Ubuntu 24.04.2 App Center misreporting VS Code as running

mungospo · April 21, 2025, 9:05am

Hi,

I had a weird issue with getting into an “infinite-lock” situation, (which might be worth a thread alone) which brought me into a forced-shutdown. After computer was back on, I noticed that my VS Code can be updated, so I went on with it since it wasn’t the first time I get the warning.

Unfortunately, I got a warning in App Center that VS Code is still running. I tried starting it and shutting it down, without luck. I even tried shutting App Center off and turning back on, without luck.
Attempts to ignore and update also did not work.

Details as required by the templase are below this lovely & personalized message.
Thanks!

Ubuntu Version:
22.04.02

Desktop Environment (if applicable):
GNOME

Problem Description:
Stated below

Relevant System Information:
OS: Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS x86_64
Host: 20UH0019MZ ThinkPad T14s Gen 1
Kernel: 6.11.0-21-generic
Uptime: 57 mins
Packages: 1941 (dpkg), 20 (snap)
Shell: bash 5.2.21
Resolution: 1920x1080
DE: GNOME 46.0
WM: Mutter
WM Theme: Adwaita
Theme: Yaru [GTK2/3]
Icons: Yaru [GTK2/3]
Terminal: gnome-terminal
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4650U with Radeon Graphics (12) @ 2.100GHz
GPU: AMD ATI Radeon RX Vega 6
Memory: 4948MiB / 15207MiB

Screenshots or Error Messages:

Also this:
Screenshot from 2025-04-21 10-46-56

One update failed
We couldn't update code because it is currently running.

What I’ve Tried:
As described above, I tried manually starting VS Code and stopping. I tried starting it from “Open” button seen on the second screenshot and I also tried looking for it using ps axu and sudo ps axu, without luck.

rubi1200 · April 21, 2025, 9:11am

Welcome to Ubuntu Discourse

Was VS Code installed as a snap?

Just want to confirm.

If yes, try the following commands to kill the snap store process and restart it:
killall snap-store && snap-store &

Then try again to update with this:
sudo snap refresh code

mungospo · April 21, 2025, 9:29am

Hi & thx for the welcome!

It was installed via snap, yes. And while your command didn’t work, it pushed me to try to reset one more time. The issue was still there, but this time I was able to update even though App center was reporting it as running.

After the update, Code is not showing as running anymore

Thanks and apologies in case this was solveable by a mere “one more restart”. I assumed I don’t need to do it since the system just came up from a 5s power button “shutdown”.

rubi1200 · April 21, 2025, 11:02am

Good that the issue is resolved.

Sometimes, trying again can indeed fix the problem

corradoventu · April 21, 2025, 12:13pm

I hope you don’t use this violent method to stop your system, is a good method to damage it.
and may be the problem was due to this.

mungospo · April 21, 2025, 1:07pm

Well, I believe it could be the culprit, as VS Code (and other services and software) couln’t properly exit.
This said, perhaps I should go into details of another problem that brought me to this: I was following a video playing in brave in full screen. It might have been paused as well, as I was doing other things in parallel. The screen first dimmed and then screen locked. And then I got into an endless loop of providing my pass (or fingerprint - tried it all), only to be returned immediately back to pass prompt.
I tried ALT+F{1,…,12} and CTRL+ALT+F{1, …, 12} without luck. Then attempted CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE and CTRL+ALT+DEL. None of it worked and I gave up and killed it with fire.

rubi1200 · April 21, 2025, 1:34pm

I know it can be frustrating but please try and avoid hard shutdowns; it can cause many issues including filesystem corruption.

Try this next time (if there is one):

Use REISUB – the Magic SysRq Key

If your system is totally frozen, there is a graceful reboot method built into the Linux kernel.

Hold down Alt+SysRq (Print Screen) and slowly type:

R E I S U B

Release the keys and the system should reboot.

mungospo · April 21, 2025, 1:53pm

OMG

I’ve been using linux on desktop on and off for some time now and this is the first time I hear about REISUB.

Thanks!

popey · April 21, 2025, 3:25pm

I appreciate you have probably solved this now, but I am wondering if you checked if VS Code was running:

ps aux | grep vscode | grep -v grep

Here’s a sample of the output I see on my laptop:

alan      346385  0.0  0.0 33938216 26652 ?      Sl   Feb27  16:14 /usr/share/code/code --type=utility --utility-sub-type=network.mojom.NetworkService --lang=en-GB --service-sandbox-type=none --crashpad-handler-pid=346344 --enable-crash-reporter=a8edd46c-751c-4d7e-99c5-e91181e976bf,no_channel --user-data-dir=/home/alan/.config/Code --standard-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --enable-sandbox --secure-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --cors-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --fetch-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --service-worker-schemes=vscode-webview --code-cache-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --shared-files=v8_context_snapshot_data:100 --field-trial-handle=3,i,9621155429283588465,14172979240161187367,262144 --disable-features=CalculateNativeWinOcclusion,PlzDedicatedWorker,SpareRendererForSitePerProcess --variations-seed-version
alan      346427  0.0  1.1 1214336612 359580 ?   Sl   Feb27  57:38 /usr/share/code/code --type=renderer --crashpad-handler-pid=346344 --enable-crash-reporter=a8edd46c-751c-4d7e-99c5-e91181e976bf,no_channel --user-data-dir=/home/alan/.config/Code --standard-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --enable-sandbox --secure-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --cors-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --fetch-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --service-worker-schemes=vscode-webview --code-cache-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --app-path=/usr/share/code/resources/app --enable-sandbox --enable-blink-features=HighlightAPI --disable-blink-features=FontMatchingCTMigration,StandardizedBrowserZoom, --lang=en-GB --num-raster-threads=4 --enable-main-frame-before-activation --renderer-client-id=4 --time-ticks-at-unix-epoch=-1738838266000550 --launch-time-ticks=1845021751780 --shared-files=v8_context_snapshot_data:100 --field-trial-handle=3,i,9621155429283588465,14172979240161187367,262144 --disable-features=CalculateNativeWinOcclusion,PlzDedicatedWorker,SpareRendererForSitePerProcess --variations-seed-version --vscode-window-config=vscode:6686db01-f7dd-4f73-9c85-df5ff78d8fe3
alan      346814  0.0  0.2 1213942784 88996 ?    Sl   Feb27  42:41 /usr/share/code/code --type=utility --utility-sub-type=node.mojom.NodeService --lang=en-GB --service-sandbox-type=none --crashpad-handler-pid=346344 --enable-crash-reporter=a8edd46c-751c-4d7e-99c5-e91181e976bf,no_channel --user-data-dir=/home/alan/.config/Code --standard-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --enable-sandbox --secure-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --cors-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --fetch-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --service-worker-schemes=vscode-webview --code-cache-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --shared-files=v8_context_snapshot_data:100 --field-trial-handle=3,i,9621155429283588465,14172979240161187367,262144 --disable-features=CalculateNativeWinOcclusion,PlzDedicatedWorker,SpareRendererForSitePerProcess --variations-seed-version
alan      346815  0.0  0.1 1213959660 49712 ?    Sl   Feb27  20:51 /usr/share/code/code --type=utility --utility-sub-type=node.mojom.NodeService --lang=en-GB --service-sandbox-type=none --crashpad-handler-pid=346344 --enable-crash-reporter=a8edd46c-751c-4d7e-99c5-e91181e976bf,no_channel --user-data-dir=/home/alan/.config/Code --standard-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --enable-sandbox --secure-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --cors-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --fetch-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --service-worker-schemes=vscode-webview --code-cache-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --shared-files=v8_context_snapshot_data:100 --field-trial-handle=3,i,9621155429283588465,14172979240161187367,262144 --disable-features=CalculateNativeWinOcclusion,PlzDedicatedWorker,SpareRendererForSitePerProcess --variations-seed-version
alan      346846  0.1  0.6 1213943832 203864 ?   Sl   Feb27  87:59 /usr/share/code/code --type=utility --utility-sub-type=node.mojom.NodeService --lang=en-GB --service-sandbox-type=none --dns-result-order=ipv4first --inspect-port=0 --crashpad-handler-pid=346344 --enable-crash-reporter=a8edd46c-751c-4d7e-99c5-e91181e976bf,no_channel --user-data-dir=/home/alan/.config/Code --standard-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --enable-sandbox --secure-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --cors-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --fetch-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --service-worker-schemes=vscode-webview --code-cache-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --shared-files=v8_context_snapshot_data:100 --field-trial-handle=3,i,9621155429283588465,14172979240161187367,262144 --disable-features=CalculateNativeWinOcclusion,PlzDedicatedWorker,SpareRendererForSitePerProcess --variations-seed-version
alan      347670  0.0  0.0 1212001028 31872 ?    Sl   Feb27   2:22 /usr/share/code/code /home/alan/.vscode/extensions/znck.grammarly-0.24.0/dist/server/index.node.js --node-ipc --clientProcessId=346846
alan      364794  0.0  0.2 1212369424 78492 ?    Sl   Feb27  63:13 /usr/share/code/code --type=renderer --crashpad-handler-pid=346344 --enable-crash-reporter=a8edd46c-751c-4d7e-99c5-e91181e976bf,no_channel --user-data-dir=/home/alan/.config/Code --standard-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --enable-sandbox --secure-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --cors-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --fetch-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --service-worker-schemes=vscode-webview --code-cache-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --app-path=/usr/share/code/resources/app --enable-sandbox --enable-blink-features=HighlightAPI --disable-blink-features=FontMatchingCTMigration,StandardizedBrowserZoom, --lang=en-GB --num-raster-threads=4 --enable-main-frame-before-activation --renderer-client-id=10 --time-ticks-at-unix-epoch=-1738838266000550 --launch-time-ticks=1845496316433 --shared-files=v8_context_snapshot_data:100 --field-trial-handle=3,i,9621155429283588465,14172979240161187367,262144 --disable-features=CalculateNativeWinOcclusion,PlzDedicatedWorker,SpareRendererForSitePerProcess --variations-seed-version --vscode-window-config=vscode:6686db01-f7dd-4f73-9c85-df5ff78d8fe3
alan      364890  0.0  0.1 1212334144 49640 ?    Sl   Feb27  63:45 /usr/share/code/code --type=renderer --crashpad-handler-pid=346344 --enable-crash-reporter=a8edd46c-751c-4d7e-99c5-e91181e976bf,no_channel --user-data-dir=/home/alan/.config/Code --standard-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --enable-sandbox --secure-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --cors-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --fetch-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --service-worker-schemes=vscode-webview --code-cache-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --app-path=/usr/share/code/resources/app --enable-sandbox --enable-blink-features=HighlightAPI --disable-blink-features=FontMatchingCTMigration,StandardizedBrowserZoom, --lang=en-GB --num-raster-threads=4 --enable-main-frame-before-activation --renderer-client-id=11 --time-ticks-at-unix-epoch=-1738838266000550 --launch-time-ticks=1845499596995 --shared-files=v8_context_snapshot_data:100 --field-trial-handle=3,i,9621155429283588465,14172979240161187367,262144 --disable-features=CalculateNativeWinOcclusion,PlzDedicatedWorker,SpareRendererForSitePerProcess --variations-seed-version --vscode-window-config=vscode:6686db01-f7dd-4f73-9c85-df5ff78d8fe3

It’s very possible that there are no windows open, but there are vscode processes running in the background. If that’s the case you can kill them off with kill -9 <pid> where <pid> is the number in the second column in the output above.

So for me I might sudo kill -9 346385 346427 346814 346815 346846 347670 364794 364794 would kill those processes.

ogra · April 21, 2025, 3:52pm

If you run snap refresh on the commandline it will actually print the PIDs of the running processes, the GUI doesn’t do this…

system · April 24, 2025, 3:52pm

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