[BUG] Cowork VM bundles in %APPDATA%\Roaming cause Windows Explorer freeze when navigating user profile directory (Win11 25H2)

[GoldenPantaloons]

Preflight Checklist

• I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

After installing Claude Desktop with Cowork on Windows 11 25H2, Windows Explorer freezes/hangs when attempting to navigate to the user profile directory (C:\Users<username>). The root cause is the ~12.6 GB of VM bundle files stored in %APPDATA%\Roaming\Claude\vm_bundles\claudevm.bundle, which Windows Search Indexer attempts to enumerate and index. The largest file is rootfs.vhdx at approximately 9.3 GB.

Workaround
Excluding C:\Users<username>\AppData\Roaming\Claude\vm_bundles from Windows Search Indexing (Settings → Privacy & Security → Searching Windows → Exclusions) resolves the issue immediately.

What Should Happen?

Installing Claude Desktop with Cowork should not cause Windows Explorer to become unresponsive. Large VM bundle files should be stored in a location that does not interfere with normal OS operations, such as %LOCALAPPDATA% which is excluded from search indexing by default. If %APPDATA%\Roaming must be used, the installer should automatically register a search indexer exclusion for the vm_bundles directory to prevent Explorer from hanging when accessing the user profile.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install Claude Desktop App with Cowork
2. Navigate to C:\Users<username>\ in Explorer
3. Explorer immediately freezes and does not recover.

Claude Model

Sonnet (default)

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

No response

Claude Code Version

2.1.63 (Claude Code)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

Windows Terminal

Additional Information

No response

[github-actions]

Closing for now — inactive for too long. Please open a new issue if this is still relevant.

[github-actions]

This issue has been automatically locked since it was closed and has not had any activity for 7 days. If you're experiencing a similar issue, please file a new issue and reference this one if it's relevant.