How to run Powershell x86 within Visual Studio Code x64?

Question

I've got a situation where I am using the 64-bit version of Visual Studio Code to write/debug a powershell script. However, because of what the Powershell script is doing it needs to run within the 32-bit version of Powershell. It's using some libs to access an MS Access file, so I have yet to find a way to make things work within Powershell x64.

Is there a way to tell VS Code to run the 32-bit version of Powershell if VS Code itself is running as 64-bit? For example, can I modify the launch.json file to specify the path of powershell itself?

{
    // Use IntelliSense to learn about possible attributes.
    // Hover to view descriptions of existing attributes.
    // For more information, visit: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=830387
    "version": "0.2.0",
    "configurations": [
        {
            "type": "PowerShell",
            "request": "launch",
            "name": "PowerShell Launch Current File",
            "script": "${file}",
            "args": [],
            "cwd": "${file}"
        },
        ...
     ]
}

score 15 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 01 '17 at 11:38

15

I found another method that's easier and seems to be provided by VSCode (although it might be an extension I added). In the main window there's a clickable element in the right side of the toolbar:

When you click that a menu appears near the top of the window with some powershell related options, including the ability to switch between x86 and x64:

answered Oct 01 '17 at 11:38

Sam Storie

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+1 The only extension I've got is PowerShell and an icon extension, so I'm willing to believe it's part of the PowerShell extension itself. – Bacon Bits Oct 06 '17 at 15:46
blarg. this just happened to me. i forgot it had been previously set to x86 for doing office related stuff. – KySoto May 06 '20 at 20:51
I have VS Code v. 1.71.2 with the Powershell extension but I do not see this button... – Rye bread Sep 29 '22 at 12:31

Bacon Bits · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-06T15:50:35.820

4

Assuming you have the PowerShell extension installed, you should be able to modify the powershell.powerShellExePath setting in VS Code Settings to "C:\Windows\SysWOW64\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe".

I believe you can also set "powershell.useX86Host": true. This was introduced in the PowerShell extension v0.5.0; I'm not sure how I missed it's inclusion!

However, it might be easier or better to install the 64-bit MS Access components and just use the 64-bit version.

Microsoft Access Database Engine 2010 Redistributable

Microsoft Access 2013 Runtime

Microsoft Access Database Engine 2016 Redistributable

I've no idea why the 2013 version has a different name, but as far as I can tell those are the same components for the different versions.

edited Oct 06 '17 at 15:50

answered Sep 18 '17 at 12:38

Bacon Bits

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If you already have installed a 32-bit version of Office, you can not install the 64-bit MS Access components. That's a problem I ran into when I wanted to install the 64-bit components a while back, and I don't have a 64bit office at my disposal and no need to upgrade as the Office 2010 I'm using is still perfect what I'm doing with it, ok, except for this problem. – SuperDre Oct 28 '21 at 13:03
@SuperDre Not sure why that's not working for you, but I 100% have done it before. It was part of an application install we deployed across our network at a prior job, and it was always installed side-by-side with 32-bit Office (because that was installed on every workstation). – Bacon Bits Oct 29 '21 at 00:16
are you sure you were installing the x64 version next to the 32bit. as the message I get during installation is as clear as possible: "You cannot install the 64-bit version of MS ADE2010 because you currently have 32-bit office products installes. If you want to install 64-bit MS ADE 2010, you first need to remove the 32-bit installation of Office products." and then it tells me the 32-bit version I need to remove: "Microsoft Office Standard 2010". – SuperDre Nov 01 '21 at 12:37
I'm quite sure. It's been a long time, but I'm sure we either did [this](https://stackoverflow.com/q/42090394/696808) or [this](https://stackoverflow.com/q/37710776/696808) or [this](https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/learn-explore/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/How-to-install-64-bit-Microsoft-Database-Drivers-alongside-32-bit-Microsoft-Office.html) or [this](https://ginesys.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/PUB/pages/66617405) or similar. – Bacon Bits Nov 02 '21 at 02:21
thanks for the extra info, [this](https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/learn-explore/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/How-to-install-64-bit-Microsoft-Database-Drivers-alongside-32-bit-Microsoft-Office.html) did the trick. But I see the 64bit ACE.OLEDB.12.0 driver is much slower as its 32-bit counterpart, so I'll now use the 32-bit ACE.OLEDB.12.0 driver and 32bit powershell instead of the Jet.OLEDB.4.0 driver. But at least now I can use both 32-bit as 64-bit. – SuperDre Nov 03 '21 at 12:03

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 29 '22 at 12:45

0

You can click the '{}' text in the bottom bar, then click on "Show PowerShell Session Menu".

This should give some different Powershell .exe options (x86 etc.) to choose from, depending on what is installed on the system.

answered Sep 29 '22 at 12:45

Rye bread

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How to run Powershell x86 within Visual Studio Code x64?

3 Answers3

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