System Restart Required For Path Variable Modifications to Take Effect in VSCode Terminal Windows 10

[jackn11]

Does this issue occur when all extensions are disabled?: Yes/No

• VS Code Version: 1.68.1
• OS Version: Windows 10.0.19044 build 19044

The issue is that whenever the path environment variable is modified, in a normal shell on windows (e.g. cmd or powershell) you simply have to open a new shell for the path variable changes to take effect, but in vscode you cannot close and open vscode or close and open the shell in vscode (in this case I am using a powershell shell within vscode), you have to restart the computer and then reopen the shell in vscode for system path variable changes to take place.

There is no reason why you should have to restart the whole computer for path changes to occur in the vscode shell, even though you do not have to restart the computer for path changes to occur in other shells on a windows computer.

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Remove python from path
2. Restart computer
3. Add python to path (and do not restart computer)
4. Close and open vscode
5. Run python in integrated terminal
6. An error will appear saying that is not found
7. Restart computer
8. Repeat step 5 and python will work

[Tyriar]

You don't need to restart the computer, just close all VS Code windows and reopen.

This ask is a duplicate of #47816

/duplicate