[BUG] Claude Cowork not working on Windows ARM64 (Snapdragon X Plus Surface) - tried everything, still getting VM timeout

[anjapich]

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?

My setup:

Microsoft Surface with Snapdragon X Plus (8-core) @ 3.30 GHz
Windows 11 Pro (ARM64)
Claude Desktop v1.2.234, installed with the ARM64-specific installer
WSL2 with Ubuntu (Default Version: 2)

Errors I get (cycling between the two):

"VM connection timeout after 60 seconds"
"EBUSY: resource busy or locked" on claudevm.bundle\smol-bin.vhdx
Most recently: "VM service not running. The service failed to start."

Everything I have tried:

Multiple restarts of Claude and computer
Full uninstall with manual deletion of all AppData\Local\Claude and AppData\Roaming\Claude folders
Reinstalled using the Windows ARM64 installer specifically
Installed WSL2 and Ubuntu fresh via wsl --install -d Ubuntu
Ran wsl --shutdown and killed all Claude processes via taskkill before relaunching
Used "reinstall the workspace" option multiple times
Launched Claude as administrator
Upgraded from Windows Home to Windows Pro
Started Ubuntu manually via wsl -d Ubuntu before launching Claude
Enabled Virtual Machine Platform via Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName VirtualMachinePlatform -All -NoRestart and restarted
Created a firewall rule for WSL2 using the correct /16 subnet (172.27.0.0/16)
Created C:\Users\anjap.wslconfig with [wsl2] networkingMode=mirrored and ran wsl --shutdown

Important context: Colleagues with identical hardware (Snapdragon X Plus Surface) have Cowork working, so this isn't a blanket ARM64 incompatibility - something is specific to my machine.
Has anyone experienced this and found a fix? I am NOT very computer/code savvy - I am a lawyer by trade - I have tried to workshop this with my IT department and apparently the above steps I have taken should have fixed the issue but still not working!

What Should Happen?

Cowork should be running with no VM timeout or issues

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

Put this:

Install Claude Desktop using the Windows ARM64 installer on a Microsoft Surface with Snapdragon X Plus (8-core) @ 3.30 GHz, Windows 11 Pro
Install WSL2 with Ubuntu via wsl --install -d Ubuntu
Open Claude Desktop and navigate to Cowork
Observe: "VM connection timeout after 60 seconds" error appears every attempt with 100% reproduction rate
Also intermittently observe: "EBUSY: resource busy or locked"

Claude Model

Not sure / Multiple models

Is this a regression?

No, this never worked

Last Working Version

No response

Claude Code Version

Version 1.1617.0 (8d6345)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

PowerShell

Additional Information

No response

[github-actions]

Found 3 possible duplicate issues:

1. Cowork: VM connection timeout on Windows ARM64 (Snapdragon X Plus) #45480
2. [BUG] Cowork VM guest connection timeout on Windows ARM64 (Snapdragon X Plus, Galaxy Book4 Edge) #46048
3. [BUG] Cowork VM guest connection timeout on ARM64 Windows (Snapdragon X Plus) - never connects #46183

This issue will be automatically closed as a duplicate in 3 days.

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🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[github-actions]

This issue has been automatically closed as a duplicate of #45480.

If this is incorrect, please re-open this issue or create a new one.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[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.