The information that was requested when you created the thread is also shown in the yellow box at the top of each forum page.

When/if you find out if you can add a define or change the compile or linker command we can use the requested information to answer your question.

You must be on an old version of vmicro. Please upgrade or switch on vMicro>Compiler>Verbose then provide the output again. Ideally you should update vmicro.

+ we suspect the solution will require a new 2040 core/package.

Thanks, you are only using the rp2040 library. Which unused libraries are you refering too?

It might be that PICO_NO_FLASH relates more to how the upload tool works. The upload tool is provided by the rp2040 platform (board manager package) that you install. Often the compiler and upload tools have settings that are read from a text file in the platform called platform.txt. If you ask the author of the board package, if there is a facility to enable this for the arduino ide then visual micro will also work. Visual Micro does have some additional config options to make life easier but first we need to know the arduino official solution.

I suggest you upgrade visual micro from "extensions>extension manager". There have been many improvements since your version, especially around compile times.