Can I configure Copilot to use custom directory for all downloads?

[lostmsu]

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I am running VS Code and extensions from a readonly file system and Copilot configuration fails as it tries to create a folder named .<random GUID> in the extensions folder.

Is there a way to make it put that folder elsewhere? From the looks of it, it should go to $TEMP or maybe some shared cache folder.

[Archit086]

this happens because copilot tries to create a temporary working folder inside the vscode extensions directory and since your filesystem is read only it fails. there is currently no supported way to redirect that folder to temp or another cache location .copilot assumes the extensions folder is writable so the only real fixes are to make that directory writable run vscode in a writable user space or avoid using copilot in that environment ,it’s a design limitation not a misconfiguration on your side . HOPE IT HELPS

[RohitWaghire]

No, there is currently no specific setting (e.g., in settings.json) to configure the download directory for the Copilot language server or its components.

The GitHub Copilot extension is designed with the assumption that the directory where it is installed is writable. When it initializes, it attempts to download and unpack the specific language server binary required for your OS into its own folder (inside extensions/github.copilot.../). Since your file system is read-only, this operation fails with the permissions error you are seeing.

To fix this, you must trick VS Code into using a writable location for all extensions.

The Workaround: Redirect the Extensions Directory

Since you cannot change where Copilot writes, you must change where VS Code thinks the extensions are located. You can do this using a Command Line Interface (CLI) argument when launching VS Code.

Steps to resolve:

1. Choose a Writable Directory: Identify a folder where you have write permissions (e.g., a folder in $TEMP, %TEMP%, or ~/.vscode-writable).
2. Launch VS Code with the Flag: Start VS Code from your terminal using the --extensions-dir flag pointing to that writable folder.

# Example for Linux/Mac
code --extensions-dir ~/writable-extensions-folder

:: Example for Windows
code.exe --extensions-dir "C:\Temp\writable-extensions"

3. Reinstall or Copy: When you launch with this flag, VS Code will open with an empty extension list (because it is looking in the new, empty folder). You have two options:

• Option A (Fresh Start): Reinstall GitHub Copilot and other extensions in this new session. They will download to the writable folder, and Copilot will successfully create its language server directories.
• Option B (Copy): Before launching, manually copy the contents of your read-only extensions folder to the new writable folder.

Why this works

By redirecting the entire extensions directory, you provide Copilot with a "sandbox" where it has full write permissions. It will download its dependencies (the <random GUID> folder you noticed) into this temp path without errors, while your main VS Code installation remains on the read-only file system.

Note: If you also need to store user data (settings, UI state) in a writable location, you can combine this with the --user-data-dir <path> flag.

Video Resource

For a visual demonstration of using this command-line argument, this video shows the exact process of changing the extensions path.

... [How to change visual studio code extensions path](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESd2Bw4D9w8) ...

This video is relevant because it specifically demonstrates using the --extensions-dir command line argument to force VS Code to load extensions from a custom, writable location.

Immediate Next Step

I can write a quick startup script (.bat for Windows or .sh for Linux) that automatically sets up this temporary environment and launches VS Code for you.