Codex on VS Code(Windows) fails to start PowerShell for shell_command calls, causing all local shell operations to fail

What version of the IDE extension are you using?

26.406.31014

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Plus

Which IDE are you using?

VS Code

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0 x64

What issue are you seeing?

On Windows, Codex was able to complete browser-based actions such as a Playwright full-page screenshot, but every shell_command call failed at PowerShell startup.

Symptoms:

• shell_command fails immediately instead of running the requested command.
• Simple commands such as Get-Location and Get-ChildItem fail.
• Even attempts to invoke cmd /c ... through the shell tool still fail because the failure happens before the actual command runs.
• As a result, Codex could not perform basic local file operations such as checking for a file or moving it.

Observed output:

Exit code: -65536
´°€½ Windows PowerShell ... 8009001d ...


### What steps can reproduce the bug?

Uploaded thread: 019d76ea-171d-7a01-9ffa-7c7bb5e9c4d5

1. Run Codex in a Windows environment.
2. Ask it to perform a browser automation task first, such as taking a full-page screenshot with Playwright.
3. Then ask it to perform a local shell-based task, such as checking whether a file exists or moving a file.
4. Codex attempts to use shell_command, but the call fails during PowerShell initialization.

Actual flow that reproduced the issue:

1. Asked Codex to take a full-page screenshot of https://scin.kr/
2. Codex successfully created scin-kr-fullpage.png
3. Asked Codex to move that file into a target folder
4. Codex tried commands such as Get-Location, Get-ChildItem, and cmd /c ...
5. All of them failed with the same PowerShell startup error

Minimal repro:

• Ask Codex on Windows to run any simple shell command
• Examples: print current directory, list files, or move a file
• Instead of executing the command, Codex fails at PowerShell startup

What is the expected behavior?

Codex should be able to run shell_command normally on Windows.

For example:

• Basic PowerShell commands like Get-Location should succeed
• Get-ChildItem should be able to list files
• Local file operations such as copy/move should work
• If PowerShell startup fails, Codex should either fall back to another safe shell strategy or surface a clear, readable error message explaining the root cause

Additional information

• Playwright-based browser automation worked correctly.
• The failure seems specific to shell_command execution, not browser automation.
• The error output includes 8009001d, which may suggest a Windows PowerShell / security context / profile initialization problem, but from the user perspective this makes Codex unable to perform any shell-based local task.
• Uploaded thread ID: 019d76ea-171d-7a01-9ffa-7c7bb5e9c4d5

This error appears to occur widely.