-isolated.py"' in 
     | expression or statement.

[brettcannon]

OK, so that parse error is coming from your terminal. What terminal are you using and do you have anything customized for selecting it like terminal profiles and such?

[kwmlodozeniec]

This is coming from powershell, I tried the same command in cmd and get this output

{"versionInfo": [3, 9, 5, "final", 0], "sysPrefix": "C:\\Program Files\\Python39", "sysVersion": "3.9.5 (tags/v3.9.5:0a7dcbd, May  3 2021, 17:27:52) [MSC v.1928 64 bit (AMD64)]", "is64Bit": true}

[brettcannon]

Since there's already #16394 for this, I'm going to lock this discussion and keep it on the issue.