Creating spark application with VSCode - Synapse PySpark installation error - Exit with non zero 3221225477

Question

I am on windows and I am trying to follow this doc to create spark applications with VSCode using a Synapse workspace.

I can sign into Azure and set a default Spark Pool from my abonnement, but then I don't get the prompt "Would you like to install PySpark/SynapsePySpark kernels for HindightPySpark/SynapsePyspark operations?". Instead VSCode tries to install some things, and then I get the error:

VSCode: Synapse PySpark installation error. Please see moreDetails. - when I click on "More Details" it leads me to this useless site for "non-windows users".

In the ouput (see below for full output) I get the additional error:

[2022-2-10:8:14:2] [Error] Exit with non zero 3221225477
[2022-2-10:8:14:2] [Info] Jupyter not installed

I tried launching VSCode as Administrator, I reinstalled VSCode, I tried Python Versions 3.10, 3.9, 3.8, but I always get the same result. I even went ahead and installed Jupyter in the virtual environment myself, but it still fails.

[2022-2-10:8:14:1] [Info] Exec python, with args: --version
[2022-2-10:8:14:1] [Info] Python 3.8.0

[2022-2-10:8:14:1] [Info] Exec pip, with args: --version
[2022-2-10:8:14:1] [Error] Exit with non zero 3221225477
[2022-2-10:8:14:1] [Info] Exec python, with args: -m,pip,--version
[2022-2-10:8:14:2] [Info] pip 22.0.3 from C:\coding\Python38\lib\site-packages\pip (python 3.8)


[2022-2-10:8:14:2] [Info] Exec virtualenv, with args: --version
[2022-2-10:8:14:2] [Info] virtualenv 20.13.1 from c:\coding\python38\lib\site-packages\virtualenv\__init__.py

[2022-2-10:8:14:2] [Info] Check Jupyter installation:
[2022-2-10:8:14:2] [Info] Exec C:\Users\myuser\.msvscode.hdinsight\hdinsightJupyter\Scripts\jupyter.exe, with args: --version
[2022-2-10:8:14:2] [Error] Exit with non zero 3221225477
[2022-2-10:8:14:2] [Info] Jupyter not installed
[2022-2-10:8:14:2] [Info] Installing PySpark interactive virtual environment ...

[2022-2-10:8:14:2] [Info] Exec python, with args: -m,virtualenv,C:\Users\myuser\.msvscode.hdinsight\hdinsightJupyter
.[2022-2-10:8:14:3] [Info] created virtual environment CPython3.8.0.final.0-64 in 836ms
  creator CPython3Windows(dest=C:\Users\myuser\.msvscode.hdinsight\hdinsightJupyter, clear=False, no_vcs_ignore=False, global=False)
  seeder FromAppData(download=False, pip=bundle, setuptools=bundle, wheel=bundle, via=copy, app_data_dir=C:\Users\seife\AppData\Local\pypa\virtualenv)
    added seed packages: Babel==2.9.1, Jinja2==3.0.3, MarkupSafe==2.0.1, Pygments==2.11.2, QtPy==2.0.1, Send2Trash==1.8.0, anyio==3.5.0, argon2_cffi==21.3.0, argon2_cffi_bindings==21.2.0, asttokens==2.0.5, attrs==21.4.0, backcall==0.2.0, black==22.1.0, bleach==4.1.0, certifi==2021.10.8, cffi==1.15.0, charset_normalizer==2.0.11, click==8.0.3, colorama==0.4.4, debugpy==1.5.1, decorator==5.1.1, defusedxml==0.7.1, entrypoints==0.4, executing==0.8.2, idna==3.3, importlib_resources==5.4.0, ipykernel==6.9.0, ipython==8.0.1, ipython_genutils==0.2.0, ipywidgets==7.6.5, jedi==0.18.1, json5==0.9.6, jsonschema==4.4.0, jupyter==1.0.0, jupyter_client==7.1.2, jupyter_console==6.4.0, jupyter_core==4.9.1, jupyter_server==1.13.5, jupyterlab==3.2.9, jupyterlab_pygments==0.1.2, jupyterlab_server==2.10.3, jupyterlab_widgets==1.0.2, matplotlib_inline==0.1.3, mistune==0.8.4, mypy_extensions==0.4.3, nbclassic==0.3.5, nbclient==0.5.10, nbconvert==6.4.1, nbformat==5.1.3, nest_asyncio==1.5.4, notebook==6.4.8, packaging==21.3, pandocfilters==1.5.0, parso==0.8.3, pathspec==0.9.0, pickleshare==0.7.5, pip==22.0.3, platformdirs==2.4.1, prometheus_client==0.13.1, prompt_toolkit==3.0.27, pure_eval==0.2.2, py4j==0.10.9, pycparser==2.21, pyparsing==3.0.7, pyrsistent==0.18.1, pyspark==3.1.1, python_dateutil==2.8.2, pytz==2021.3, pywin32==303, pywinpty==1.1.6, pyzmq==22.3.0, qtconsole==5.2.2, requests==2.27.1, setuptools==60.6.0, six==1.16.0, sniffio==1.2.0, stack_data==0.1.4, terminado==0.13.1, testpath==0.5.0, tomli==2.0.1, tornado==6.1, traitlets==5.1.1, typing_extensions==4.0.1, urllib3==1.26.8, wcwidth==0.2.5, webencodings==0.5.1, websocket_client==1.2.3, wheel==0.37.1, widgetsnbextension==3.5.2, zipp==3.7.0
  activators BashActivator,BatchActivator,FishActivator,NushellActivator,PowerShellActivator,PythonActivator

[2022-2-10:8:14:3] [Info] Exec C:\Users\myuser\.msvscode.hdinsight\hdinsightJupyter\Scripts\pip.exe, with args: install,jupyter
[2022-2-10:8:14:4] [Info] Install Jupyter error:
[2022-2-10:8:14:4] [Error] Exit with non zero 3221225477
...........................................................