Windows Codex app: bundled node.exe fails with Access is denied, breaking Node REPL and Browser Use plugin

[debnathaniruddha89-design]

What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?

26.422.2339.0

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT account, Codex desktop app on Windows

What platform is your computer?

Windows x64

What issue are you seeing?

TLDR-On Windows, Codex installs as an MSIX/Store-style app under C:\Program Files\WindowsApps. The bundled Node runtime cannot be executed, which causes node_repl and the Browser Use / in-app browser plugin to fail.

The Codex Windows app installs under:

C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.422.2339.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0\app

The bundled Node runtime cannot be executed:

C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.422.2339.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0\app\resources\node.exe

Running it directly from PowerShell fails with:

Program 'node.exe' failed to run: Access is denied

The Node REPL also fails with:

failed to execute Node: Access is denied. (os error 5)

This breaks the Browser Use / in-app browser plugin, because it depends on the Node REPL runtime.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Install Codex on Windows.
2. Open a Codex thread.
3. Try to use Browser Use / in-app browser automation, or run Node REPL.
4. It fails with Access is denied.

Direct PowerShell test:

& 'C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.422.2339.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0\app\resources\node.exe' --version

Output-Program 'node.exe' failed to run: Access is denied

### What is the expected behavior?

Codex’s bundled node.exe should execute successfully, allowing node_repl and Browser Use / in-app browser automation to work.

### Additional information

Troubleshooting tried
Uninstalled McAfee
Ransomware protection page became accessible afterward
Reinstalled Codex
Tried launching Codex as administrator
Tried giving Codex full permissions
Verified Browser Use plugin file exists:
C:\Users\Aniruddha Debnath.codex\plugins\cache\openai-bundled\browser-use\0.1.0-alpha1\scripts\browser-client.mjs
Active Codex process still runs from WindowsApps
Bundled node.exe remains blocked with Access is denied

Edit: for the codex team, this is how 5.5 xhigh diagnosed the situation, i am a nontechnical user, i have zero idea about how all of this works--

Copy-paste this into the GitHub issue:

### Summary

On Windows, Codex’s in-app browser / Browser Use runtime failed with:

```text
failed to execute Node: Access is denied. (os error 5)
This was reproducible even with a minimal Node REPL call, so the issue is not specific to Browser Use navigation.

Environment
OS: Windows
Codex app install path involved:
C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.422.2437.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0\app\resources
Affected packaged helpers:
node.exe
rg.exe
What failed
node resolved to:

C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.422.2437.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0\app\resources\node.exe
Running:

node --version
failed with:

Program 'node.exe' failed to run: Access is denied
The Node REPL MCP also failed with:

failed to execute Node: Access is denied. (os error 5)
rg.exe from the same app resources directory showed the same access-denied behavior.

What worked
The user-cache Codex runtime copy of Node worked:

C:\Users\Aniruddha Debnath\.cache\codex-runtimes\codex-primary-runtime\dependencies\node\bin\node.exe
Running that directly returned:

v24.14.0
Copying the working node.exe and rg.exe into the earlier per-session PATH directory:

C:\Users\Aniruddha Debnath\.codex\tmp\arg0\codex-arg0ZQRaO8\
made these commands work again:

node --version
rg --version
After that, the Node REPL MCP worked and the in-app browser opened successfully.

Suspected root cause
Codex is resolving helper binaries from the protected WindowsApps package directory. In this environment, Windows denies execution of those packaged helper binaries from spawned tool/MCP contexts.

Suggested fix
Please avoid resolving helper binaries like node.exe / rg.exe from the protected WindowsApps app resources path when spawning Codex tool runtimes.

Prefer an unpacked per-user executable runtime path, for example:

%USERPROFILE%\.cache\codex-runtimes\codex-primary-runtime\dependencies\node\bin\node.exe
Or copy/unpack helper executables into a per-user/per-session executable cache and prepend that directory to PATH before starting MCP/tool subprocesses.

The workaround confirms the browser runtime itself is fine once Node can execute. The permanent fix should be in Codex’s helper binary resolution / PATH setup on Windows, not in Browser Use itself.


This should give maintainers the important bits: exact error, exact bad path, exact working path, workaround, and the likely product-side fix.

[github-actions]

Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.

• Windows desktop shell exposes bundled rg.exe, but executing it fails with Access is denied #18666
• Windows: bundled rg.exe found but not executable (Access is denied), local rg.exe works #17972
• Codex Windows desktop app still crashes on latest Store build due to WindowsApps ACL sandbox failure (SetNamedSecurityInfoW failed: 5) #17901
• Windows desktop app repeatedly fails with "timeout waiting for child process to exit" due to sandbox ACL failure in WindowsApps #17612
• Windows Codex app: Browser Use external navigation fails because nodeRepl.fetch cannot start codex app-server #19187

Powered by Codex Action

[huseyinkaplan00]

Same issue here on Windows.

Environment:

• Codex Desktop: 26.422.2437.0
• Browser Use plugin: openai-bundled/browser-use/0.1.0-alpha1
• Windows MSIX install path: C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.422.2437.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0

What works:

• agent.browser.tabs.list()
• selected in-app browser tab is visible

What fails:

• tab.goto(...)
• tab.playwright.domSnapshot()
• tab.cua.get_visible_screenshot()

Browser Use error:
failed to start codex app-server: The system cannot find the path specified. (os error 3)

Local runtime check:

• bundled node.exe exists
• running it directly fails with: Access is denied

This looks like the same Windows/MSIX bundled runtime issue, with Browser Use failing downstream because app-server / Node REPL cannot start.

[debnathaniruddha89-design]

Same issue here on Windows.

Environment:

• Codex Desktop: 26.422.2437.0
• Browser Use plugin: openai-bundled/browser-use/0.1.0-alpha1
• Windows MSIX install path: C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.422.2437.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0

What works:

• agent.browser.tabs.list()
• selected in-app browser tab is visible

What fails:

• tab.goto(...)
• tab.playwright.domSnapshot()
• tab.cua.get_visible_screenshot()

Browser Use error: failed to start codex app-server: The system cannot find the path specified. (os error 3)

Local runtime check:

• bundled node.exe exists
• running it directly fails with: Access is denied

This looks like the same Windows/MSIX bundled runtime issue, with Browser Use failing downstream because app-server / Node REPL cannot start.

hello, can the codex app access the node REPL backend from your system? i am getting an os error 5 from my system

[debnathaniruddha89-design]

for the codex team, if anyone is reading this, this is how 5.5 xhigh diagnosed the situation

Copy-paste this into the GitHub issue:

Summary

On Windows, Codex’s in-app browser / Browser Use runtime failed with:

failed to execute Node: Access is denied. (os error 5)
This was reproducible even with a minimal Node REPL call, so the issue is not specific to Browser Use navigation.

Environment
OS: Windows
Codex app install path involved:
C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.422.2437.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0\app\resources
Affected packaged helpers:
node.exe
rg.exe
What failed
node resolved to:

C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.422.2437.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0\app\resources\node.exe
Running:

node --version
failed with:

Program 'node.exe' failed to run: Access is denied
The Node REPL MCP also failed with:

failed to execute Node: Access is denied. (os error 5)
rg.exe from the same app resources directory showed the same access-denied behavior.

What worked
The user-cache Codex runtime copy of Node worked:

C:\Users\Aniruddha Debnath\.cache\codex-runtimes\codex-primary-runtime\dependencies\node\bin\node.exe
Running that directly returned:

v24.14.0
Copying the working node.exe and rg.exe into the earlier per-session PATH directory:

C:\Users\Aniruddha Debnath\.codex\tmp\arg0\codex-arg0ZQRaO8\
made these commands work again:

node --version
rg --version
After that, the Node REPL MCP worked and the in-app browser opened successfully.

Suspected root cause
Codex is resolving helper binaries from the protected WindowsApps package directory. In this environment, Windows denies execution of those packaged helper binaries from spawned tool/MCP contexts.

Suggested fix
Please avoid resolving helper binaries like node.exe / rg.exe from the protected WindowsApps app resources path when spawning Codex tool runtimes.

Prefer an unpacked per-user executable runtime path, for example:

%USERPROFILE%\.cache\codex-runtimes\codex-primary-runtime\dependencies\node\bin\node.exe
Or copy/unpack helper executables into a per-user/per-session executable cache and prepend that directory to PATH before starting MCP/tool subprocesses.

The workaround confirms the browser runtime itself is fine once Node can execute. The permanent fix should be in Codex’s helper binary resolution / PATH setup on Windows, not in Browser Use itself.


This should give maintainers the important bits: exact error, exact bad path, exact working path, workaround, and the likely product-side fix.

[vadimsky-ctrl]

I was able to reproduce and work around this on Windows with Codex 26.422.3464.0.

The failure was not Browser Use itself. Browser Use initialized and could see the IAB tab, but external navigation failed because nodeRepl.fetch could not start/use the Codex app-server.

Root cause in my environment:
Codex helpers existed under the MSIX LocalCache path:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0\LocalCache\Local\OpenAI\Codex\bin

but Node REPL / spawned helper paths referred to:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex\bin

That non-MSIX path did not exist, so nodeRepl.fetch failed with:

failed to start codex app-server: The system cannot find the path specified. (os error 3)

Workaround:
Create %LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex\bin and copy the helper binaries from the MSIX LocalCache bin folder:
codex.exe, node.exe, node_repl.exe, rg.exe, codex-command-runner.exe, codex-windows-sandbox-setup.exe.

After that:
nodeRepl.fetch(...) returned 200
Browser Use tab.goto("https://example.com/") worked
domSnapshot and screenshot worked

Suggested product fix:
On Windows/MSIX builds, ensure tool/MCP/runtime helper resolution uses a real per-user executable path, or creates/syncs %LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex\bin before starting node_repl/app-server. Avoid resolving helpers from WindowsApps or from a path that only exists inside MSIX package virtualization.