[BUG] Subprocess initialization did not complete within 60000ms on Windows — regression from 2.1.114

"Subprocess initialization did not complete within 60000ms" after the 2.1.114 auto-update — with rollback to 2.1.112 not fixing it — suggests the 2.1.114 update changed something that persists after rollback: either a registry entry, a PATH modification, a credential storage change, or a config file format change that the older binary cannot parse.

The fact that native installer, npm, and Desktop App all produce the same error after rollback is the key diagnostic indicator: the issue is not in the binary version itself but in something the 2.1.114 install wrote to a shared location that older binaries also read.

The likely candidates for what 2.1.114 changed persistently:

1. .claude/settings.json format change. If 2.1.114 wrote new required fields or changed the format of settings.json that 2.1.112 cannot parse, the older binary may hang trying to process the settings.

1. Credential storage format change. If the auth token format changed in 2.1.114, the 2.1.112 binary may hang during authentication validation (the error says "check authentication and network connectivity").

1. Windows registry or PATH entry. 2.1.114 may have written a registry entry or PATH entry that redirects all claude.exe calls to the 2.1.114 binary even when the VS Code extension thinks it rolled back.

Diagnostic steps:

1. Check %USERPROFILE%\.claude\settings.json — does it contain any fields that look new/unfamiliar?
2. Run where.exe claude in PowerShell — is the path pointing to 2.1.114 or 2.1.112?
3. Check %LOCALAPPDATA%\Claude for a version registry or redirect file

Full nuclear workaround: Delete %USERPROFILE%\.claude entirely (back up first), then reinstall 2.1.112. This clears any persisted state from 2.1.114.

%USERPROFILE%\.claude\settings.json — does not exist
where.exe claude — could not find files for the given pattern
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Claude — does not exist

The .claude folder was already cleared in a previous troubleshooting step. No persisted state from 2.1.114 exists. The binary itself appears to be the issue — claude.exe silently exits with no output when called directly from its full path, regardless of install method. Awaiting further guidance.

Ran into this too. As a quick fix, deleting the .claude folder got things working again for me.

I encountered this error on an M1 Mac when copying parts of the .claude directory from one computer to another to preserve my settings.

It was resolved by deleting: %USERPROFILE%\.claude\settings.json

Gracias. 4horas sufriendo.

Reinstall the Claude Code extension in VS Code and refresh window (Ctrl+ Shift + P --> Developer: reload window) solve it for me.

I ran into the same issue last night and have been trying to solve it since. And my problem was that my mac was not running on the latest ios. So a simple restart and update got claude code to work again

My Claude Code on VS Code shows this issue when using the "Open in new tab" function, but seems to work in Terminal. Reinstalled, upgraded/downgraded, same issue "Error: Subprocess initialization did not complete within 60000ms — check authentication and network connectivity"

Same issue here today - I am on latest version .claude folder exists and I can't find out yet - what is causing this - even over terminal works too slow.

I checked my logs and disabled the claude-mem extension, restarted and it started working again

Same issue here. The bundled native binary works fine standalone (interactive mode in terminal completes onboarding and runs normally), but the VS Code extension hangs at subprocess init with:

"Subprocess initialization did not complete within 60000ms — check authentication and network connectivity"

The last log line from the spawned binary is always:
[DEBUG] MDM settings load completed in 0ms
…then 60s of silence until timeout.

claude --print "test" also hangs (so the SDK/non-interactive mode itself is broken, not just the extension wrapper).

Confirmed:

• 2.1.114: works
• 2.1.115 through 2.1.126: broken with the same hang

Environment:

• macOS (Apple Silicon, darwin-arm64)
• VS Code (1.109.5 (Universal)
• No hooks, no MCP servers, ~/.claude.json is small (~22KB)
• Already tried: clean reinstall, cache clear, fresh onboarding
• Workaround: downgrade to 2.1.114 via "Install Another Version"

I checked my logs and disabled the claude-mem extension, restarted and it started working again

Thanks, this worked for me.

Same issue here. The bundled native binary works fine standalone (interactive mode in terminal completes onboarding and runs normally), but the VS Code extension hangs at subprocess init with: "Subprocess initialization did not complete within 60000ms — check authentication and network connectivity" The last log line from the spawned binary is always: [DEBUG] MDM settings load completed in 0ms …then 60s of silence until timeout. claude --print "test" also hangs (so the SDK/non-interactive mode itself is broken, not just the extension wrapper). Confirmed: 2.1.114: works 2.1.115 through 2.1.126: broken with the same hang Environment: macOS (Apple Silicon, darwin-arm64) VS Code (1.109.5 (Universal) No hooks, no MCP servers, ~/.claude.json is small (~22KB) Already tried: clean reinstall, cache clear, fresh onboarding * Workaround: downgrade to 2.1.114 via "Install Another Version"

This worked for me after tryin literally everything else. THANKS! :)

https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/60478

> I checked my logs and disabled the claude-mem extension, restarted and it started working again Thanks, this worked for me.

I have the same issue, and now it's fixed.

Same issue on Windows 11 (build 26200.8457), Claude Code v2.1.158 and v2.1.160.

Verified clean setup:

• Network OK (curl api.anthropic.com responds with 404 as expected)
• OAuth tokens valid (claude doctor reports all green)
• Native install method registered correctly
• Latest version 2.1.160 installed via claude install

CLI works perfectly from terminal (claude doctor, claude auth login, claude --help all OK).
Only the VS Code extension hangs with "Subprocess initialization did not complete within 60000ms".

Today: 2026-06-02.
Poi clicca "Comment" in basso.
Importante: prima di scrivere il tuo commento, scorri tutta la pagina e leggi se altri hanno già scritto la stessa cosa di recente — in quel caso basta il 👍, non serve duplicare. Se invece i commenti sono tutti di aprile/maggio, il tuo del 2 giugno è utile perché conferma che il bug è ancora attivo a 6 settimane di distanza senza fix.
Sul lato pratico immediato per oggi: se vuoi essere produttivo, suggerisco di non aspettare il fix Anthropic e usare il workaround del terminale. Vuoi che ti aiuti a sistemare il PATH così lanci claude senza path completo?

Hi guys for me the fix took a long time to find and i believe the cause was i carry my main claude files with me on a usb as i use more than one computer and that means the files claude geneates locally and in memory can cause wrong paths in my portable files i work with so it causes conflicts when i first start up on another machine "sometimes" when using vs code extension

the last session created an additional directory in my settings.json file (i have one in each of my main projects so it can be in more than one settings file) the directory was invalid so it always hanged on that part of the startup giving me the error

Error: Subprocess initialization did not complete within 60000ms — check authentication and network connectivity
View output logs · Troubleshooting resources

"additionalDirectories": [
"C:\\Windows\\System32\\drivers\\etc",
"D:\\MY PROJECT ON USB\\ONE OF MY PROJECTS\\.git",
"D:\\MY PROJECT ON USB",
"\\tmp\\web-projects-reference",
"C:\\Users\\MYNAME-\\AppData\\Local\\Temp"
]
}
}

for me it was this line "\\tmp\\web-projects-reference",

i found it in the .claude folder in the settings file it didnt match the peroper location in my working files i carry on my usb

it fixed it!

Deleting setting.json in .claude worked for me

Switch node 22

Adding a data point for the same VS Code 60s startup error.

In my case, auth/network were OK. The cause was context-mode@context-mode

• Windows
• Claude Code CLI / VS Code extension: 2.1.178
• context-mode@context-mode: 1.0.162

VS Code log showed:

MCP server "claude.ai Slack": Successfully connected
MCP server "claude.ai Atlassian": Successfully connected
MCP server "plugin:context-mode:context-mode": connection timed out after 30000ms
Error spawning Claude: Subprocess initialization did not complete within 60000ms

Workaround:

claude plugin disable context-mode@context-mode --scope user

After disabling context-mode, Claude in VS Code works. Re-enabling it makes the timeout return.
So at least one cause of this generic auth/network error is a plugin MCP startup timeout. It would help if the UI surfaced the failing plugin name directly.