Timeout with MCP server [Windows/WSL Ubuntu]

[lumaron]

Hello,

I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to report an issue I've encountered while running the MCP server for Azure using the following setup:

Copilot in Visual Studio Code (VSC) connected to Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), with various scenarios for the JSON configuration file.
Direct execution within VSC.
Running a Docker container and connecting from VSC configured for WSL.
In each scenario, I consistently face a timeout issue. Below is the command configuration I am using:

"mcp": {
  "servers": {
    "Azure MCP Server": {
      "command": "wsl",
      "args": [
        "bash",
        "-c",
        "sudo docker run -i --rm azure/azuremcp --env-file /home/luke/mcp/.env"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Initially, I tried using 'bash', 'docker', and 'npx' directly in the command, but even the samples from the documentation are not functioning, which suggests there might be PATH-related issues.

The timeout manifests as follows:

2025-06-04 13:10:35.989 [info] Starting server Azure MCP Server
2025-06-04 13:10:35.989 [info] Connection state: Starting
2025-06-04 13:10:35.991 [info] Starting server from LocalProcess extension host
2025-06-04 13:10:36.007 [info] Connection state: Starting
2025-06-04 13:10:36.008 [info] Connection state: Running
2025-06-04 13:10:37.092 [warning] [server stderr] sh: 1: {jsonrpc:2.0,id:1,method:initialize,params:{protocolVersion:2025-03-26,capabilities:{roots:{listChanged:true}},clientInfo:{name:Visual Studio Code,version:1.100.3}}}: not found
2025-06-04 13:10:41.012 [info] Waiting for server to respond to `initialize` request...
2025-06-04 13:10:46.012 [info] Waiting for server to respond to `initialize` request...
2025-06-04 13:10:51.013 [info] Waiting for server to respond to `initialize` request...
2025-06-04 13:10:56.013 [info] Waiting for server to respond to `initialize` request...
2025-06-04 13:11:01.011 [info] Waiting for server to respond to `initialize` request...
2025-06-04 13:11:06.011 [info] Waiting for server to respond to `initialize` request...
2025-06-04 13:11:11.011 [info] Waiting for server to respond to `initialize` request...
2025-06-04 13:11:16.010 [info] Waiting for server to respond to `initialize` request...
2025-06-04 13:11:21.011 [info] Waiting for server to respond to `initialize` request...

I would greatly appreciate any insights or suggestions you might have regarding this setup.

[joshfree]

Thanks for reporting this issue, @lumaron! @conniey owns our docker store and can assist

[conniey]

It looks like it is trying to invoke the initialize request as a bash command. The default transport for MCP is to write and read from stdin/out... but there is an extra layer of indirection using bash, so it's not forwarding it to the MCP server. What is the user scenario for invoking wsl then docker? IIRC, docker uses WSL to run its containers.

Initialize request: [server stderr] sh: 1: {jsonrpc:2.0,id:1,method:initialize,params:{protocolVersion:2025-03-26,capabilities:{roots:{listChanged:true}},clientInfo:{name:Visual Studio Code,version:1.100.3}}}: not found

[github-actions]

Hi @lumaron. Thank you for opening this issue and giving us the opportunity to assist. To help our team better understand your issue and the details of your scenario please provide a response to the question asked above or the information requested above. This will help us more accurately address your issue.