[Windows] Codex desktop app crashes / closes automatically on launch or during use

I recomend using the CLI , or the IDE, if the issue make CODEX unuseable , I noticed you say you use the API , know if you are an hobbist and amature there is a geneerous free tier you can just sign in with your chatgpt account

1. Are you a user of the IDE extention too inside VSCODE (or other coding IDEs) -- wondering maybe there is a connection between. the case? some type of watchdog maybe causing issues
2. Is the issue new (something new)

I understand antiviruses (even anti cheats , if you are a gamer)

those can get very aggressive?

because its UWP/ Widnows Store App --- debugging is a bit tricky (while I respect the idea of sandboxing or noveality - they arent perfect , and they are shipped to millions of windows computers this way )

do you have crash reports in
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive
also check %LOCALAPPDATA%\CrashDumps (I)
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\OpenAI.Codex_????

(this user report it exist https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/24598#issuecomment-4546343937)
Windows Store type of apps are known to be very annoying to get crash reports from

likely im wrong but
Press Windows Key + R, type eventvwr.msc, and hit Enter.
Applications and Services Logs ➔ Microsoft ➔ Windows ➔ AppModel-Runtime
(should give you some logs for UWP style apps like OpenAI.codex)
(dont waste your time on this , this is for general ideas to see if there is a crash event --- but I dont see how can this help)
<img width="1157" height="606" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/39b52ec2-c858-466e-8360-f3118fd503e9" />

PS C:\Users\User> Get-StartApps | Where-Object {$_.Name -like "*Codex*"}

Name  AppID
----  -----
Codex OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0!App

# 1. Initialize the Shell COM object and launch the app
$shell = New-Object -ComObject Shell.Application
$shell.ShellExecute("shell:AppsFolder\OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0!App")

# 2. Give the OS a brief moment to spin up the container process
Start-Sleep -Seconds 2

# 3. Grab the active Process ID (PID) of the app
$process = Get-Process -Name "Codex" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

if ($process) {
    Write-Host "Successfully attached to Codex (PID: $($process.Id)). Monitoring for crashes..." -ForegroundColor Green
    
    # Wait for the app to exit or crash natively
    $process | Wait-Process
    
    # Extract the final termination state
    $exitCode = $process.ExitCode
    Write-Host "App terminated. Exit Code: $exitCode" -ForegroundColor Yellow
    
    # Common crash code translation
    if ($exitCode -eq -1073741819 -or $exitCode -eq 3221225477) {
        Write-Warning "Crash Detected: Hex 0xC0000005 (Access Violation / Memory Corruption)."
    }
} else {
    Write-Error "App failed to launch or crashed instantly during initialization."
}

# 4. Automatically pop open the hidden sandbox folder to view written text logs
Write-Host "Opening local sandboxed log directory..." -ForegroundColor Cyan
explorer "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Packages\OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0\LocalState"

<img width="979" height="440" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/7dfc243b-b6b2-406d-9c53-fe850bfd9c56" />

alternativly you can use

WinDbg , and attach to proccess (reminder we want a crash log, so replicate the crash) (in hope Codex has debug symbols to better Root Cause the issue )
<img width="1099" height="806" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/775b61d6-5d81-4f7c-8c06-cc26f0f777e9" />

I can reproduce a closely related silent-close failure on Windows with the current Codex desktop app.

Environment

• Codex desktop package: OpenAI.Codex_26.715.10079.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
• Platform: Windows x64
• Date/time zone: 2026-07-23, Asia/Hong_Kong
• Feature involved: bundled in-app Browser / Browser Use

Reproduction

1. Continue an existing Codex task.
2. Ask the agent to open the in-app browser and navigate to https://dash.cloudflare.com/.
3. The Cloudflare sign-in page loads successfully.
4. The Codex desktop app then silently closes/disappears, without an error dialog.
5. Reopen Codex and repeat.

This happened three consecutive times in the same task. Each restart created a new in-app-browser app session, but the same navigation reproduced the close again. No password, OTP, token, or other credential had been entered.

Additional evidence after the repeated closes

• The packaged code-mode helper then failed to start from the Codex installation path with: Unable to launch application ... (os error 15612).
• A subsequent PowerShell sandbox launch also failed with CreateProcessWithLogonW failed: 5.

Expected
The Cloudflare login page should remain open in the in-app browser and the Codex desktop process should stay alive so the user can authenticate and hand control back to the agent.

Impact
This blocks browser-authenticated workflows and repeatedly interrupts active work. The target webpage itself appears to load; the failure occurs around presenting/handing off the in-app browser rather than during page navigation.

Usage-credit request
Because these repeated app-side failures consumed Codex usage while preventing the requested task from being completed, the user asks OpenAI to restore or credit the affected usage. Please direct this request to the appropriate private support workflow if the GitHub engineering tracker cannot handle account adjustments; no account identifiers will be posted publicly.

@hoyuen0121 i have the exact same issue using cloudfare API

Still reproducible on Windows build 26.721.4979.0

This issue is closed as completed, but the silent-close behavior is still present in a much newer Microsoft Store build. The issue was closed by the original reporter on 2026-06-12; I could not find evidence here that it was closed because of a product fix.

A sanitized current reproduction:

• package: OpenAI.Codex_26.721.4979.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
• Windows x64, build 26200
• full AppX container destroyed at 2026-07-29 10:31:55 Europe/Budapest
• four seconds earlier, all desktop renderers logged Received turn/started for unknown conversation
• immediately before exit, the in-app Browser/IAB sidebar webview was disposed, its guest was torn down, and the sidebar page was closed
• no error dialog, reboot, OOM, Store update, WER record, CrashDump, or Crashpad report
• the same machine had two similar full-container exits the previous evening, both adjacent to IAB/sidebar teardown

This appears to be the same user-visible failure described here and is more specifically tracked in #31583. Please treat this as confirmation that the original symptom has not been resolved in 26.721.4979.0, or clarify which release is expected to contain the fix.