Windows: Codex Store app intermittently stalls taskbar / shell after 26.519.11010 update

What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?

Windows: Codex Store app intermittently stalls taskbar / shell after 26.519.11010 update

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Plus

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 10.0.26200 x64

What issue are you seeing?

Title

Windows: Codex Store app intermittently stalls taskbar / Windows shell after recent update

Environment

• OS: Windows 11 Pro, version 10.0.26200
• Codex app package: OpenAI.Codex_26.519.11010.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
• Previous package observed in logs: OpenAI.Codex_26.519.5221.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
• Install source: Microsoft Store / AppX
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti
• NVIDIA driver: 591.86

Problem

Since today, Windows intermittently becomes partially unresponsive while Codex is running. The main symptom is that the Windows taskbar / shell reacts very slowly: clicking the taskbar takes several seconds or longer to respond.

This does not look like normal CPU/RAM exhaustion. Task Manager shows overall CPU, memory, and disk usage are not maxed out. Explorer does not crash, and after the stall clears, explorer.exe, dwm.exe, ShellExperienceHost, and StartMenuExperienceHost all show as responding.

The issue seems to have started after the recent Store app update.

Observed symptoms

• Taskbar clicks are delayed or ignored for a while.
• Windows shell feels stuck, but the whole system is not fully frozen.
• Task Manager can show resources are not saturated.
• The issue occurs intermittently.
• It appears correlated with Codex / Microsoft Store / BITS activity.

Timeline and evidence

All times are local time.

Around 02:44

Windows logs show Codex was updated/staged through Store/AppX:

• 02:44:33 Codex launched.
• 02:44:38-02:44:44 AppX deployment staged OpenAI.Codex_26.519.11010.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0.
• AppX log says preferred package version changed from:
• OpenAI.Codex_26.519.5221.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
• to OpenAI.Codex_26.519.11010.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
• Windows Update log shows downloaded update:
• 9PLM9XGG6VKS-OpenAI.Codex
• Store logs include:
• ClientAppId = Update;Codex-SearchForUpdatesWithPausedAddAsync
• ProductId = 9PLM9XGG6VKS
• PFN = OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0

Around 13:04

The taskbar became slow/unresponsive again.

Logs around this time:

• 12:59:56 BITS changed from manual start to automatic start.
• 13:04:01 BITS changed from automatic start back to manual start.
• 13:04:15 Codex spawned a new worker chain:
• node_repl.exe
• codex.exe app-server --listen stdio://

Around 13:36

The taskbar became slow/unresponsive again.

Logs around this time:

• 13:32:33 BITS changed from manual start to automatic start.
• 13:35:54 Store log mentions:
• Skipping license manager: PFN OpenAI.Codex_26.519.11010.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
• 13:36:38 BITS changed from automatic start back to manual start.

During/after this period, no Explorer crash, DWM crash, disk error, WHEA hardware error, or high resource usage was observed.

Current hypothesis

The recent Microsoft Store version of Codex may be triggering Store/BITS/AppX/license/update checks or worker startup in a way that intermittently stalls the Windows shell/taskbar.

This may be related to the Store update path, because the logs show Codex checking for updates through Store APIs even after Store automatic app updates were disabled/paused.

Expected behavior

Codex should not cause Windows taskbar / shell responsiveness issues, even when checking for updates, validating Store licenses, or starting local worker/REPL processes.

Actual behavior

While Codex is running, Windows taskbar/shell intermittently becomes slow or temporarily unresponsive, despite system resources not being saturated.

Additional notes

I found similar community reports describing Windows shell/taskbar/start menu becoming unresponsive while Codex is running. This seems to have started recently for multiple users after a Store app update.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

I do not have a 100% deterministic minimal reproduction yet, but it has reproduced multiple times today while Codex was running.

Observed repro pattern:

1. Run the Microsoft Store version of Codex on Windows 11.
2. Keep Codex open for a while.
3. Use Windows normally, especially interacting with the taskbar / shell.
4. Intermittently, the taskbar becomes very slow or temporarily unresponsive. Clicking taskbar icons takes several seconds or longer to react.
5. During the stall, Task Manager does not show CPU/RAM/disk fully saturated.
6. After the stall clears, explorer.exe, dwm.exe, ShellExperienceHost, and StartMenuExperienceHost are still running and responding.

Times when I observed it today:

• Around 13:04 local time.
• Around 13:36 local time.

Relevant event log correlation:

• Around 13:04, BITS changed from manual start to automatic start and then back to manual start. Around the same time, Codex spawned a worker chain: node_repl.exe -> codex.exe app-server --listen stdio://.
• Around 13:36, BITS again changed from manual start to automatic start and then back to manual start. Store logs also showed OpenAI.Codex_26.519.11010.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0 license manager activity.

I can provide more logs if needed. The issue is intermittent, but it started after the recent Store app update.

What is the expected behavior?

_No response_

Additional information

_No response_