Windows Store Codex app fails to start for Windows usernames containing non-ASCII characters.
What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?
26.304.1528.0
What subscription do you have?
Business
What platform is your computer?
Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0 x64
What issue are you seeing?
First start of Codex fails with error dialog (full copy below)
From what I can figure, it's getting confused by the non ascii first letter of my username: ø being garbled into �.
You can thank Windows default user folder naming scheme for this (it takes your first name from the MS account)
[Window Title]
Error
[Main Instruction]
A JavaScript error occurred in the main process
[Content]
Uncaught Exception:
Error: EPERM: operation not permitted, mkdir 'C:\Users\�rer\.codex\sqlite'
at mkdirSync (node:fs:1349:26)
at t.mkdirSync (node:electron/js2c/node_init:2:17243)
at gb (C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.304.1528.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0\app\resources\app.asar\.vite\build\main.js:49:1090)
at Object.<anonymous> (C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.304.1528.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0\app\resources\app.asar\.vite\build\main.js:326:23989)
at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1769:14)
at Module._extensions..js (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1902:10)
at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1488:32)
at Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1307:12)
at c._load (node:electron/js2c/node_init:2:17999)
at node:electron/js2c/browser_init:2:139583
[OK]
What steps can reproduce the bug?
As far as I am able to gather:
- Have a windows account with a username that causes the user folder to have or start with a non ascii letter like 'æøå`
- Install Codex from Microsoft Store
- Attempt to start application
What is the expected behavior?
Normal first startup of the Codex app
Additional information
Musings, please do not take seriously:
This takes me back to 2001, when even attempting to use non ascii characters inside comments of your scripts was dangerous. A time when most build tools would famously fail on my computer because my ignorant self made a username with non-ascii characters. /home/?rer/ Never heard of the place!
11 Comments
Following the workaround from https://community.openai.com/t/the-codex-app-is-now-on-windows/1375704/5 by defining a custom path for environment variable
CODEX_HOMEworks.However, when starting the app, clicking log in causes it to just "hang" on waiting to sign in (no browser window opens)
I worked around this by populating my ASCII safe codex home folder with my .codex folder from my user profile folder. (the one from codex-cli)
Then, starting the codex app works, but it want sto open a project, and shows the chose project folder dialog, which defaults to the desktop folder, causing yet another error message about path not found. However you can bypass this by just hitting ok and selecting the folder in the file prompt.
Conclusion: needs support for non-ascii folder paths.
Potential dupes of this: #13673 , #13575 ,
@fosJoddie Thanks for sharing this, but this workaround should probably come with a warning. It may help on a fresh setup, but it is not safe for everyone.
If someone already uses Codex CLI or the VS Code extension with an existing
.codex, copying that state into a separate ASCII only folder can create a second active Codex home. That can mean split config, missing history, or confusion about which state is current across tools that are expected to share the same local state. Open Windows issues also suggest this is really a broader non-ASCII path handling bug in the desktop app, not something users should have to solve by duplicating their Codex state.good point, don’t follow this workaround unless you understand the implications.
Affected users are better to wait for the fix overall.
I have the same issue. The fix with the CODEX_HOME environment variable solved it for me.
I have this issue too. I thought this would be fixed quickly by an army of AI agents. But I guess we are not there yet...
@monobjorn I expected the same.
This is either some bigger underlying issue or nobody has picked up the bug yet.
It's been about a week, and there's now 1000 newer issues registered. It must be difficult keeping up with all that.
I updated the Windows Store app today. The same error occurs still with the new version:
OpenAI.Codex_26.325.2171.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
Codex.exe product version: 26.325.21211
Codex build number: 1255
Electron: 40.0.0
I checked out the codex repo locally and confirmed that the homedir path correctly gets read and used in the native codex cli application.
I also discovered that the Electron wrapper for the codex GUI/chat app isn't in this repo.
ProcMon shows the failing mkdir comes from the Store app’s embedded Electron/Node layer:
Codex.exe -> uv_fs_mkdir -> CreateDirectoryW
As far as I can tell, the packaged JS bundle constructs the path as:
process.env.CODEX_HOME ?? path.join(os.homedir(), ".codex")then appends "sqlite" and calls fs.mkdirSync(...).@AdrianNO1
@monobjorn
I tested the newest codex app from Microsoft Store (says last updated 11th of april 2026) which is version 26.409.20454
This version starts up without any issues for me! I'd flag this one as resolved but I'm not sure if it's my place to do.
Same, starts up without any issues for me too
I can reproduce this with a Korean Windows user profile path.
Codex version: OpenAI.Codex 26.600.1337.0
OS: Windows 10 x64
Install source: Microsoft Store
Main account:
C:\Users\<Korean username>
Result: Codex silently fails to launch. No window appears.
I tried:
CODEX_HOME is correctly visible in normal PowerShell, but the app still does not launch.
Workaround test:
Created a new local account:
C:\Users\codexuser
Result: Codex launches normally.
This looks like a Windows desktop app path/encoding bug with Korean / non-ASCII user profile paths.
This also looks identical to #27506, which points to windows-updater.node failing on Korean / non-ASCII Windows profile paths.