particle.configureProjectForDevice failed - stuck device name

I issue the command from the menu, select the os and the device type (Argon) and it wont let me delete or change the device name - it just throws that vs code error. Ive tried restarting workbench/code, rebooting the pc (win10) reinstalling the cli and the usbdriver - it also complained about not finding the usb. This all of a sudden. I was compiling, debugging and flashing happily the other day and now this I cant figure out. I can work with this one device but thats it…?

In a Particle project the settings are stored in .vscode/settings.json.

Example with argon, and device-os 3.1.0:

{
  "extensions.ignoreRecommendations": true,
  "C_Cpp.default.configurationProvider": "particle.particle-vscode-core",
  "cortex-debug.openocdPath": "${command:particle.getDebuggerOpenocdPath}",
  "files.associations": {
    "*.ino": "cpp"
  },
  "particle.targetPlatform": "argon",
  "particle.firmwareVersion": "3.1.0"
}

If you manually change the settings file will the project build and does the error go away?