Cannot open Visual Studio Code as Administrator (error code 18) in version 1.121.0

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#318,538 opened on May 27, 2026 3 comments 0 reactions 1 assignee View on GitHub

@deepak1556 is already working on this.

Since May 27, 2026.

Assessment

This issue has not been assessed yet.

Description

Type: Bug

Install VS Code (system installer), latest version (1.121.0 as of writing).
Open VS Code as administrator

Result: The window terminated unexpectedly (reason: 'launch-failed', code: '18')
We are sorry for the inconvenience. You can open a new empty window to start again.

Expected result: VS Code should open.

Workaround: Start VS Code with flag --disable-chromium-sandbox

VS Code version: Code 1.121.0 (f6cfa2ea2403534de03f069bdf160d06451ed282, 2026-05-19T11:51:53+02:00)
OS version: Windows_NT x64 10.0.17763
Modes:

System Info

Item	Value
CPUs	Intel(R) Xeon(R) Gold 6246 CPU @ 3.30GHz (4 x 3292)
GPU Status	2d_canvas: unavailable_software GPU0: VENDOR= 0x1414, DEVICE=0x008c [Microsoft Basic Render Driver], DRIVER_VENDOR=Google, DRIVER_VERSION=10.0.17763.8641 GPU1: VENDOR= 0x1414, DEVICE=0x008c [Microsoft Basic Render Driver], DRIVER_VERSION=10.0.17763.8641 Machine model name: Machine model version: 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)	10.00GB (6.68GB free)
Process Argv	--disable-chromium-sandbox --crash-reporter-id 20477c75-1cc9-47c9-9278-1d2b6970aac1
Screen Reader	no
VM	100%

Extensions (1)

Extension	Author (truncated)	Version
powershell	ms-	2025.4.0

Dominant language: TypeScript
Stars: 193k
Forks: 42.9k
PR merge metrics: PR metrics pending

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