VSCode crashes on start when installed on UNC path or network drive: launch-failed, code 18

[imthematrix]

Type: Bug

VSCode crashes on start. This prompt is shown but the app crashes and the prompt disappears without clicking on Close.

I have downloaded the VSCode .zip version and tested both the lastest stable and Insiders build.

• The app fails to start if I run it from \\prod.companydomain.com\profiles\my.profile\Documents\programs\Visual Studio Code Insiders\VSCode-win32-x64-1.82.0-insider\Code - Insiders.exe or H:\programs\Visual Studio Code Insiders\VSCode-win32-x64-1.82.0-insider\Code - Insiders.exe (which is the same).
• It works if I run it from a local path but I can't do that because the local directories are not persistent when I restart the computer.
• It doesn't crash when I start VSCode with --no-sandbox --disable-gpu-sandbox. It might have to do with these topics:
  • Can't run as Administrator - launch-failed code 18 #185057 (#issuecomment-1590220449)
  • VS Code 1.79.0 use root user can not open with cmd --no-sandbox --user-data-dir #184687
  • VS Code 1.79: launch-failed with error Code: '18' #184888
  • Visual Studio Code 1.79.1 launch in admin mode fails with code 18 - Stack Overflow
  • Running Visual Studio Code on Windows

VS Code version: Code - Insiders 1.82.0-insider (ccb95fd, 2023-08-17T05:33:29.141Z)
OS version: Windows_NT x64 10.0.19045
Modes:

System Info

Item	Value
CPUs	Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2690 v4 @ 2.60GHz (16 x 2600)
GPU Status	2d_canvas: enabled canvas_oop_rasterization: enabled_on direct_rendering_display_compositor: disabled_off_ok gpu_compositing: enabled multiple_raster_threads: enabled_on opengl: enabled_on rasterization: enabled raw_draw: disabled_off_ok video_decode: enabled video_encode: enabled vulkan: disabled_off webgl: enabled webgl2: enabled webgpu: enabled
Load (avg)	undefined
Memory (System)	64.00GB (39.28GB free)
Process Argv	--no-sandbox --disable-gpu-sandbox --crash-reporter-id c45a6380-599d-461b-9383-7f861c4051a8
Screen Reader	no
VM	100%

Extensions: none

[deepak1556]

Yup the runtime sandbox does not support your current UNC environment, this is captured in #122951

Please use the persistent setting mentioned in https://code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_80#_disable-chromium-sandbox as a workaround.

[imthematrix]

Yup the runtime sandbox does not support your current UNC environment, this is captured in #122951

I don't think the process is running with elevated rights in my case. I'm not on an admin account. Also, I'm not sure if we are using AppLocker. I have never heard of it before.

[deepak1556]

Sorry, that is the wrong issue. UNC path issue for sandbox is tracked in #185173

[imthematrix]

Oh okey. Then you're right, it's a duplicate. I have googled beforehand but this exit code seems to happen fairly often. Didn't find any exact match to this problem.