VS Code's file changes watcher stopped working

Question

I have vsc version 1.63.2. I'm getting the following notification:

"File changes watcher stopped unexpectedly. A reload of the window may enable the watcher again unless the workspace cannot be watched for file changes."

When I click the reload button, the issue is temporarily fixed and Source Control shows changes to my files. Git in CLI is working fine; git log --raw shows changes to my files correctly. I've tested brand new and old repositories and workspaces. The problem occurs in all of them. Any help troubleshooting this is greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

I also encountered this problem. I was using VSCode and opening a folder in it on WSL Ubuntu 20.04. The solution for me was to install the VS Code Remote - WSL extension.

I hope this will be useful for someone.

Answer 2

I just ran into this issue today and found my solution by viewing the "Window" logs using the "Developer: Open Log File..." command from the Command Palette.

In my case, the problem was that I had added a folder to my workspace that I had since deleted on the file system. The log in question looked something like:

... [error] [File Watcher (parcel)] Unexpected error: Invalid handle (EUNKNOWN) (path: \path\that\no\longer\exists)
... [error] [File Watcher (parcel)] restarting watcher after error: Invalid handle

Hopefully viewing this log helps you find out what's breaking in your specific case.