Describe the Bug
Since Cursor is deprecating official Microsoft Dev Containers in favor of Anysphere Dev containers, one of my computers that installed this new plugin has ceased working with all Dev Containers hosted in WSL Linux. Jumping back like 5 versions didnt help. I think Anysphere’s version of the plugin is just fundamentally doing something different than the official Microsoft one.
It’s so crucial that Dev Container can work from a WSL Linux, since file permissions in volume mounts will break on a Windows filesystem.
Currently, Cursor blocks attempts to revert install back to Microsoft’s Dev Container. This means one of my computer’s Cursor is entirely out-of-service. I request for a way to force install, like…
cursor --install-extension --force ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers
…or the Dev Container regression fixed. This would be even better. : )
EDIT:
Turns out there was a mismatch between Microsoft vs Anysphere for WSL plugin as well. Manually upgrading WSL plugin to Anysphere’s has fixed it for me.
New easy request to prevent confusion: Please detect when someone has mismatched Microsoft vs Anysphere between Dev Container and WSL plugins. Upgrade both plugins at once to Anysphere, or give them a blaring warning.
Steps to Reproduce
From Windows 11, with a WSL2 Ubuntu 24 installed:
-
Click on the bottom green corner’s Open a Remote Window icon
-
Click Connect to WSL
-
Use your terminal to make an empty test project folder
-
Click Open a folder and choose that folder
-
In this project, make a file at
.devcontainer/devcontainer.json -
Put in a basic devcontainer config:
{ "name": "test", "image": "mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/base:bookworm", "remoteUser": "vscode", "workspaceFolder": "/workspaces/test" } -
Hit F1 and type:
Rebuild -
Click “Dev Container: Rebuild and Reopen in Container”
It should immediately fail, logs showing what I posted in Additional Information.
Operating System
Windows 10/11
Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)
Plugin: anysphere.remote-containers
Plugin Version: 1.0.22
Docker Version: 4.43.2
WSL2 Ubuntu version:
Version: 1.4.3 (user setup)
VSCode Version: 1.99.3
Commit: e50823e9ded15fddfd743c7122b4724130c25df0
Date: 2025-08-08T17:34:53.060Z
Electron: 34.5.1
Chromium: 132.0.6834.210
Node.js: 20.19.0
V8: 13.2.152.41-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26100
Additional Information
2025-08-08 12:47:23.524 [info] Checking for exec server for remote authority: wsl+ubuntu-24.04
2025-08-08 12:47:23.525 [info] No remote exec server found for SSH authority: wsl+ubuntu-24.04
2025-08-08 12:47:23.525 [info] No remote exec server found for authority: wsl+ubuntu-24.04; using local
2025-08-08 12:47:23.525 [info] Found 1 devcontainer.json file(s), showing prompt
2025-08-08 12:47:28.089 [info] User chose to reopen in container
2025-08-08 12:47:28.096 [info] Getting remote exec server for authority: wsl+ubuntu-24.04
2025-08-08 12:47:28.096 [info] Spawned process 26028: 'docker' 'info'
2025-08-08 12:47:28.099 [info] [docker info]: Running command: docker
2025-08-08 12:47:28.291 [info] [docker info][stderr]: WARNING: No blkio throttle.read_bps_device support
2025-08-08 12:47:28.291 [info] [docker info][stderr]: WARNING: No blkio throttle.write_bps_device support
2025-08-08 12:47:28.291 [info] [docker info][stderr]: WARNING: No blkio throttle.read_iops_device support
2025-08-08 12:47:28.291 [info] [docker info][stderr]: WARNING: No blkio throttle.write_iops_device support
2025-08-08 12:47:28.291 [info] [docker info][stderr]: WARNING: DOCKER_INSECURE_NO_IPTABLES_RAW is set
2025-08-08 12:47:28.299 [info] [docker info]: Command completed with exit code 0
2025-08-08 12:47:28.299 [info] docker version: Client:
Version: 28.3.2
Context: desktop-linux
Debug Mode: false
Plugins:
ai: Docker AI Agent - Ask Gordon (Docker Inc.)
Version: v1.6.0
Path: C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-ai.exe
buildx: Docker Buildx (Docker Inc.)
Version: v0.25.0-desktop.1
Path: C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-buildx.exe
cloud: Docker Cloud (Docker Inc.)
Version: v0.4.2
Path: C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-cloud.exe
compose: Docker Compose (Docker Inc.)
Version: v2.38.2-desktop.1
Path: C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-compose.exe
debug: Get a shell into any image or container (Docker Inc.)
Version: 0.0.41
Path: C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-debug.exe
desktop: Docker Desktop commands (Docker Inc.)
Version: v0.1.11
Path: C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-desktop.exe
extension: Manages Docker extensions (Docker Inc.)
Version: v0.2.29
Path: C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-extension.exe
init: Creates Docker-related starter files for your project (Docker Inc.)
Version: v1.4.0
Path: C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-init.exe
mcp: Docker MCP Plugin (Docker Inc.)
Version: v0.9.9
Path: C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-mcp.exe
model: Docker Model Runner (EXPERIMENTAL) (Docker Inc.)
Version: v0.1.33
Path: C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-model.exe
sbom: View the packaged-based Software Bill Of Materials (SBOM) for an image (Anchore Inc.)
Version: 0.6.0
Path: C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-sbom.exe
scout: Docker Scout (Docker Inc.)
Version: v1.18.1
Path: C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-scout.exe
Server:
Containers: 2
Running: 1
Paused: 0
Stopped: 1
Images: 13
Server Version: 28.3.2
Storage Driver: overlay2
Backing Filesystem: extfs
Supports d_type: true
Using metacopy: false
Native Overlay Diff: true
userxattr: false
Logging Driver: json-file
Cgroup Driver: cgroupfs
Cgroup Version: 1
Plugins:
Volume: local
Network: bridge host ipvlan macvlan null overlay
Log: awslogs fluentd gcplogs gelf journald json-file local splunk syslog
CDI spec directories:
/etc/cdi
/var/run/cdi
Discovered Devices:
cdi: docker.com/gpu=webgpu
Swarm: inactive
Runtimes: io.containerd.runc.v2 nvidia runc
Default Runtime: runc
Init Binary: docker-init
containerd version: 05044ec0a9a75232cad458027ca83437aae3f4da
runc version: v1.2.5-0-g59923ef
init version: de40ad0
Security Options:
seccomp
Profile: builtin
Kernel Version: 5.15.146.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2
Operating System: Docker Desktop
OSType: linux
Architecture: x86_64
CPUs: 24
Total Memory: 62.75GiB
Name: docker-desktop
ID: 57d4563c-5eeb-4407-bfb3-12025eb5d335
Docker Root Dir: /var/lib/docker
Debug Mode: false
HTTP Proxy: http.docker.internal:3128
HTTPS Proxy: http.docker.internal:3128
No Proxy: hubproxy.docker.internal
Labels:
com.docker.desktop.address=npipe://\\.\pipe\docker_cli
Experimental: false
Insecure Registries:
hubproxy.docker.internal:5555
::1/128
127.0.0.0/8
Live Restore Enabled: false
2025-08-08 12:47:28.300 [info] Searching for devcontainer.json files
2025-08-08 12:47:28.358 [info] Found 1 devcontainer.json files: \home\nyaarium\test\.devcontainer\devcontainer.json
2025-08-08 12:47:28.358 [info] Reading devcontainer config with command: read-configuration --workspace-folder \home\nyaarium\test --config \home\nyaarium\test\.devcontainer\devcontainer.json
2025-08-08 12:47:28.368 [info] Running devcontainer CLI command: c:\Users\nyaarium\.cursor\extensions\anysphere.remote-containers-1.0.22\dist\@devcontainers\cli\dist\spec-node\devContainersSpecCLI.js read-configuration --workspace-folder \home\nyaarium\test --config \home\nyaarium\test\.devcontainer\devcontainer.json --docker-path docker
2025-08-08 12:47:28.368 [info] Spawned process 31940: 'C:\Users\nyaarium\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe' 'c:\Users\nyaarium\.cursor\extensions\anysphere.remote-containers-1.0.22\dist\@devcontainers\cli\dist\spec-node\devContainersSpecCLI.js' 'read-configuration' '--workspace-folder' '\home\nyaarium\test' '--config' '\home\nyaarium\test\.devcontainer\devcontainer.json' '--docker-path' 'docker'
2025-08-08 12:47:28.368 [info] [read-configuration]: Running command: node
2025-08-08 12:47:28.522 [info] [read-configuration][stderr]: [2025-08-08T19:47:28.520Z] @devcontainers/cli 0.75.0. Node.js v20.19.0. win32 10.0.26100 x64.
2025-08-08 12:47:28.533 [error] [read-configuration]: Running command: node
2025-08-08 12:47:28.534 [error] Failed to read devcontainer config [read-configuration] Command failed with exit code 1: stdout:
2025-08-08 12:47:28.535 [error] Failed to reopen folder in container Failed to read devcontainer configuration
Does this stop you from using Cursor
Yes - Cursor is unusable