Codex App on Windows doesn't respect WSL distro selection from VS Code
Resolved 💬 3 comments Opened Mar 8, 2026 by ronenabra Closed Aug 6, 2026
💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (github-actions[bot], contributor)
responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.
What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?
26.306.996.0
What subscription do you have?
Plus
What platform is your computer?
Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0 x64 + WSL Linux 6.6.87.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2 x86_64 x86_64
What issue are you seeing?
I have several WSL distros on my machine, one of them (not default) used for codex.
I've configured VS Code to open projects from the codex distro.
However, when setting agent environment to WSL and opening a project via \\wsl$\DistroName\... Codex app always uses default distro, so it can't see the project (it says "Project folder was deleted or moved" in tooltip).
If I change default distro to the one I use for Codex, the app works properly, except for the open in VS Code button, which opens the folder via local path and not in WSL.
What steps can reproduce the bug?
- Create two WSL distros on the machine: A and B
- Set distro A to be the default
- Create a codex project in distro B from inside WSL via cli
- Open project in VS Code from WSL (i.e. - "code .") and make sure it's opened in correct WSL distro (B)
- Try to open this codex project in Codex Windows app via \\wsl$\B\... - project opens, but is not accessible.
- Close Codex app and set distro B to be the default
- Open Codex app again - the project should open now and be accessible
- Try to open VS Code from Codex app - it opens using local path and not via WSL
What is the expected behavior?
- Codex Windows app should pick the distro to use if configured in VS Code. Or at least allow to pick distro to use form the settings/config.
- Codex Windows app should open WSL projects in VS Code via WSL (i.e. - in the same way "code ."
works from WSL)
Additional information
_No response_
3 Comments
Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.
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The opening of project via local path and not via WSL I've mentioned is indeed a duplicate of Open in Cursor/VSCode from a WSL folder should invoke cursor / code from wsl #13661, however, the main issue (not respecting correct WSL distro) is not a duplicate
Supplementary note:
When the agent environment is in Windows Native, the displayed path prefix is correct, i.e.,
\\wsl.localhost\Ubuntu24.04-for-some\home\...However, in the WSL environment, the prefix is ignored, thus becoming
\home\...and pointing to the default Linux distribution.