This document provides the information needed to troubleshoot common errors of Debugger for Java (the debugger). If it does not cover the problem you are seeing, please log an issue instead.
The debugger works with Language Support for Java(TM) by Red Hat (the language server) for source mapping and project support. If the language server fails to start, the debugger will not work as expected. Here is a simple way to check whether the language server is started. Open a .java or a Java project folder in VS Code, and then check the icon at the right side of the status bar. You should see the 👍 icon if the language server is loaded correctly.
- If you get the error "The JAVA_HOME environment variable points to a missing folder" or "Java runtime could not be located", please make sure that the environment variable JAVA_HOME points to a valid JDK. Otherwise, ignore this step.
- Open your Maven pom.xml file or Gradle build.gradle file, then run VS Code command "Java: Update project configuration" to force the language server to update the project configuration/classpath.
- Run VS Code command "Java: Clean the Java language server workspace" to clean the stale workspace cache.
- Try more troubleshooting guide from the language server product site.
The error indicates your workspace has build errors. There are two kinds of build errors. One is compilation error for source code, the other is project error.
- Open VS Code PROBLEMS View, and fix the errors there.
- Run VS Code command "Java: Open Java language server log file", search keyword
build/building workspace
to find more details for the build errors. - If still cannot find out what errors, then reference the language server troubleshooting paragraph to [2]update project configuration, and [3]clean workspace cache.
This error indicates the Java file you opened isn't on the classpath of any project, and no .class file will be generated because Java language server only auto builds Java source files on the project classpath. If you try to run or debug this Java file, you may get the error "Could not find or load main class".
- Go to File Explorer, right click the folder containing your Java file, and run the menu "Add Folder to Java Source Path" to mark the containing folder as a Java source root.
- Run VS Code command "Java: List all Java source paths" to check whether the containing folder is added as a Java source root.
You configure the incorrect main class name in mainClass
of launch.json, or your Java file is not on the classpath.
- Check whether the class name specified in
mainClass
exists and is in the right form. - Run VS Code command "Java: List all Java source paths" to show all source paths recognized by the workspace.
- Check the Java file you are running is under any source path? If not, go to File Explorer, right click the folder containing your Java file, and run the menu "Add Folder to Java Source Path" to mark the containing folder as a Java source root.
- Run VS Code command "Java: Force Java compilation" to rebuild your workspace.
- If the problem persists, it's probably because the language server doesn't load your project correctly. Please reference the language server troubleshooting paragraph for more troubleshooting info.
This error indicates your application attempts to reference some classes which are not found in the entire classpaths.
- Check whether you configure the required libraries in the dependency settings file (e.g. pom.xml).
- If you have recently modified the pom.xml or build.gradle config file, you need right click on pom.xml or build.gradle file and then run the menu "Update project configuration" to force the language server to update the project configuration/classpath.
- Run VS Code command "Java: Force Java compilation" to force the language server to rebuild the current project.
- If the problem persists, it's probably because the language server doesn't load your project correctly. Please reference the language server troubleshooting paragraph for more troubleshooting info.
This error indicates you are doing Hot Code Replace
. The Hot Code Replace
feature depends on the underlying JVM implementation. If you get this error, that indicates the new changes cannot be hot replaced by JVM.
- Check the HCR limitation from the wiki.
- Restart your application to apply the new changes. Or ignore the message, and continue to debug.
- You can disable the hot code replace feature by changing the user setting
"java.debug.settings.hotCodeReplace": "never"
.
This error indicates you are debugging a remote Java application. The reason is that you don't configure the remote machine's host name and debug port correctly.
- Check whether the remote Java application is launched in debug mode. The typical command to enable debug mode is like "java -agentlib:jdwp=transport=dt_socket,address=5005,server=y,suspend=n -classpath <classpath list> MyMainClass", where the parameter "address=5005" represents the target JVM exposes 5005 as the debug port.
- Check the debug port is not blocked by the remote machine's firewall.
There are two possible reasons for this error.
- Reason 1: you try to evaluate an expression when the target thread is running. Evaluation only works when your program is on suspend, for example, stopping at a breakpoint or stepping in/out/over.
- Reason 2: you take the VS Code DEBUG CONSOLE view for program input by mistake. DEBUG CONSOLE only accepts input for evaluation, not for program console input.
- For Reason 1, try to add a breakpoint and stop your program there, then evaluate the expression.
- For Reason 2, try to change the
console
option in the launch.json toexternalTerminal
orintegratedTerminal
. This is the official solution for program console input.
When the mainClass
is unconfigured in the launch.json, the debugger will resolve a class with main method automatically. This error indicates the debugger doesn't find any main class in the whole workspace.
- Check at least one main class exists in your workspace.
- If no main class exists, please create a main class first. Otherwise, it's probably because the language server fails to start. Please reference the language server troubleshooting paragraph for more troubleshooting info.
Cause of error is for now unknown, but something caused vscode java support and debugger to not be configured correctly.
- Restart VS Code and the issue should disappear
- If it continues to error try restart again, and if still a problem open an issue at vscode-java-debug
Below are the common failure reasons.
- 'C:\demo\com\microsoft\app\Main.java' is not a valid class name.
- Main class 'com.microsoft.app.Main' doesn't exist in the workspace.
- Main class 'com.microsoft.app.Main' isn't unique in the workspace.
- The project 'demo' is not a valid java project.
In launch mode, the debugger resolves the classpaths automatically based on the given mainClass
and projectName
. It looks for the class specified by mainClass
as the entry point for launching an application. If there are multiple classes with the same name in the current workspace, the debugger uses the one inside the project specified by projectName
.
- Check whether the class name specified in
mainClass
exists and is in the right form. The debugger only works with fully qualified class names, e.g.com.microsoft.app.Main
. - Check whether the
projectName
is correct. The actual project name is not always the same to the folder name you see in the File Explorer. Please check the value specified byprojectDescription/name
in the .project file, or theartificatId
in the pom.xml for maven project, or the folder name for gradle project. - If the problem persists, please try to use the debugger to regenerate the debug configurations in launch.json. Remove the existing launch.json file and press F5. The debugger will automatically generate a new launch.json with the right debug configurations.
The value specified in request
option of launch.json is incorrect.
- Reference the VS Code official document launch configurations about how to configure launch.json.
- Try to use the debugger to regenerate the debug configurations in launch.json. Remove the existing launch.json file and press F5. The debugger will automatically generate a new launch.json with the right debug configurations.