Is there a way to reconnect to a disconnected VS Code Remote SSH connection?

Question

When you're running VS Code Remote SSH and loose network connectivity over a long period of time and return to VS Code, the status on the bottom left show's "Disconnected from SSH: ". However, there doesn't seem to be a way to reconnect the session. I always have to revert to starting a new VS Code Remote SSH session. How can I reconnect?

Answer 1

You can reload the window. It keeps unsaved changes even. Press F1 to search for commands, then search for:

Developer: Reload Window

Version of VSCode when trying this: 1.53.2.

Answer 2

EDIT: This does NOT work to reestablish the connection. It only helps to keep it alive. Thanks for the comments. I misinterpreted the question while looking for something similar for myself.

I'll leave the answer just in case it helps someone else.

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You need to set a custom ssh file and add parameters to keep the connection to your host alive :

Host SomeRemoteHost
  HostName MyRemoteHostName
  User MyUsername
  ServerAliveInterval 60
  ServerAliveCountMax 30

Go to the SSH extension settings and set the new custom ssh config file path. This won't work if your machine goes into sleep mode, but it will keep the connection alive in the background while you work on other things.

PS: Make sure your ssh settings are correct for the host or you won't be able to log in.

Answer 3

It seems that there is something that drops your idle connection. As I know SSH doesn't have any configuration for dropping an idle connection but firewalls has. there might be some sort of firewall or monitoring software or hardware device which drops your connection. if you are using Linux OS the following command might help you:

ssh -o "ServerAliveInterval 60" <SERVER_ADDRESS>

this command sends keep alive request to ssh every 60 seconds.