visual studio code 1 fails to launch on ubuntu using xrdp

Question

I've installed vscode 1.0 on ubuntu 14.4 LTS. It works fine if I log in locally with unity desktop and type the "code" command in the terminal.

However, when I rdp into the box I have to use xfce4 desktop because xrdp apparently doesn't work with unity, and when I try to launch it from the command line there I get no errors in the terminal but the UI never appears.

I did previously install an older version of vscode and did not uninstall that prior to installing 1.0 in case that could be a factor.

when I type

code --version

it correctly reports 1.0.0

anyone have any ideas to solve this? I really want to be able to work using rdp from my windows 10 machine

UPDATE: this problem seems to only occur using rdp, if I login locally with xfce4 it works as expected just as with unity desktop. My ubuntu box an intel nuc5ppyh with latest bios, I think maybe code is launching on a not visible display output. Previously the box was configured to mirror to an hdmi output at I use this also connected to a tv. I've tried disabling the hdmi output from the bios and messing around with xrandr but still cannot get it working over rdp. I'm not a linux expert but still think it might actually be loading code in a non visible display output but not sure how to troubleshoot the problem

Answer 1

The suggested command from the second link above helps:

sudo sed -i 's/BIG-REQUESTS/_IG-REQUESTS/' /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libxcb.so.1

Answer 2

This is happening due to an Electron bug, see issues tracking the bug below:

• Electron issue
• VSCode issue
• Atom issue

Answer 3

The libgconf-2-4 package might be missing preventing the application to launch. This might help:

sudo apt-get install libgconf-2-4