Cells get stuck indefinitely - even if kernel was terminated

[mvanderlee]

The kernel gets stuck too often where I can't interrupt or restart. I just hangs indefinitely!! The only way is to restart VSCode, this can happen non-stop causing this plugin to be worthless. Please provide a mechanism to force kill it, even providing the pid would be acceptable!

I killed the jupyter server manually, the "Restarting Kernel" popup disappeared but the cell was still stuck in loading state. I could run all other cells except that one. Had to duplicate the cell, then delete the old one. The "Go To" button still has a loading animation though.

Seems there is a disconnect or state issue between the cell state in VSCode and the server.

[niki-davies]

Hi, my team are all getting this issue regularly too where a Jupyter notebook gets stuck on 'pending' with no ability to stop the execution. If you try to restart the kernel it says 'Restarting kernel' but just hangs there.

[JohnTravolski]

Same "pending" issue here. I swear there's a new issue with Jupyter notebooks with every release. Can microslop get it together?

[pliablepotato]

Just to add some more info to what im seeing since there isnt a ton of information.

Most of time what happens is i get these errors first.

17:51:22.976 [info] Too many pending requests 1 for kernel 7658019f-825d-4644-b9ce-12167966a3af, waiting for it to be ready.
17:51:23.013 [info] Too many pending requests 1 for kernel 7658019f-825d-4644-b9ce-12167966a3af, waiting for it to be ready.
17:51:23.240 [info] Too many pending requests 1 for kernel 7658019f-825d-4644-b9ce-12167966a3af, waiting for it to be ready.
17:51:23.528 [info] Too many pending requests 1 for kernel 7658019f-825d-4644-b9ce-12167966a3af, waiting for it to be ready.
17:51:24.740 [info] Too many pending requests 1 for kernel 7658019f-825d-4644-b9ce-12167966a3af, waiting for it to be ready.
17:51:24.858 [info] Too many pending requests 1 for kernel 7658019f-825d-4644-b9ce-12167966a3af, waiting for it to be ready.
17:51:24.902 [info] Too many pending requests 1 for kernel 7658019f-825d-4644-b9ce-12167966a3af, waiting for it to be ready.
17:51:25.008 [info] Too many pending requests 1 for kernel 7658019f-825d-4644-b9ce-12167966a3af, waiting for it to be ready.
17:51:25.092 [info] Too many pending requests 1 for kernel 7658019f-825d-4644-b9ce-12167966a3af, waiting for it to be ready.
17:51:25.498 [info] Too many pending requests 1 for kernel 7658019f-825d-4644-b9ce-12167966a3af, waiting for it to be ready.
17:51:26.206 [info] Too many pending requests 1 for kernel 7658019f-825d-4644-b9ce-12167966a3af, waiting for it to be ready.
17:51:26.305 [info] Too many pending requests 1 for kernel 7658019f-825d-4644-b9ce-12167966a3af, waiting for it to be ready.
17:51:26.424 [info] Too many pending requests 1 for kernel 7658019f-825d-4644-b9ce-12167966a3af, waiting for it to be ready.
17:51:26.502 [info] Too many pending requests 1 for kernel 7658019f-825d-4644-b9ce-12167966a3af, waiting for it to be ready

You can see they all happen within a few seconds of eachother.

Then i usually just get a permanently hanging cell that looks like its running but has no timer or anything on it. I then usually try to interrupt it to no avail. Sometimes restarting works but most of the time it hangs and I need to restart VSCode for things to start back up

[rsparks3]

Also experiencing this issue sporadically, and usually gets fixed if I rename the file. Seems like the kernel is started successfully just not connected to the cell somehow.

logs

Visual Studio Code (1.109.4, undefined, desktop)
Jupyter Extension Version: 2025.9.1.
Python Extension Version: 2026.2.0.
Python Environment Extension Version: 1.16.0.
Pylance Extension Version: 2026.1.1.
Platform: win32 (x64).
Home = c:\Users\ryan
Temp Storage folder ~\AppData\Roaming\Code\User\globalStorage\ms-toolsai.jupyter\version-2025.9.1
Workspace folder ~\Documents\cascading-failures-results-analysis
13:34:43.192 [warn] No interpreter with path ~\miniforge3\envs\cascading-failures\python.exe found in Python API, will convert Uri path to string as Id ~\miniforge3\envs\cascading-failures\python.exe
13:34:43.536 [info] Starting Kernel (Python Path: ~\miniforge3\envs\cascading-failures\python.exe, Conda, 3.14.2) for '~\Documents\cascading-failures-results-analysis\get-failure-counts.ipynb' (disableUI=true)
13:34:48.066 [info] Process Execution: ~\miniforge3\envs\cascading-failures\python.exe -c "import ipykernel; print(ipykernel.__version__); print("5dc3a68c-e34e-4080-9c3e-2a532b2ccb4d"); print(ipykernel.__file__)"
13:34:48.073 [info] Process Execution: ~\miniforge3\envs\cascading-failures\python.exe ~\.vscode\extensions\ms-toolsai.jupyter-2025.9.1-win32-x64\pythonFiles\vscode_datascience_helpers\kernel_interrupt_daemon.py --ppid 36760
    > cwd: ~\.vscode\extensions\ms-toolsai.jupyter-2025.9.1-win32-x64\pythonFiles\vscode_datascience_helpers
13:34:48.739 [info] Process Execution: ~\miniforge3\envs\cascading-failures\python.exe -m ipykernel_launcher --f=~\AppData\Roaming\jupyter\runtime\kernel-v3e2466dd932dff340dbdafd164c1d21880ee6169d.json
    > cwd: ~\Documents\cascading-failures-results-analysis
13:34:48.978 [info] Process Execution: ~\miniforge3\envs\cascading-failures\python.exe -m pip list
13:34:50.462 [info] Kernel successfully started
13:34:50.470 [info] Process Execution: ~\miniforge3\envs\cascading-failures\python.exe ~\.vscode\extensions\ms-toolsai.jupyter-2025.9.1-win32-x64\pythonFiles\printJupyterDataDir.py
13:34:51.132 [error] Widget Error: Failed to access CDN https://unpkg.com/ after 0 attempt(s), TypeError: Failed to fetch
13:34:51.132 [error] Widget Error: Failed to access CDN https://unpkg.com/ after 0 attempt(s), TypeError: Failed to fetch
13:36:24.811 [info] Starting Kernel (Python Path: ~\miniforge3\envs\cascading-failures\python.exe, Conda, 3.14.2) for '~\Documents\cascading-failures-results-analysis\ri-impr-multiple-dist-single-subst.ipynb' (disableUI=true)
13:36:24.879 [info] Process Execution: ~\miniforge3\envs\cascading-failures\python.exe -c "import ipykernel; print(ipykernel.__version__); print("5dc3a68c-e34e-4080-9c3e-2a532b2ccb4d"); print(ipykernel.__file__)"
13:36:24.907 [info] Process Execution: ~\miniforge3\envs\cascading-failures\python.exe -m ipykernel_launcher --f=~\AppData\Roaming\jupyter\runtime\kernel-v3a489e78acc25f59ceea945d54039a0958296dd08.json
    > cwd: ~\Documents\cascading-failures-results-analysis
13:36:26.112 [info] Kernel successfully started
13:36:26.731 [error] Widget Error: Failed to access CDN https://unpkg.com/ after 0 attempt(s), TypeError: Failed to fetch

[daanbl]

I'm experiencing the same issue recently where jupyter randomly hangs on "restarting the kernel". Very frustrating.

[gcharalampous]

I am also experiencing the same issue. The only way for me to fix it is by reloading the window or restarting VSCode.

[ehan03]

I get this issue whenever I create a new notebook and try running it from scratch. Need to close VS Code and then reopen to get it back working normal.

I ended up force downgrading to ipykernel version 6.3.1 and the problem went away

[guidocioni]

I'm experiencing this issue constantly..I has become quite hard to use Vscode with Notebooks as I have to constantly restart it...

[bakerbs]

Also facing this issue.

Visual Studio Code (1.112.0, undefined, desktop)
Jupyter Extension Version: 2025.9.1.
Python Extension Version: 2026.4.0.
Python Environment Extension not installed.
Pylance Extension Version: 2026.1.1.
Platform: win32 (x64).
Home = c:\Users\BrentBaker
Temp Storage folder ~\AppData\Roaming\Code\User\globalStorage\ms-toolsai.jupyter\version-2025.9.1
Workspace folder ~\Documents\gitrepos\ad-hoc
09:40:53.972 [info] Starting Kernel (Python Path: ~\Documents\gitrepos\ad-hoc\.venv\Scripts\python.exe, Venv, 3.12.2) for '~\Documents\gitrepos\ad-hoc\notebooks\sandbox.ipynb' (disableUI=true)
09:40:56.488 [warn] Failed to get activated env vars for ~\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python312\python.exe in 1176ms
09:40:56.548 [info] Process Execution: ~\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python312\python.exe -c "import site;print("USER_BASE_VALUE");print(site.USER_SITE);print("USER_BASE_VALUE");"
09:40:56.679 [info] Process Execution: ~\Documents\gitrepos\ad-hoc\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m pip list
09:40:56.781 [info] Process Execution: ~\Documents\gitrepos\ad-hoc\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -c "import ipykernel; print(ipykernel.__version__); print("5dc3a68c-e34e-4080-9c3e-2a532b2ccb4d"); print(ipykernel.__file__)"
09:40:57.425 [info] Process Execution: ~\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python312\python.exe ~\.vscode\extensions\ms-toolsai.jupyter-2025.9.1-win32-x64\pythonFiles\vscode_datascience_helpers\kernel_interrupt_daemon.py --ppid 7068
    > cwd: ~\.vscode\extensions\ms-toolsai.jupyter-2025.9.1-win32-x64\pythonFiles\vscode_datascience_helpers
09:41:00.080 [info] Process Execution: ~\Documents\gitrepos\ad-hoc\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -c "import pip;print('6af208d0-cb9c-427f-b937-ff563e17efdf')"
09:41:02.213 [info] Process Execution: ~\Documents\gitrepos\ad-hoc\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m ipykernel_launcher --f=~\AppData\Roaming\jupyter\runtime\kernel-v3272c1bf09ba73e606d31811001ec1231dd5c399c.json
    > cwd: ~\Documents\gitrepos\ad-hoc\notebooks
09:41:10.001 [info] Kernel successfully started
09:41:10.033 [info] Process Execution: ~\Documents\gitrepos\ad-hoc\.venv\Scripts\python.exe ~\.vscode\extensions\ms-toolsai.jupyter-2025.9.1-win32-x64\pythonFiles\printJupyterDataDir.py
09:41:10.642 [error] Widget Error: Failed to access CDN https://unpkg.com/ after 0 attempt(s), TypeError: Failed to fetch

[apedersen00]

I get this issue constantly as well. Nearly every time i try to restart the kernel. I have to restart VSCode to fix it.

[rio-raimundo]

Yep, same issue... had to bind a hotkey to 'restart kernel' and now I just spam it, but sometimes having to do it every 3 minutes or so. And sometimes it doesn't work and I need to restart VSCode entirely...