[Windows][26.820.9563.0] ChatGPT Desktop launches headless after upgrade from Classic; no renderer/window created

[erick8881000-cmd]

What version of the Codex / ChatGPT Desktop app are you using?

26.820.9563.0

Package:

OpenAI.Codex_26.820.9563.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0

App ID:

OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0!App

Executable:

app\ChatGPT.exe

Platform

Windows x64.

What issue are you seeing?

After upgrading from ChatGPT Classic to the new unified ChatGPT Desktop application, the application launches processes in the background but never creates a visible window.

ChatGPT Classic works correctly on the same machine. After upgrading to OpenAI.Codex 26.820.9563.0, multiple ChatGPT.exe processes start and remain responsive, but every process has:

MainWindowHandle = 0
MainWindowTitle  = <empty>

The main process consumes substantial RAM/CPU and child processes are created, but the UI never appears.

This is related to #41059, but differs in one important way: no “Unable to locate the Codex CLI binary” dialog was observed in this reproduction. The app becomes headless directly after upgrading from ChatGPT Classic.

Process behavior observed

The main process starts normally:

ChatGPT.exe

It successfully creates:

• Crashpad handler
• GPU process
• Network utility process

Examples:

ChatGPT.exe --type=crashpad-handler
ChatGPT.exe --type=gpu-process
ChatGPT.exe --type=utility --utility-sub-type=network.mojom.NetworkService

However, no process with:

ChatGPT.exe --type=renderer

is ever created.

The primary ChatGPT.exe process was observed using roughly 480–540 MB RAM with ~52 threads and active CPU usage, while still having MainWindowHandle = 0.

This suggests initialization progresses significantly but stops before Chromium renderer/window creation.

Windows activation diagnostics

Windows reports successful package registration and activation.

Microsoft-Windows-AppModel-Runtime/Admin shows:

• Event ID 201: process created successfully for OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0!App
• Event ID 210: Desktop AppX container created successfully
• Event ID 211: process added to Desktop AppX container successfully

Microsoft-Windows-TWinUI/Operational shows:

• Event ID 1621
• activation result: 0
• message indicates the operation completed successfully

Microsoft-Windows-AppXDeploymentServer/Operational confirms staging and registration of:

OpenAI.Codex_26.820.9563.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0

completed successfully.

The package manifest reports:

Executable : app/ChatGPT.exe
EntryPoint : Windows.FullTrustApplication

Capabilities include:

appLicensing
runFullTrust
unvirtualizedResources
internetClient

Therefore, the failure appears to occur after Windows successfully transfers control to ChatGPT.exe.

User-data behavior

The Chromium crashpad process is launched with:

--user-data-dir=C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Roaming\Codex\web\Codex

That directory was not created automatically.

To test whether this was a filesystem/permission issue, the directory was created manually. The user has full control permissions on %APPDATA%\Codex, but ChatGPT still did not populate the directory or create a UI.

The packaged app container under:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0

is created successfully with standard directories (LocalCache, LocalState, RoamingState, Settings, TempState, etc.), but no meaningful application state/log/database files appeared there during the failed launch.

Troubleshooting already performed

The following did not resolve the problem:

1. Repair the application from Windows Settings.
2. Reset the application.
3. Completely uninstall OpenAI.Codex.
4. Verify Get-AppxPackage OpenAI.Codex returns nothing after removal.
5. Reinstall ChatGPT Classic from Microsoft Store.
6. Confirm ChatGPT Classic opens correctly.
7. Upgrade again to the new unified ChatGPT Desktop app.
8. Launch using:

   shell:AppsFolder\OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0!App
   

9. Launch ChatGPT.exe directly.
10. Launch with --disable-gpu.
11. Launch with --disable-gpu --disable-features=Vulkan.
12. Verify AppX registration / activation logs.
13. Verify filesystem permissions for %APPDATA%\Codex.
14. Manually create the expected Chromium user-data directory.

None of these changed the behavior.

Steps to reproduce

1. Install ChatGPT Classic on Windows.
2. Confirm ChatGPT Classic opens normally.
3. Upgrade to the new unified ChatGPT Desktop app (OpenAI.Codex 26.820.9563.0).
4. Launch ChatGPT.
5. Observe multiple ChatGPT.exe processes running in Task Manager / PowerShell.
6. No visible UI appears.
7. Check processes:

   Get-Process ChatGPT | Select Id,MainWindowTitle,MainWindowHandle,Responding,Path

8. All processes show MainWindowHandle = 0.
9. Inspect process command lines and observe crashpad/GPU/network utility children but no --type=renderer process.

Expected behavior

The ChatGPT Desktop window should be created and displayed after launch.

A Chromium renderer process should start as part of normal UI initialization.

Actual behavior

The application remains running headlessly with no visible UI.

The main process remains responsive and uses CPU/RAM, but no renderer/window is created.

Impact

This is a blocking issue for the new unified ChatGPT Desktop application.

ChatGPT Classic remains usable, but it does not provide the newer unified ChatGPT / Work / Codex desktop experience.

Additional observations

The evidence suggests the failure is inside the application runtime between Chromium initialization and renderer/window creation, rather than AppX registration, package activation, GPU initialization, or basic filesystem permissions.

Related issue: #41059

[github-actions]

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

• Windows Desktop launches ChatGPT.exe background processes but no UI/window appears #41075
• [Windows] Codex Desktop 26.820.9563.0 launches only as background process with no GUI #41120
• Windows app launches background Electron processes but never spawns codex.exe or creates a window #41125
• [Windows 26.820.9563.0] Desktop remains headless after external Codex CLI workaround #41059
• [Windows] 26.820.9563.0 startup hang with high CPU; multi-module preload restores launch #41064

Powered by Codex Action

[Arwen0707]

Additional reproduction from another Windows user: the issue persists after updating/reinstalling to OpenAI.Codex_26.820.10647.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0.

Observed sequence:

• Previous package 26.820.9563.0 produced a Windows Application Hang / MoAppHang (Event ID 1002) for ChatGPT.exe.
• After uninstall/reinstall, the installed package is now 26.820.10647.0 under C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\....
• Launching the new build still creates no visible window.
• Multiple ChatGPT.exe processes remain responsive, but all show MainWindowHandle = 0 and an empty MainWindowTitle.
• Process tree includes MAIN, crashpad-handler, gpu-process, and utility processes (network/storage), but no --type=renderer process was observed.

Troubleshooting performed on 26.820.10647.0 with no fix:

• Repair/uninstall/reinstall.
• Verified there is only one registered OpenAI/Codex AppX package; no older 26.820.9563.0 package remains registered.
• Started ChatGPT.exe directly from the current package install location.
• Started with --disable-gpu.
• Started with a completely fresh temporary Chromium profile via --user-data-dir=....
• Started with --no-sandbox (this produced no visible UI either).
• Renamed the packaged app LocalCache; the app recreated a fresh LocalCache, but still no window.
• CODEX_CLI_PATH exists and points to a valid codex.exe.
• WinHTTP proxy is Direct access (no proxy server).

One visible symptom during normal/fresh-profile launches: the Windows taskbar briefly rearranges as if a window is being created, but no ChatGPT window ever appears and Alt+Tab shows no ChatGPT window.

This looks very similar to the original report, but importantly it is reproducible on the newer 26.820.10647.0 build as well. The Codex CLI itself still launches successfully; the failure appears limited to the desktop GUI initialization / renderer-window creation path.

[purplelnb]

The issue still reproduces after updating from 26.820.9563.0 to 26.825.3734.0 through the Microsoft Store.

Current desktop package:

Name    : OpenAI.Codex
Version : 26.825.3734.0
Status  : Ok

Observed behavior remains unchanged:

• Multiple ChatGPT.exe processes start and remain responsive.
• All processes have MainWindowHandle = 0.
• MainWindowTitle is empty.
• No visible desktop window is created.
• Codex CLI works normally.
• The configured external CLI reports codex-cli 0.150.0-alpha.8.

I have already tried repairing/reinstalling the app, resetting the local configuration, rebooting Windows, and removing the suspected third-party input method. The CLI sandbox setup also completes successfully, but the desktop GUI still does not appear.

It appears that version 26.825.3734.0 still fails before creating the renderer/window on this machine. Please let me know if additional logs or diagnostics from this version would be helpful.

[Ailbot123]

The program successfully starts Chromium’s underlying process, but it gets stuck before the renderer or GUI window is created. I’m experiencing the same issue.

[Ailbot123]

now, you know how to solve this question?

[Ailbot123]

ChatGPT for Windows 26.820.9563.0 runs in background with no window, eventually recovers after waiting

Environment
ChatGPT desktop app for Windows
Version: 26.820.9563.0
The app had previously been working normally
I wanted to avoid Resetting the app or deleting AppData because I wanted to preserve local data
Symptoms

After launching ChatGPT:

ChatGPT.exe was visible in Task Manager
No application window appeared
Alt+Tab and window-moving shortcuts did not help
Rebooting Windows did not resolve the issue

I checked the process using PowerShell:

Get-Process ChatGPT |
Select Id, CPU, StartTime, Responding, MainWindowHandle, MainWindowTitle, Path

The result showed:

Responding : True
MainWindowHandle : 0
MainWindowTitle :

So the main process was alive and responding, but no actual window had been created.

Troubleshooting steps I tried

I first tried the usual steps, none of which fixed the issue immediately:

Killed all ChatGPT processes in Task Manager and relaunched the app.
Tried Alt+Tab, Win+Shift+Left/Right, etc. to make sure the window was not off-screen.
Fully rebooted Windows.
Went to Windows Settings → Apps → ChatGPT → Advanced options → Repair.

I did not use Reset, uninstall the app, or delete any local app data.

I then tried disabling Sparkle for that launch:

$env:CODEX_SPARKLE_ENABLED = "false"

and launched the packaged app using:

Get-Process ChatGPT -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Stop-Process -Force

$env:CODEX_SPARKLE_ENABLED = "false"

$pkg = Get-AppxPackage -Name OpenAI.Codex
$exe = Join-Path $pkg.InstallLocation "app\ChatGPT.exe"

Invoke-CommandInDesktopPackage -PackageFamilyName $pkg.PackageFamilyName
-AppId "App" `
-Command $exe

This also did not make the window appear immediately.

The log showed:

Launching app ... enableSparkle=false enableUpdater=true ...
Appshot hotkey inactive ...

So CODEX_SPARKLE_ENABLED=false did affect the launch, but enableUpdater was still true. Because of that, I cannot confirm that this environment variable contributed to the eventual recovery.

Additional diagnostics

The runtime directory contained:

cua_node

and there was no visible cua_node.staging-* directory, so at that point it did not appear to still be extracting the runtime.

The process tree contained:

ChatGPT.exe
--type=crashpad-handler
--type=gpu-process
--type=utility --utility-sub-type=network...
--type=utility --utility-sub-type=storage...

However, there was no process with:

--type=renderer

At the same time:

MainWindowHandle = 0

I also did not see a corresponding new Crashpad dump.

So the state appeared to be:

The main Electron/Chromium process and several helper processes had started successfully, but the renderer / GUI window had not yet been created.

Outcome

After completing the steps above, I did not Reset the app, uninstall it, or delete any local data.

After waiting for some time, the ChatGPT window suddenly appeared normally and the app started working again.

Therefore, I cannot identify one specific step as the definitive fix.

Based on the sequence of events, the most likely explanation is that:

Killing the previously stuck processes allowed a clean launch;
Windows Repair may have repaired some application files;
ChatGPT continued some initialization work in the background;
The renderer eventually started successfully and the GUI window was finally created.

One important detail is that even after launching with:

CODEX_SPARKLE_ENABLED=false

the application still remained for some time with:

MainWindowHandle = 0

and no renderer process. Therefore, I do not currently have evidence that disabling Sparkle itself was the actual fix.

Possible workaround / recommendation

For anyone seeing the same behavior, I would suggest trying the following before resetting or deleting application data:

Do not immediately Reset the app or delete AppData.
Kill all existing ChatGPT processes.
Run Windows Repair for the app.
Relaunch ChatGPT.
If the background process exists but MainWindowHandle = 0, wait for a while and check whether a renderer process eventually appears.
If it remains stuck, inspect the process tree and startup logs before attempting destructive troubleshooting.

In my case, the app eventually recovered without deleting local data and without performing a Reset.

[LuoPoJunZi]

Additional reproduction from another Windows user: the issue persists after updating/reinstalling to OpenAI.Codex_26.820.10647.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0

[Ailbot123]

Additional reproduction from another Windows user: the issue persists after updating/reinstalling to OpenAI.Codex_26.820.10647.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
try waiting?

[sunzhelaw]

I can reproduce a closely related startup failure on Windows with the same package version, OpenAI.Codex 26.820.9563.0.

Observed behavior:

• After updating Codex/ChatGPT Desktop, launching the app produced no visible window.
• Task Manager showed multiple ChatGPT/Codex background processes; the main group was actively consuming about 12% CPU and roughly 434 MB RAM, with the system fan spinning up.
• Restarting Windows did not immediately resolve it.
• Windows Settings -> Apps -> ChatGPT/Codex -> Terminate + Repair did not immediately resolve it either.
• codex --version worked normally from PowerShell and reported codex-cli 0.145.0, so the CLI itself was usable while the desktop GUI was unavailable.
• After a prolonged period with the processes still active, the desktop window eventually appeared by itself without reinstalling or deleting local state.

This pattern has also been noticeable after prior desktop updates: the first launch after an update can remain apparently headless for a long time before the window finally appears.

Even if part of this delay is caused by post-update runtime migration/extraction/initialization, the current UX makes the application look completely broken. It would help if the app created a minimal window immediately and surfaced a status such as “Finishing update / initializing runtime”, rather than leaving only background CPU activity with no visible feedback.

No local project folders, .codex state, or AppData were deleted in this reproduction.

[study-233]

I can reproduce the same issue on a newer Codex Windows build.

Environment

• Codex package: OpenAI.Codex_26.825.3734.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
• Codex version: 26.825.3734.0
• Platform: Windows x64
• AppX package status: Ok

Symptoms

After the recent update, clicking Codex does not open any visible window.

The application itself does start successfully and creates multiple ChatGPT.exe processes.

Observed processes:

MAIN
crashpad-handler
gpu-process
utility
utility

However, there is no --type=renderer process.

All processes have:

MainWindowHandle = 0
MainWindowTitle  = <empty>

The main process remains responsive and uses substantial resources:

RAM: ~525 MB
CPU: active
MainWindowHandle: 0

App log

The latest codex-desktop-*.log stops immediately after:

2026-08-28T05:27:06.488Z info [sparkle] in_app_updates_policy_wait_started timeoutMs=300000
2026-08-28T05:27:06.489Z info Launching app agentRunId=null allowDebugMenu=false allowDevtools=false allowInspectElement=false buildFlavor=prod enableSparkle=false enableUpdater=true nodeEnv=undefined packaged=true platform=win32
2026-08-28T05:27:06.631Z info Appshot hotkey inactive configured=true enabled=false platform=win32

No renderer initialization messages appear afterwards.

Additional diagnostics

Get-AppxPackage -Name OpenAI.Codex reports:

Name            : OpenAI.Codex
Version         : 26.825.3734.0
Status          : Ok
PackageFullName : OpenAI.Codex_26.825.3734.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0

The cua_node runtime has already completed extraction:

Folder   Files  MB
cua_node 11283  2606.20

There is no cua_node.staging-* directory.

I also tested launching the executable with:

--no-first-run

but the behavior remains unchanged: MAIN/GPU/utility processes start, but no renderer is ever created.

I also checked ~/.codex/config.toml; there is no untrusted, approval_policy, or allowed_approval_policies configuration.

This appears to confirm that the headless startup issue is still present in Windows build 26.825.3734.0.

[jingchunq306-dotcom]

Additional Windows reproduction from 2026-08-28.

Observed behavior:

• The new unified ChatGPT desktop app launches and remains present in Task Manager, but no visible ChatGPT window appears.
• Windows Event Viewer records repeated Application Hang events, Event ID 1002, for ChatGPT.exe.
• The Event Viewer message reports: ChatGPT.exe version 151.0.7922.174 stopped interacting with Windows and was closed.
• Reinstalling from Microsoft Store and rebooting did not resolve the missing-window behavior.
• Windows Settings reported the app as running in the background even though no tray icon or visible window was present.
• Temporarily renaming %USERPROFILE%\.codex\config.toml to isolate the Codex configuration did not change the behavior, so the existing Codex config does not appear to be the trigger.
• Codex itself later opened successfully without further repair, while the ChatGPT desktop window issue remained. This may help distinguish the desktop-shell/window initialization failure from the Codex backend/CLI itself.

Event Viewer also showed AppModel-State warnings (IDs 20/21/23/24), but those entries explicitly reference Microsoft.MicrosoftPCManager_8wekyb3d8bbwe, so they appear unrelated to ChatGPT/Codex.

This seems consistent with the headless/no-renderer symptom described in this issue, with the additional evidence of repeated Application Hang 1002 for ChatGPT.exe 151.0.7922.174.

Expected behavior: the unified ChatGPT desktop app should create a visible window within a few seconds after launch, or surface an actionable startup error instead of remaining headless in the background.