Python Locator fails on clean Windows 11 installation due to missing VCRUNTIME140.dll

[erik-smit]

Type: Bug

1. Install Windows 11 Pro.
2. Install Python 3.13 from Microsoft Store.
3. Install VSCode.
4. Create python file, install python extension.
5. Notice run doesn't work.

Output, Python Locator says: "2025-12-19 15:30:57.557 [info] Starting Python Locator c:\Users\erikl.vscode\extensions\ms-python.python-2025.20.1-win32-x64\python-env-tools\bin\pet.exe server" and nothing else.

Running this .exe manually shows "The code execution cannot proceed because VCRUNTIME140.dll was not found. Reinstalling the program may fix this problem.".

6. Install https://aka.ms/vc14/vc_redist.x64.exe
7. Restart VSCode.
8. Now python extension works.

Extension version: 2025.20.1
VS Code version: Code 1.107.1 (994fd12f8d3a5aa16f17d42c041e5809167e845a, 2025-12-17T14:15:14.850Z)
OS version: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26200
Modes:

System Info

Item	Value
CPUs	11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-11800H @ 2.30GHz (8 x 2304)
GPU Status	2d_canvas: unavailable_software direct_rendering_display_compositor: disabled_off_ok gpu_compositing: disabled_software multiple_raster_threads: enabled_on opengl: disabled_off rasterization: disabled_software raw_draw: disabled_off_ok skia_graphite: disabled_off trees_in_viz: disabled_off video_decode: disabled_software video_encode: disabled_software webgl: unavailable_software webgl2: unavailable_software webgpu: unavailable_software webnn: unavailable_software
Load (avg)	undefined
Memory (System)	7.07GB (3.06GB free)
Process Argv
Screen Reader	no
VM	0%

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[DakotaB75]

Thanks for the detailed report — this makes sense.

pet.exe is a native binary and appears to depend on the MSVC runtime. On clean Windows 11 installations, the VC++ Redistributable (VCRUNTIME140.dll) is not guaranteed to be present, especially when Python is installed via the Microsoft Store.

At the moment, the failure mode is silent from the extension perspective, which makes this hard to diagnose for users.

A few potential improvements that could help here:

• Explicitly detect missing MSVC runtime dependencies when starting Python Locator and surface a clear error message
• Log the native process failure (exit code / stderr) instead of stopping silently
• Optionally document the VC++ Redistributable as a prerequisite for the locator binary, or bundle the required runtime if feasible

This would significantly improve the out-of-the-box experience on fresh Windows setups.