Cloud Shell Files and Folders Missing – Unable to Open VS Code Editor

Google Cloud Compute Infrastructure
1

Hello Google Cloud Support,

I am experiencing an issue with Google Cloud Shell where all my files and folders seem to be missing. Additionally, when trying to open the Cloud Shell Editor, I receive the following error:

The editor could not be opened due to an unexpected error: Unable to read file ‘/home/vishnuvijayakumarv/.codeoss/extensions/extensions.json’ (Error: Unable to resolve nonexistent file ‘/home/vishnuvijayakumarv/.codeoss/extensions/extensions.json’)

v15hnu_0-1741197948555.png
v15hnu_0-1741197948555.png1912×658 16.9 KB

Steps I Have Tried:

  1. Restarting Cloud Shell manually.
  2. Checking if my home directory is mounted using df -h ~ and ls -la ~.
  3. Recreating the missing extensions.json file and resetting VS Code settings.
  4. Running rm -rf ~/.config/Code ~/.vscode ~/.codeoss and restarting Cloud Shell.
  5. Checking Google Cloud Storage for backups using gcloud storage ls.

Current Issues:

  • My previous files and folders appear to be missing.
  • Cloud Shell Editor fails to open due to the missing extensions.json.
  • I am unsure if my home directory has been reset unexpectedly.

I would appreciate any guidance on how to recover my missing files or restore my Cloud Shell environment.

Thank you for your help!

2

Hi @v15hnu ,

Welcome to the Google Cloud Community!

I appreciate you outlining the troubleshooting steps you’ve taken to resolve this. Since these steps didn’t work, we can try a Cloud Shell Reset to see if that helps. Do note that this step will delete all files in your home directory.

If that isn’t feasible for your use case, try exploring for specific files that may be interfering with the startup. There might be some hidden files in the $HOME/ folder or other directories that could be causing the issue.

If these steps didn’t work, you can create a ticket on the Google Cloud public issue tracker. Include steps to replicate, configuration settings, screenshots, and other details of the issue to help us investigate. While there isn’t a specific timeframe for resolution, once we’ve fixed an issue in production we’ll indicate this and then update and close the bug.

Was this helpful? If so, please accept this answer as “Solution”. If you need additional assistance, reply here within 2 business days and I’ll be happy to help.