VSCode and Bitbucket authentication cannot be done while running remotely
Asked by Ray Depew:

I'm trying to enable the Jira and Bitbucket (Official) extension in Visual Studio Code, and I cannot get past the Authentication step.

Setup:

* Windows 10, 64 bit
* VS Code v 1.54.3 (the latest)
* Local PC connects to internet through a DSL router
* PC connected to employer's network through VPN -- but problem persists when VPN is disconnected
* Other installed extensions include:
  * Remote Development, Remote - WSL, Remote -SSH, Remote - Containers
  * C/C++, C#, Python, YAML

Following the instructions on the [Get started with VS Code](https://support.atlassian.com/bitbucket-cloud/docs/get-started-with-vs-code/) page, I'm at the "Authenticate with Bitbucket Cloud" step. ("Authenticate with Jira Cloud" looks the same. Right now I'm most interested in Bitbucket Cloud.)

With the **Atlassian Settings** tab open, I select **BITBUCKET** at the top, and then I open the Authentication bar. There's an Alert which says
> Authentication cannot be done while running remotely  
> To authenticate with anew site open this (or another) workspace locally. Accounts added when running locally will be accessible during remote development.

The "Login to Bitbucket Cloud" link is greyed out and cannot be selected.

This is a new installation of VSCode on this PC; I haven't done much with it yet. What do I do next?

---

**EDIT:**I found a workaround. Now I want to know why the workaround works, and why I couldn't login from a remote workspace. I'll describe it in the first response to this question.


Answers:
author: Ray Depew
body: Here's the workaround.

Since I'm running WSL, I created a directory **/mnt/c/users/myname/source/repos/blah** and in that directory I created a file **blah.cpp** - a simple "Hello world" dummy file.

Then I opened the Explorer view in VSCode. It said something like "You're running remotely" and offered an **OPEN A WORKSPACE** button.

I clicked on **OPEN A WORKSPACE** and in the sector window was another button saying **Open Local** . Clicking the **Local** button gave me the classic Windows File Selection dialog window. I navigated to **C:\\users\\myname\\source\\repos\\blah** and selected that folder.

With that workspace open, I was able to go back to the **Atlassian Settings** tab and click the **Login to Bitbucket Cloud** link.

**QUESTION FOR THE GURUS:** Simply opening a folder or workspace in Windows land (the **C:\\** path) was enough to create a local connection. Since the **/mnt/c** path pointed to the same place as the **C:\\** path, why was connecting via the **C:\\** path necessary to enable Authentication?

**WSL version:**I'm running WSL 1 right now. Don't know whether that makes any difference.

comments: author: benjamin_hester_6_us_af_mil
body: I'm having the same problem with WSL2 and Coder Enterprise. This really needs fixed.


author: Jes?s Erro
body: Same problem here. Unable to connect to JIRA (Win 11 64bits, WSL2) Error message: Authentication cannot be done while running remotely.


author: Derek White
body: The login receiver runs as a **local** service. It cannot do this when you are running **remotely** via WSL - WSL is **not local** Windows.

Pretty simple logic. Pretty annoying implementation ;)

When opening any workspace locally, the local service can now run without interference and accept the returned auth details on **localhost:\<port\>**.

IMO, VSCode should be able to spin up a silent, empty, local workspace in the background and accept the auth response via that.

Or hell, let us copy/paste!


author: Luong Vo
body: As of 2022 and early 2023, this is still a problem

I wonder what we the community can do to gain more exposure on this issue

comments: author: Jes?s Erro
body: Agree, unable to connect to JIRA. Windows 11 64 bits, WSL2. Error message: Authentication cannot be done while running remotely.


author: Derek White
body: Pretty sure it is a VSCode limitation, not Atlassian's - they have to work within the framework that VSCode provides for them.

Seeing as how many extensions use this process for logging in, I would assume it's not Atlassian's fault.


author: tom_isaacson
body: But why is the error message so bad? I had to come here and search to figure out what the problem was.


Tags: bitbucket-cloud

cloud

vscode