Windows Desktop new-project flow defaults to OneDrive-backed Documents with no good WSL-first default

What version of Codex is running?

• Codex Desktop app package: OpenAI.Codex_26.506.3741.0_x64
• codex-cli 0.130.0-alpha.5

What subscription do you have?

Pro

Which model were you using?

GPT-5.5

What platform is your computer?

Windows 11 Desktop app with WSL2 Ubuntu enabled. Windows "Documents" is redirected into OneDrive on this machine.

What issue are you seeing?

The Windows desktop "new project" flow defaults to the Windows Documents location, which on many systems is OneDrive-backed. In a WSL-heavy workflow this is a bad default:

• high churn under OneDrive sync
• slow/clunky filesystem behavior from WSL
• project state and temp artifacts end up under a synced cloud folder
• the folder picker for WSL paths comes through a Windows UNC path, which is awkward and easy to mis-handle

There also does not appear to be a supported way to configure a better default project location for WSL-first users.

Steps to reproduce

1. Use Codex Desktop on Windows.
2. Have Windows Documents redirected to OneDrive.
3. Start a new project from the desktop UI.
4. Observe the default project suggestion / picker behavior.

In this setup, the default target resolves into OneDrive-backed Documents instead of a WSL-native location.

Expected behavior

For users running the desktop app in WSL mode or primarily using WSL workspaces, Codex should provide one of:

1. a configurable default project root
2. a WSL-native default when WSL mode is enabled
3. a clear opt-out from Windows Documents / OneDrive-backed defaults

Actual behavior

The default project flow steers users into Windows Documents, which on this system means OneDrive. The practical result was that project files, temp files, and related artifacts were created in a cloud-synced location that performs poorly for this workflow.

The local remediation required manually migrating the project out of OneDrive and cleaning up lingering Codex state that continued pointing at the old location.

Why this is a bug

This is not just a preference issue. In this environment it creates real operational problems:

• sync conflicts / perpetual sync churn
• worse WSL filesystem performance
• surprising placement of project data
• extra cleanup when moving the project later

Related issue

This may be adjacent to broader Windows + WSL path handling issues, but the core problem here is the desktop new-project default and lack of configurable default root.

Suggested fix

1. Add a user-configurable default project directory in desktop settings.
2. When WSL mode is enabled, offer a WSL-native default location.
3. Detect Windows Documents redirected into OneDrive and warn before creating a project there.