[BUG] VS Code WSL authentication fails without actionable error when Windows and WSL have different effective internet connectivity

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

When attempting to authenticate using Claude.ai Subscription:

1. Browser authorization was initiated.
2. The authentication flow failed.
3. The Claude Code panel continued displaying its login interface.
4. No meaningful network-specific error was presented.

What Should Happen?

When authentication fails because the WSL environment cannot reach the authentication service, Claude Code should:

1. Preserve underlying network errors instead of exposing only AggregateError.
2. Distinguish connectivity failures from invalid authentication credentials.
3. Display a message explaining that connectivity within WSL may differ from Windows.
4. Provide an actionable Retry Login option.
5. Avoid treating unrelated telemetry timeouts as proof of authentication failure.

Suggested UI: Cannot connect to Claude's authentication service from the WSL environment. Windows may have internet access while WSL connectivity is unavailable. Check WSL networking, VPN, proxy and DNS settings, then retry

Suggested regression scenario :: Test a Windows machine with simultaneous Ethernet and Wi-Fi connections, where Ethernet has no internet and Wi-Fi does. Change Windows interface priority, observe WSL connectivity, and attempt Claude Code authentication.

Scope :: This issue requests better authentication error handling and diagnostics in the VS Code extension, not modifications to Windows or WSL network-routing behavior.

Error Messages/Logs

Failure logs:

    [ERROR] 1P event logging:
    80 events failed to export (code=ETIMEDOUT)

    [INFO] claude_authenticate flow ended:
    AggregateError

    [error] Error processing client request: Error


Recovery evidence

    After internet connectivity was restored for the environment, later logs showed:

    OAuth tokens found in secure storage

    [servedCatalog] fetch (org) ok: 12 rows

    [Bootstrap] Fetch ok

    MCP server "claude.ai Claude Docs":
    Successfully connected ... in 599ms

Steps to Reproduce

Environment

1. Claude Code VS Code extension: 2.1.296
2. Windows host with WSL2 Ubuntu 22.04
3. VS Code Remote WSL
4. Dual network connectivity: Ethernet and Wi-Fi

Network setup

1. The Windows laptop had two active network interfaces:
2. Ethernet connected to a local router without internet access
3. Wi-Fi connected to a network with working internet access
4. Ethernet initially had higher network priority. I changed Windows networking to prefer Wi-Fi, which restored internet connectivity for Windows applications.
5. However, Claude Code running inside the VS Code WSL environment continued experiencing connectivity failures. WSL appeared to be using the non-working network path.

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

2.1.296

Claude Code Version

2.1.296

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux)

Additional Information

_No response_