[Bug]: desktop app crash

[SanyamJain4]

Bug Description

Hermes Desktop crashes immediately on startup and never opens the UI. The CLI works normally, but launching the desktop application results in a fatal Electron GPU process failure.

Error shown in terminal:

GPU process exited unexpectedly: exit_code=-2147483645
GPU process isn't usable. Goodbye.

The application exits immediately after displaying the error.

Steps to Reproduce

Install Hermes Agent v0.17.0 on Windows.
Verify installation using:
hermes --version
Launch Hermes Desktop:
hermes desktop
Observe the startup logs.

Expected Behavior

Hermes Desktop should launch successfully and display the desktop user interface.

Actual Behavior

Terminal output ends with:

GPU process exited unexpectedly: exit_code=-2147483645
GPU process isn't usable. Goodbye.

Event Viewer reports:

Faulting application: Hermes.exe
Exception code: 0x80000003

Affected Component

Setup / Installation

Messaging Platform (if gateway-related)

No response

Debug Report

Troubleshooting already attempted:

Fresh Hermes reinstall
Updated Intel UHD Graphics driver
Updated NVIDIA RTX 4050 driver
Disabled Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling
Ran sfc /scannow
Ran DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
Disabled HP OMEN background services
Tested Electron GPU flags
Verified Hermes installation files

None of the above resolved the issue.

I also found PR #45341 mentioning:

--no-angle
--disable-gpu-compositing
--use-gl=disabled
HERMES_DESKTOP_DISABLE_GPU

which appears related to Electron GPU startup crashes on Windows

Operating System

Windows 11 Home Single Language Version: 25H2 OS Build: 26200.8457 HP Victus 15-fa1xxx NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU Intel UHD Graphic

Python Version

No response

Hermes Version

No response

Additional Logs / Traceback (optional)

Root Cause Analysis (optional)

No response

Proposed Fix (optional)

No response

Are you willing to submit a PR for this?

• I'd like to fix this myself and submit a PR

[alt-glitch]

This was generated by AI during triage.

Duplicate of #38216 — same Windows 11 Hermes Desktop startup crash (GPU process failure with the 0x80000003 breakpoint in Hermes.exe); the prebuilt installer ships an Electron build without the GPU-disable workarounds. The open fix PR you found, #45341 (--no-angle / HERMES_DESKTOP_DISABLE_GPU), addresses exactly this. Tracking under #38216.

[teknium1]

This crash signature (GPU process exited unexpectedly: exit_code=-2147483645 → "GPU process isn't usable. Goodbye.") is the Windows GPU sandbox breakpoint crash tracked in #38216, now fixed on main by PR #66842 (base implementation by @HexLab98).

What shipped:

• The installer grants ALL APPLICATION PACKAGES (S-1-15-2-2) read+execute on the app directory (the missing ACE + orphaned AppContainer SIDs is the root cause class — [Bug] Electron apps crash with exit_code=-2147483645 (GPU process sandbox crash) when zombie SIDs exist in DACL electron/electron#51761)
• Launch-time ACL repair re-runs automatically after an aborted boot
• A GPU or renderer child dying with the 0x80000003 signature triggers a one-shot automatic relaunch with --no-sandbox, and a sticky boot marker keeps subsequent Start Menu launches working
• The fallback re-probes the sandbox after each app update, so a host fixed by a driver/ACL update returns to full sandboxing automatically

The fix will be in the next release / hermes update. Closing as resolved by #66842 — please reopen if you still hit the crash on a build that includes it.