diff --git a/test/smoke/src/areas/debug/debug.test.ts b/test/smoke/src/areas/debug/debug.test.ts
index 239219405d7771f74ff043045003e2e8f362c0ec..bc313d478846a273dc9d3be416d02114f5c9a6c7 100644
--- a/test/smoke/src/areas/debug/debug.test.ts
+++ b/test/smoke/src/areas/debug/debug.test.ts
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ export function setup() {
 			config.configurations[0].protocol = 'inspector';
 			fs.writeFileSync(launchJsonPath, JSON.stringify(config, undefined, 4), 'utf8');
 
+			// force load from disk since file events are sometimes missing
+			await app.workbench.quickopen.runCommand('File: Revert File');
 			await app.workbench.editor.waitForEditorContents('launch.json', contents => /"protocol": "inspector"/.test(contents));
 
 			assert.equal(config.configurations[0].request, 'launch');
@@ -110,4 +112,4 @@ export function setup() {
 			await app.workbench.debug.stopDebugging();
 		});
 	});
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}