Why is VSCode "Unable to open Extension. An unknown error occurred."?

Question

This is my first time installing and using VSCode, and when I tried installing Prettier extension, it let me peek quickly at the extension page before closing it and displaying this notification (Screenshot attached):

Unable to open 'Extension: Prettier - Code formatter': An unknown error occurred. Please consult the log for more details..

VSCode screenshot: Notification at bottom right

It's doing this with all other extensions. Searched for a solution but found nothing applicable. Why is this happening and how to fix it?

Answer 1

It probably is because of the certificate check.

Below solution works for me in CentOS 7 (Linux).

Step 1. Change the file /usr/share/applications/code.desktop

Open the file /usr/share/applications/code.desktop, then modify the Exec value with adding --ignore-certificate-errors before %F:

Exec=/usr/share/code/code --unity-launch --ignore-certificate-errors %F

Save the file with typing sudo in the begining.

Step 2. Close all windows of vs code instances.

Step 3. Back to the terminal, use below command to open VS code:

code --ignore-certificate-errors

Step 4. Click extension button in the left side bar.

Click any extension like "Ruby" by Peng Lv, if the images in the Details page can be seen successfully, perhaps the issue is solved.

Step 5. Try to continue to install the extensions you need.

Just enjoy! May it be helpful for you.

Answer 2

For windows

    cd "C:\Users\<user>\Appdata\Local\Programs\Microsoft VS Code"
    code.exe --ignore-certificate-errors