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Codex Issues / #20130

Windows: browser-use IAB can initialize and list tabs, but tab.goto() fails with `failed to start codex app-server: 系统找不到指定的路径 (os error 3)`

Open 💬 3 comments Opened Apr 29, 2026 by lushijian
💡 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)?

OpenAI.Codex 26.422.8496.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0

What subscription do you have?

No response

What platform is your computer?

Windows x64

What issue are you seeing?

@browser-use is partially working on Windows, but external navigation through the IAB backend fails.

In my session, Browser Use can:

  • initialize successfully with setupAtlasRuntime({ backend: "iab" })
  • create/select/list tabs
  • return a selected tab object

But it fails consistently when trying to navigate to an external URL with tab.goto(...).

Observed error:

failed to start codex app-server: 系统找不到指定的路径。 (os error 3)

View original on GitHub ↗

3 Comments

github-actions[bot] contributor · 4 months ago

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

  • #20048
  • #19562
  • #19450
  • #19423
  • #19314

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jay52121 · 4 months ago

I found a working workaround for Windows Codex App Browser Use failing with:

failed to start codex app-server
The system cannot find the path specified. (os error 3)

In my case, Codex Browser Use was looking for runtime files under:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex\bin

But that directory was missing or incomplete.

Workaround:

  1. Create this directory:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex\bin

  1. Copy the runtime files from:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0\LocalCache\Local\OpenAI\Codex\bin

to:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex\bin

  1. If the LocalCache source directory does not exist, try copying the same runtime files from the Codex install resources directory, for example:

C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_<version>\app\resources

  1. The important files appear to include:
  • codex.exe
  • codex-command-runner.exe
  • codex-windows-sandbox-setup.exe
  • node.exe
  • node_repl.exe
  • rg.exe
  1. Fully quit and restart Codex App.

After copying those files and restarting Codex, Browser Use / in-app browser started working again.

This looks like a Windows packaging/cache/runtime path issue: Browser Use expects the local Codex runtime under %LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex\bin, but the files may only exist under the MSIX LocalCache or installation resources path.

zemeng5208 · 16 days ago

I maintain WinBridge Recovery, an independent Windows Codex Desktop local runtime/plugin recovery tool: https://github.com/zemeng5208/winbridge-recovery

This issue is a direct match for the user-side helper materialization layer the project targets. The workaround reported here is especially useful evidence: the IAB backend can initialize and list tabs, but %LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex\bin is missing/incomplete; once the expected Codex helper runtime is restored, Browser Use navigation works again.

WinBridge v3.1.1 resolves the currently installed Microsoft Store AppX first, verifies the official bundled CLI/CUA resources, and checks the effective user-side codex.exe, node.exe, node_repl.exe, rg.exe, CODEX_CLI_PATH, NODE_REPL_NODE_PATH, and app-server/runtime paths together. When the official source is present but the user-owned runtime is missing or stale, it can rebuild that local state through verified staging, source/destination SHA-256 checks, backups, and rollback rather than requiring users to manually copy a guessed set of binaries after every update.

It does not modify WindowsApps ownership/ACLs or patch the Store package. If the user-side helper/runtime state is already complete and current but Browser operations still fail, that remaining layer should be treated as an upstream Browser/app-server issue rather than something WinBridge should force around.