nRF Connect Terminal won't start

RE: nRF Connect Terminal won't start

Odiug — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 11:47:20 GMT

I just realized that the WORKDIR is hardcoded in the script. Better would be:

set "WORKDIR=%~dp0"

Then it always opens the shell in the directory from where the script was started.

RE: nRF Connect Terminal won't start

Odiug — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 11:29:19 GMT

But it would be very much appreciated if Nordic would fix the issue. ;-)

RE: nRF Connect Terminal won't start

Dave — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 10:59:12 GMT

I can confirm this is a workaround for starting a cmd window with the correct nRF Connect environment variables set

RE: nRF Connect Terminal won't start

Odiug — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 10:35:31 GMT

Yesterday, Copilot provided me with a workaround .bat. You can use this to open a cmd.exe with the correct paths and environment set and then start VScode from there with "code .".

Beware!!! You have to adapt it to your SDK and toolchain!!!

Unfortunately, it does not work to add it with Insert->Code here. So here it's in text:

@echo off
setlocal

rem --- Configure these if your installation paths differ ---
set "NCS_ROOT=C:\ncs\v3.2.3"
set "TOOLCHAIN_ROOT=C:\ncs\toolchains\fd21892d0f"
set "WORKDIR=C:\DEV\Nordic\nrf5340_audio"

if not exist "%NCS_ROOT%\zephyr" (
echo [ERROR] NCS path not found: %NCS_ROOT%\zephyr
pause
exit /b 1
)

if not exist "%TOOLCHAIN_ROOT%\opt\bin\python.exe" (
echo [ERROR] Toolchain path not found: %TOOLCHAIN_ROOT%\opt\bin\python.exe
pause
exit /b 1
)

set "NCS_PATH=%TOOLCHAIN_ROOT%;%TOOLCHAIN_ROOT%\mingw64\bin;%TOOLCHAIN_ROOT%\bin;%TOOLCHAIN_ROOT%\opt\bin;%TOOLCHAIN_ROOT%\opt\bin\Scripts;%TOOLCHAIN_ROOT%\opt\nanopb\generator-bin;%TOOLCHAIN_ROOT%\nrfutil\bin;%TOOLCHAIN_ROOT%\opt\zephyr-sdk\arm-zephyr-eabi\bin;%TOOLCHAIN_ROOT%\opt\zephyr-sdk\riscv64-zephyr-elf\bin"
set "NCS_PYTHONPATH=%TOOLCHAIN_ROOT%\opt\bin;%TOOLCHAIN_ROOT%\opt\bin\Lib;%TOOLCHAIN_ROOT%\opt\bin\Lib\site-packages"
set "NCS_ENV=set PATH=%NCS_PATH%;%%PATH%%&& set PYTHONPATH=%NCS_PYTHONPATH%&& set NRFUTIL_HOME=%TOOLCHAIN_ROOT%\nrfutil\home&& set TOOLCHAIN_ROOT=&& set ZEPHYR_BASE=%NCS_ROOT%\zephyr&& set ZEPHYR_SDK_INSTALL_DIR=%TOOLCHAIN_ROOT%\opt\zephyr-sdk&& set ZEPHYR_TOOLCHAIN_VARIANT=zephyr"

rem Open a new shell window and keep it open with NCS environment loaded
start "NCS Shell" cmd.exe /v:on /k "%NCS_ENV%&& cd /d %WORKDIR%&& echo NCS environment loaded.&& echo ZEPHYR_BASE=!ZEPHYR_BASE!"

endlocal

RE: nRF Connect Terminal won't start

Dave — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 10:21:20 GMT

Thanks for the feedback. Good to know that you can reproduce the behavior. The missing call in dist/extension.js sounds like an explanation.

RE: nRF Connect Terminal won't start

Odiug — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 10:14:51 GMT

I have the same issue since a couple of days. It's present under Windows only. I works under Linux.

Asking CopIlot to dig deeper gave me:

Extension: nordic-semiconductor.nrf-connect 2026.3.1484, Windows only
nrf-connect.ncs_terminal terminal profile declared in package.json but no window.registerTerminalProfileProvider("nrf-connect.ncs_terminal", ...) call exists in dist/extension.js
Works on Linux, silent no-op on Windows when clicking "nRF Connect" in the terminal dropdown or "Open Terminal" in the nRF Connect panel

Additional info: It also initially worked a week ago, so maybe an updated broke it.

Kind regards,

Guido