The MSSQL extension expects the connection profile server field in 'host,port' grammar (matching .devcontainer/devcontainer.json), not the 'tcp:host,port' form sqlcmd/go-mssqldb uses. Prefixing with 'tcp:' prevented the extension from matching the saved profile when launched via the vscode://ms-mssql.mssql/connect URI. Drop the prefix in both createProfile and mssqlConnectURI.

Also fix TestVSCodeCreateProfile, which stored the password as plain text. config.GetCurrentContextInfo() runs the stored value through secret.Decode, so the test panicked once createProfile started reading the password. Encode with secret.Encode and set PasswordEncryption='none' to match.

Replace the strip-comments-then-marshal round trip (which silently lost
user comments and trailing commas, requiring a .sqlcmd-backup file
written alongside settings.json) with a hujson AST patch. We parse the
original document, build an RFC 6902 patch that adds or replaces only
the two keys we own (mssql.connections, mssql.connectionGroups), and
pack the modified AST. Comments, trailing commas, and unrelated user
settings round-trip untouched on replace operations.

Drops the multi-backup hazard raised in PR microsoft#688: the previous code
overwrote settings.json.sqlcmd-backup on every invocation, so a second
container creation lost the original. With comments preserved, no
backup file is created.

Full AST-level preservation across additions and per-connection
comments is tracked in microsoft#767.

…all-success path

Two security cleanups from the latest Copilot review:

* createProfile now only writes savePassword/password into VS Code settings.json when the connection is local (i.e. a sqlcmd-managed container). For remote SQL servers, let the mssql extension prompt and store credentials in the OS credential store instead of having sqlcmd persist plaintext into settings.

* launchSsms now resolves and IsInstalled-checks the SSMS tool before copying the password to the clipboard. Previously a missing-SSMS fatal would still leave the password on the clipboard.

Adds a regression test (TestVSCodeCreateProfileRemoteDoesNotPersistPassword) covering the remote SqlLogin case.

- vscode: use existing localized 'Failed to encode VS Code settings' key

- ssms tool: actually inherit parent stdio in fallback (comment was wrong)

- vswhere: short-circuit to empty on non-integer version (was returning arbitrary instance)

- readme: clarify ssms clipboard handoff only applies to SQL authentication

…pty id

Match the documented contract instead of panicking. Callers like the vscode launcher inspect optional container IDs and rely on the empty-string fallback.

On Windows, suggest USERPROFILE instead of HOME since that's what os.UserHomeDir consults.

- clipboard.go: guard user.BasicAuth != nil for consistency with other call sites

- ssms.go/ssms_unix.go: drop '(Windows only)' suffix from Short text so it matches existing catalog entry

- ssms_unix.go: drop localizer wrap on the Windows-only fatal stub message (string is unique to !windows build and not in the catalog)

- vscode.go: use %s with err.Error() so gotext extracts the home dir error

- ssms_unix.go: wrap the unix-only fatal in localizer.Sprintf

- regenerate catalog under GOOS=linux to register the !windows-tagged string