Not permitted to disable an extension at workspace level if it contributes an authentication provider

[gjsjohnmurray]

Type: Bug

Since #103405 in 2020 we have been prevented from disabling an extension for a particular workspace if that extension contributes an authentication provider.

Based on the title of that issue (Disallow disabling auth extensions while being used by settings sync) the original motivation for this change was to prevent users from shooting themselves in the foot in relation to settings sync.

One of my extensions (intersystems-community.servermanager) contributes an authentication provider which has nothing to do with settings sync. It also contributes other features. Some of my workspaces don't use this extension so I would like to disable it in them, but the Disable (Workspace) option from the extension's gearwheel menu is disabled because of the check introduced to close #103405.

Worse, I can't even use the convenient Extensions: Disable All Installed Extensions for this Workspace command because its preflight check encounters my extension:

As a workaround I have to create a dedicated profile, switch my workspace to use that profile, then disable globally all unwanted extensions for the profile.

Please reconsider this restriction. Alternatively, make Extensions: Disable All Installed Extensions for this Workspace offer me a Skip option so I can at least quickly disable all non-authprovider extensions.

VS Code version: Code 1.104.2 (e3a5acf, 2025-09-24T11:21:37.073Z)
OS version: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26100
Modes:

[gjsjohnmurray]

Now that the Colab extension has been published by Google this issue may start impacting more VS Code users, as it implements an AuthenticationProvider.

[gjsjohnmurray]

PR is ready

[gjsjohnmurray]

Better PR is ready