Windows desktop app does not render local markdown images from absolute drive-letter paths

What version of the Codex App are you using?

Windows desktop app. I did not capture the exact build number before filing this report.

What subscription do you have?

Pro

What platform is your computer?

Windows

What issue are you seeing?

Local image references in assistant responses do not render correctly in the Codex desktop app on Windows, even when the file exists and the assistant uses an absolute local path.

In my case, the assistant returned markdown like:

![client preview](/E:/Test/novel-writing-platform/docs/home-client-preview.png)

The PNG file was present on disk, but the app displayed a broken image placeholder instead of the actual image.

In the same session, absolute local file links were also not clickable/openable from the UI. There is already a separate Windows path issue for broken local file links, but image rendering appears to be a separate symptom because the app fails before even showing the image preview.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Use Codex desktop app on Windows.
2. Ask the assistant to save a screenshot or image to a local path inside the workspace.
3. Have the assistant respond with markdown using an absolute local path, for example:

![preview](/E:/path/to/file.png)

1. Observe that the image does not render in the chat UI.

What is the expected behavior?

If the file exists and the assistant returns a valid absolute local path in markdown image syntax, the image should render inline in the desktop app.

Additional information

• The file did exist on disk.
• The problem was observed on Windows with a drive-letter path.
• A related symptom in the same environment is that local file links in assistant messages are not always clickable/openable.