Visual Studio - Copilot keeps thinking forever and does not answer

[GitHubGba]

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Hi people.

I'm testing Github Copilot to see if it works for my day to day.

It started working fine but suddenly it stopped working.
If you ask it something it keeps thinking forever and doesn't answer.

I use it in the Visual Studio Community IDE.
In its options everything is correct and active.
I have reinstalled Visual Studio and it is still the same.

I have tried (to rule out) with Visual Studio Code and it does work but I need to use it necessarily in Visual Studio.

Does anyone know how to fix this or at least reset it completely in Visual Studio ?

Thanks in advance.

[djmeow0407]

Maybe you should try to reinstall it (maybe completely delete all the file that relate to github copillot) and login again, or you should check that are VS focus on any big project (like 10000+ lines of code). You should check your internet connection too (in case your internet is slow).

I used to get that error and i fix it by reinstall extension!

[GitHubGba]

I have reinstalled as you tell me the copilot extension even VS completely and it remains the same.
In fact, the configuration is loaded automatically so there must be files left undeleted.

If I could know where that config is stored for deletion I am left with the hope that reconfiguring from scratch the copilot account would work but I can't find where all this is stored.

If not, maybe it could be solved by installing a previous version of vs as I am reading in many places that it is possible that it is a problem related to the latest versions. The one I have now is 17.11.2.

[GitHubGba]

Hi Again.

I have installed the same version of visual studio on a hyper-v vm and copilot works correctly. Even the threads I had created can be recovered.

So it is a problem of something in the computer configuration. I have already reinstalled everything but there must be some corner where there are files that are interfering with the problem and prevent a clean install to reset the copilot link with the github account.

[oliveiraellenmatheus123-blip]

Ó k

[franks-at-covius]

I have the same issue. It was working fine and then today it gets stuck on "Thinking...". I can connect through a web browser and also via VS Code but not in VS 2022.

[sandeepojha930]

Now, I'm facing the same issue... Is there solution for the same ?

[sandeepojha930]

@mgriffin can you help here ?

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[stosic]

What is the main issue you're experiencing with GitHub Copilot in the Visual Studio Community IDE?

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[Pedrohacc]

Hi,

This issue sometimes happens in Visual Studio when the Copilot extension cache or authentication session becomes corrupted. You can try the following steps to reset it completely:

Sign out and sign in again in GitHub from Visual Studio

          Go to File → Account Settings → Sign out
          Restart Visual Studio and sign in again.

Clear the Copilot cache

Close Visual Studio
        Delete the folder:
        C:\Users\YOUR_USER\AppData\Local\GitHubCopilot

Update the extension

         Open Extensions → Manage Extensions
         Make sure GitHub Copilot and GitHub Copilot Chat are fully updated.

  Check the Output logs

          Go to View → Output
          Select GitHub Copilot in the dropdown and check if any errors appear.

  If it still hangs on “thinking…”, try removing and reinstalling both Copilot extensions and restarting Visual Studio.

Since it works in VS Code, the issue is likely related to the Visual Studio extension state rather than your account.

[TheFoxy23]

Lately GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio has the same problem for many, including me: it keeps “thinking” endlessly without answering, or it makes frequent errors and it doesn’t work well.

Try installing the ChatGPT Codex extension from the Visual Studio marketplace: it’s very good, free to base, and it gave me positive feedback with fast and accurate responses on C#/ code. NET

[DJCallyman]

I feel as though there is something else going on here. I have seen a huge change in copilots behaviour just in the last couple of days. This I've seen this across two different instances/accounts/computers. It isn't "hanging" but getting lost in excessive amounts of "actually, I should focus on concrete answers...", "wait, I'm wondering if..." etc.

Here is just one portion of the thinking that it did (with Opus 4.6) on a relatively straightforward UI issue:

thinking.md

Edit: Using the exact same prompt with Github Copilot Claude Opus 4.6 as the model in OpenCode and the issue was clearly identified and a number of fixes recommended. Copilot Chat "thought" for about 20 minutes at which point I stopped it.

[SpideyFeras]

Since Copilot is working in VS Code but not Visual Studio, the issue is likely a cached credential or a specific extension conflict within the VS IDE.

Try these steps:

Sign out and back in: Go to the top right of Visual Studio, sign out of your GitHub account, restart VS, and sign back in.

Clear Component Cache: Close VS and delete the folder: %localappdata%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\<version>\ComponentModelCache.

Check Version: Ensure you are on the latest version of Visual Studio (17.8+) as older versions have known compatibility issues with the newer Copilot chat extensions.

Check the Output Window: Set the 'Show output from' dropdown to 'GitHub Copilot' to see the specific error code.