Windows Chrome plugin hangs in setupAtlasRuntime despite extension/native host checks passing

What happened?

On Windows, the bundled Chrome plugin cannot connect to Chrome even though the local verification scripts all pass. @chrome requests hang before page navigation/content extraction.

The hang appears to happen during Chrome automation runtime initialization / extension communication:

• setupAtlasRuntime({ globals }) times out.
• browser.user.openTabs() never returns.
• Attempts to use @chrome never reach page load or DOM extraction.
• Reinstalling the Chrome plugin and restarting Chrome/Codex repeatedly did not fix it.

Environment

• Codex desktop: 26.506.3741.0
• OS: Windows 10 Pro 22H2, build 19045
• Chrome: 148.0.7778.97
• Chrome plugin: chrome@openai-bundled 0.1.7
• Codex Chrome Extension: 1.1.4_0
• Detected Chrome profile: .../Google/Chrome/User Data/Profile 2

Checks that pass

check-extension-installed.js --json reports:

{
  "installed": true,
  "registered": true,
  "enabled": true,
  "disabled": false,
  "versions": ["1.1.4_0"]
}

check-native-host-manifest.js --json reports:

{
  "exists": true,
  "nameMatches": true,
  "hasExpectedOrigin": true,
  "registryMatchesManifestPath": true,
  "correct": true,
  "problem": null
}

The native host manifest points to:

.../.codex/plugins/cache/openai-bundled/chrome/latest/extension-host/windows/x64/extension-host.exe

extension-host.exe is present and is observed running from that plugin cache path.

Relevant logs

Codex logs repeatedly show Windows plugin cache lock failures during bundled plugin reinstall/uninstall:

bundled_plugins_marketplace_install_failed
errorCategory=plugin_cache_windows_file_lock
errorMessage="failed to install plugin: failed to back up plugin cache entry: 拒绝访问。 (os error 5)"
pluginName=chrome

Other related log lines:

failed to uninstall plugin: failed to remove existing plugin cache entry: 拒绝访问。 (os error 5)
browser-use native pipe listening pipePath=\\.\pipe\codex-browser-use-...
bundled_plugin_reinstall_uninstall_requested pluginId=chrome@openai-bundled pluginName=chrome reason=forced

Expected behavior

After extension/native-host checks pass, @chrome should connect and browser.user.openTabs() should return quickly.

Actual behavior

The runtime hangs until the tool call times out, even though all local verification scripts pass.

Possible cause

This looks related to Windows file locking around extension-host.exe being launched from the mutable plugin cache path. If the native host keeps running from the plugin cache directory, plugin reinstall/update/uninstall can fail with os error 5, and later runtime initialization can remain stuck even though verification scripts report a valid install.

Related issues

Possibly related to:

• #21878
• #21691
• #22114
• #21670