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Solved: "Ports" Tab Not Visible in VS Code (WSL2)

None of the solutions I found on Reddit or GitHub worked, and most of the related GitHub issues were locked. So I'm documenting this here for future reference.

Problem

When using WSL2 in Visual Studio Code, the Ports tab—needed to access your application in Windows browsers like Chrome or Edge—doesn't appear. Even the Ports-related options are missing from the Command Palette.

Solution

After a lot of trial and error, here's what worked:

  1. Run npx serve in the VS Code terminal.

  2. It will output a URL such as http://localhost:3000/.

  3. Click the link (or use the Follow Link option). This will open the app in your default browser.

    You may notice that it opens on a different port (for example, http://localhost:64198). At this point, the Ports tab becomes available in VS Code.

After this initial trigger, the Ports tab seems to remain available in future VS Code sessions. The issue appears to occur only the first time you open a project in WSL2.



Disclosure:

The following ChatGPT prompt is used in this blog post:

Please fix the language of the below text and highlight the changes in bold:

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