[WSL] VS Code 1.135.0 causes wsl.exe to consume one full CPU core after connecting to WSL

Type: Bug

## Description

After connecting VS Code 1.135.0 to Ubuntu through Remote WSL, one Windows-side `wsl.exe` process continuously consumes approximately 100% of
one logical CPU core.

This increases CPU package power from approximately 16 W to 36 W and significantly raises the CPU temperature. Disconnecting the Remote WSL
session immediately stops the CPU usage and restores normal power consumption.

The problem does not occur with VS Code 1.134.0.

## Steps to Reproduce

1. Start Windows and ensure WSL is stopped:

```powershell
wsl --shutdown

2. Verify that wslservice.exe is idle.
3. Start Ubuntu directly from PowerShell or Windows Terminal.
4. Confirm that all WSL-related processes remain at 0% CPU.
5. Open VS Code 1.135.0.
6. Connect to Ubuntu using Remote WSL.
7. Run:

Get-CimInstance Win32_PerfFormattedData_PerfProc_Process |
Where-Object Name -like 'wsl*' |
Sort-Object PercentProcessorTime -Descending |
Format-Table IDProcess,Name,PercentProcessorTime

8. One wsl.exe process consistently reports approximately 96–102% CPU.

## Actual Result

A wsl.exe process associated with the VS Code Server startup command consumes one full logical CPU core continuously:

C:\WINDOWS\System32\wsl.exe -d Ubuntu sh -c
"$VSCODE_WSL_EXT_LOCATION/scripts/wslServer.sh"
08d4889f9ec4a1685d257b9b95de036c8e1ce1e5
stable code-server .vscode-server ...

Example:

IDProcess Name PercentProcessorTime
44616 wsl#3 100

The Windows energy report attributes most of this load to wsl.exe and ntoskrnl.exe.

## Expected Result

An idle Remote WSL connection should not continuously consume an entire logical CPU core.

## Regression

The issue occurs with:

VS Code: 1.135.0
Commit: 08d4889f9ec4a1685d257b9b95de036c8e1ce1e5
Architecture: x64

After switching to VS Code 1.134.0, the Remote WSL connection remains idle and CPU power consumption is normal.

## Environment

CPU: Intel Core i7-14650HX
Windows: 10.0.26200.9168
WSL: 2.7.12.0
WSL kernel: 6.18.33.2-2
Distribution: Ubuntu
Remote WSL extension tested: 0.104.2 and 0.104.3

## Troubleshooting Already Performed

- Disabled all non-required extensions: no change.
- Started VS Code with --disable-gpu: no change.
- Enabled remote.WSL.experimental.scriptLessStartup: no change.
- Tested Remote WSL extension versions 0.104.2 and 0.104.3: both affected.
- Running WSL directly in Windows Terminal: no issue.
- Running wsl.exe -d Ubuntu -e sleep 300: no issue.
- Closing or disconnecting VS Code Remote WSL immediately stops the CPU usage.
- VS Code 1.134.0 does not reproduce the issue.

This appears to be a regression in VS Code 1.135.0 or its corresponding VS Code Server build.

VS Code version: Code 1.134.0 (110a328ea54b42367b803ec53ee0bf52ef26b419, 2026-08-18T18:24:44Z)
OS version: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26200
Modes:
Remote OS version: Linux x64 6.18.33.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2

System Info

|Item|Value|
|---|---|
|CPUs|Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-14650HX (24 x 2419)|
|GPU Status|2d_canvas: enabled
GPU0: VENDOR= 0x8086, DEVICE=0xa78b [Intel(R) UHD Graphics], DRIVER_VENDOR=Intel, DRIVER_VERSION=31.0.101.5445 *ACTIVE*
GPU1: VENDOR= 0x10de, DEVICE=0x28a0 [NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU], DRIVER_VERSION=32.0.15.8142
GPU2: VENDOR= 0x8086, DEVICE=0xa78b [Intel(R) UHD Graphics], DRIVER_VERSION=31.0.101.5445
GPU3: VENDOR= 0x1414, DEVICE=0x008c [Microsoft Basic Render Driver], DRIVER_VERSION=10.0.26100.8972
Machine model name:
Machine model version:
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
skia_graphite: disabled_off
trees_in_viz: disabled_off
video_decode: enabled
video_encode: enabled
webgl: enabled
webgpu: enabled
webnn: disabled_off|
|Load (avg)|undefined|
|Memory (System)|31.73GB (13.19GB free)|
|Process Argv|--crash-reporter-id b7dfa842-982d-4495-bf06-22c1c4fff193|
|Screen Reader|no|
|VM|0%|

|Item|Value|
|---|---|
|Remote|WSL: Ubuntu|
|OS|Linux x64 6.18.33.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2|
|CPUs|Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-14650HX (24 x 0)|
|Memory (System)|15.48GB (13.58GB free)|
|VM|0%|
Extensions (15)

Name|Identifier|Author|Version
---|---|---|---
开发容器|ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers|ms-vscode-remote|0.466.0
Remote - SSH|ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh|ms-vscode-remote|0.128.0
Remote - SSH: Editing Configuration Files|ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-edit|ms-vscode-remote|0.87.0
WSL|ms-vscode-remote.remote-wsl|ms-vscode-remote|0.104.2
远程开发|ms-vscode-remote.vscode-remote-extensionpack|ms-vscode-remote|0.26.0
远程资源管理器|ms-vscode.remote-explorer|ms-vscode|0.5.0
Remote - Tunnels|ms-vscode.remote-server|ms-vscode|1.5.3
vscode-pdf|tomoki1207.pdf|tomoki1207|1.2.2
Prettier - Code formatter|esbenp.prettier-vscode|esbenp|12.4.0
HTML Preview|george-alisson.html-preview-vscode|george-alisson|0.2.5
Chinese (Simplified) (简体中文) Language Pack for Visual Studio Code|ms-ceintl.vscode-language-pack-zh-hans|MS-CEINTL|1.131.2026082318
C# 开发工具包|ms-dotnettools.csdevkit|ms-dotnettools|3.20.199
C#|ms-dotnettools.csharp|ms-dotnettools|2.140.9
.NET Install Tool|ms-dotnettools.vscode-dotnet-runtime|ms-dotnettools|3.1.0
Markdown 增强预览|shd101wyy.markdown-preview-enhanced|shd101wyy|0.8.30

A/B Experiments

```
vsliv368:30146709
binariesv615:30325510
nativeloc1:31344060
dwcopilot:31170013
dwoutputs:31242946
copilot_t_ci:31333650
e5gg6876:31282496
pythonrdcb7:31342333
6518g693:31463988
aj953862:31281341
b6b4d950:31327385
envsactivate1:31551504
cloudbuttont:31379625
3efgi100_wstrepl:31403338
55ia6109:31457054
ec5jj548:31422691
cp_cls_t_966_ss:31526232
4je02754:31466945
c3h7c220:31478652
cp_cls_c_1081:31454833
conptydll_true:31498968
e9c30283:31461165
46204921:31447328
ei9d7968:31496641
chat:31457767
ddid_t:31478206
hmra_i5g22:31518061
7df3h592:31512476
cp_cls_t_1082:31535311
logging_enabled_new:31498466
db5d2638:31499441
jb_cp_cls_t_632:31543129
56dj4588:31512888
32d76977:31512328
ha629193:31508444
jh5f2457_c:31540921
jbcp_cls_pctr_t:31531130
61138546:31518536
cp_intellij_t_nes:31548657
gf14b233:31526830
ahp-both-windows:31556933
session_8:31532895
ihg5j128:31534457
f412h606:31551416
9gg7f176:31542112
enable_editor_pane_layout:31569726
allow-none:31555437
36h42362:31564511
c7c27ce7:31554789
1h923230:31564177
0dg73464:31554319
treatment-23-1:31555779
unuse_dynamic_mcp:31555281
0d8dfbc3:31570291
a1hcc538:31559322
0c1h4866:31566224
vrbsty_tr:31561058
session-archive:31558132
5b8j3302:31564601
mangle-name-control:31572633
lunaclean:31573760
multiv2:31574985

```

Reproduce the regression with the provided PowerShell process query, comparing VS Code 1.134.0 and 1.135.0 while tracing the Remote WSL startup command. Start with the mentioned scripts/wslServer.sh and the VS Code Server startup path; done means an idle Remote WSL connection no longer leaves wsl.exe at roughly 100% CPU.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.