Why would DefaultAzureCredential not find Visual Studio when I have 3 versions installed?

Library name and version

Azure.Identity 1.5.0

Query/Question

We have tests that rely on DefaultAzureCredential to access Azure Key Vault. On one of my on-premises VMs the tests can’t get a credential, even though I am running the test in Visual Studio 2022. VS is logged in to Azure. How do I figure out why it’s not seeing VS? VS 2022 doesn’t have an “Azure Service Authentication” setting in Tools/Options.

  Message: 
Test method Microsoft.SqlServer.Test.SMO.GeneralFunctionality.DatabaseSmoTests.Database_transaction_counts threw exception: 
Azure.Identity.CredentialUnavailableException: DefaultAzureCredential failed to retrieve a token from the included credentials. See the troubleshooting guide for more information. https://aka.ms/azsdk/net/identity/defaultazurecredential/troubleshoot
- EnvironmentCredential authentication unavailable. Environment variables are not fully configured. See the troubleshooting guide for more information. https://aka.ms/azsdk/net/identity/environmentcredential/troubleshoot
- ManagedIdentityCredential authentication unavailable. Multiple attempts failed to obtain a token from the managed identity endpoint.
- No installed instance of Visual Studio was found
- Stored credentials not found. Need to authenticate user in VSCode Azure Account. See the troubleshooting guide for more information. https://aka.ms/azsdk/net/identity/vscodecredential/troubleshoot
- Azure CLI not installed
- PowerShell is not installed. ---> System.AggregateException: Multiple exceptions were encountered while attempting to authenticate. ---> Azure.Identity.CredentialUnavailableException: EnvironmentCredential authentication unavailable. Environment variables are not fully configured. See the troubleshooting guide for more information. https://aka.ms/azsdk/net/identity/environmentcredential/troubleshoot

  Stack Trace: 

...

    ---> (Inner Exception #2) Azure.Identity.CredentialUnavailableException: No installed instance of Visual Studio was found
   at Azure.Identity.VisualStudioCredential.<GetTokenImplAsync>d__13.MoveNext()
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
   at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw()
   at Azure.Identity.CredentialDiagnosticScope.FailWrapAndThrow(Exception ex, String additionalMessage)
   at Azure.Identity.VisualStudioCredential.<GetTokenImplAsync>d__13.MoveNext()
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task task)
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ValidateEnd(Task task)
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter`1.GetResult()
   at System.Threading.Tasks.ValueTask`1.get_Result()
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.ValueTaskAwaiter`1.GetResult()
   at Azure.Core.Pipeline.TaskExtensions.EnsureCompleted[T](ValueTask`1 task)
   at Azure.Identity.VisualStudioCredential.GetToken(TokenRequestContext requestContext, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
   at Azure.Identity.DefaultAzureCredential.<GetTokenFromSourcesAsync>d__15.MoveNext()<---

Environment

Windows 10 with VS 2022 17.2 and VS 2019 16.11.13 VS has my Azure account synced across all devices.

[shueybubbles]

In my case it was the missing Azure Development workload

[christothes]

Hi @shueybubbles - Could it be related to which user account is being used? The VS credential relies on this file to find the token provider:

Users\<user>\AppData\Local\.IdentityService\AzureServiceAuth\tokenprovider.json

Does the user profile that is running the code have this file?