Copilot Unable to Verify the First Certificate

When you get Copilot unable to verify the first certificate and you want to know how to fix ‘unable to verify the first certificate’ issue with GitHub Copilot #58299 essentially you get the GitHub Copilot could not connect to server. The pending stream has been canceled (caused by: unable to verify the first certificate). Extension activation failed: “unable to verify the first certificate”.

The error message “unable to verify the first certificate” when you are attempting to activate your GitHub Copilot extension in VS Code could be due to a proxy setup or corporate proxy that is actually intercepting your secure connections. It might terminate your secure connection to GitHub and then instead uses a certificate that is self signed that essentially pretends to be a middleman for TLS. Here are some possible solutions:

It might also be caused by a product called ESET Cybersecurity or ESET Antivirus security. To resolve, try going to security settings at Settings, then advanced, then security and then SSL/TLS. It might also instead be located at: Setup, then Advanced Setup, then Protections, then SSL/TLS Application scan rules – Edit. Add the “Ignore” action for your “copilot-agent-win.exe” which may be C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Preview\Common7\IDE\Extensions\VisualStudio.GitHub.Copilot\service\dist\copilot-agent-win.exe. or your path may vary.