### What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)? codex-cli 0.133.0 ### What subscription do you have? pro5x ### What platform is your computer? _No response_ ### What issue are you seeing? Environment: - Windows - Codex Desktop - codex-cli 0.133.0 - Browser plugin: openai-bundled browser / chrome plugin installed - In-app browser can open pages, but agent cannot control it Problem: Browser control fails before navigation. Even a minimal node_repl test crashes.

Windows Codex Desktop: Browser control / node_repl fails with "windows sandbox failed: spawn setup refresh"; config changes are overwritten on restart

Resolved 💬 5 comments Opened May 29, 2026 by dengsenhit Closed Jun 12, 2026

💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (iceweasel-oai, contributor) responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.

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

codex-cli 0.133.0

What subscription do you have?

pro5x

What platform is your computer?

_No response_

What issue are you seeing?

Environment:

Windows
Codex Desktop
codex-cli 0.133.0
Browser plugin: openai-bundled browser / chrome plugin installed
In-app browser can open pages, but agent cannot control it

Problem:
Browser control fails before navigation. Even a minimal node_repl test crashes.

Error:
node_repl kernel exited unexpectedly
windows sandbox failed: spawn setup refresh
reason: stdout_eof

What I tried:

Restarted Codex Desktop.
Reinstalled / re-enabled Browser plugin.
Installed Codex browser extension in Edge.
Verified node_repl.exe, node.exe, and codex.exe exist and run:

node_repl.exe --help works
node.exe --version returns v24.14.0
codex.exe --version returns codex-cli 0.133.0

Edited C:\Users\50530\.codex\config.toml:

js_repl = true
args = ["--disable-sandbox"]

Observed:
After restarting Codex, config.toml is automatically rewritten back to:
js_repl = false
args = []

Also:

Native messaging manifest exists:

C:\Users\50530\AppData\Local\OpenAI\extension\com.openai.codexextension.json

But Chrome/Edge NativeMessagingHosts registry entries are missing.

Expected:
Codex Browser plugin should be able to control the in-app browser, or node_repl should start successfully with --disable-sandbox if Windows sandbox startup fails.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Environment:

Windows
Codex Desktop
codex-cli 0.133.0
Browser plugin: openai-bundled browser / chrome plugin installed
In-app browser can open pages, but agent cannot control it

Problem:
Browser control fails before navigation. Even a minimal node_repl test crashes.

Error:
node_repl kernel exited unexpectedly
windows sandbox failed: spawn setup refresh
reason: stdout_eof

What I tried:

Restarted Codex Desktop.
Reinstalled / re-enabled Browser plugin.
Installed Codex browser extension in Edge.
Verified node_repl.exe, node.exe, and codex.exe exist and run:

node_repl.exe --help works
node.exe --version returns v24.14.0
codex.exe --version returns codex-cli 0.133.0

Edited C:\Users\50530\.codex\config.toml:

js_repl = true
args = ["--disable-sandbox"]

Observed:
After restarting Codex, config.toml is automatically rewritten back to:
js_repl = false
args = []

Also:

Native messaging manifest exists:

C:\Users\50530\AppData\Local\OpenAI\extension\com.openai.codexextension.json

But Chrome/Edge NativeMessagingHosts registry entries are missing.

Expected:
Codex Browser plugin should be able to control the in-app browser, or node_repl should start successfully with --disable-sandbox if Windows sandbox startup fails.

What is the expected behavior?

_No response_

Additional information

_No response_

View original on GitHub ↗

5 Comments

xukun-C · 2 months ago

I have encountered the exact same issue.

ghfjs23fjs · 2 months ago

I’m seeing the same issue on Windows 11 Codex Desktop.

Environment:

Codex Windows app: OpenAI.Codex_26.527.3686.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
Browser plugin: openai-bundled/browser 26.527.31326
node_repl path: C:\Users\lee\AppData\Local\OpenAI\Codex\bin\34ab3e1324cc55b5\node_repl.exe
Browser plugin files exist at:

C:\Users\lee\.codex\plugins\cache\openai-bundled\browser\26.527.31326

Symptom:
Any node_repl js call fails before code runs, including:
nodeRepl.write("controller alive");

Error:
node_repl kernel exited unexpectedly
windows sandbox failed: spawn setup refresh
reason: stdout_eof

What I tried:

Fully uninstalled/reinstalled Codex
Rebooted Windows
Verified browser-client.mjs exists
Verified node_repl.exe --help runs
Tried setting:

[mcp_servers.node_repl]
args = ["--disable-sandbox"]
but after restarting Codex, config.toml was rewritten back to:
args = []

Tried renaming .codex\.sandbox and .codex\.sandbox-bin to force regeneration.

This changed the failure briefly, then shell launches failed with:
windows sandbox: CreateProcessWithLogonW failed: 2
so I restored the original sandbox folders.

Expected:
Browser plugin / in-app browser control should start, or Codex should expose a supported way to recover from the Windows sandbox setup refresh failure.

AngelaWang00 · 2 months ago

I’m seeing what appears to be the same issue after updating Codex Desktop on Windows.

Environment:

OS: Windows 11 25H2, Build 26200.8457
Codex Desktop: OpenAI.Codex_26.601.2237.0_x64
Chrome: 148.0.7778.218
Chrome profile path: C:\Users\angel\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default
Codex Chrome Extension is installed and enabled in Chrome

Symptoms:

Settings → Integrations → Computer use shows: “Computer Use plugins unavailable”
Chrome / Browser / Computer Use plugins are enabled in config.toml:
chrome@openai-bundled enabled = true
computer-use@openai-bundled enabled = true
browser@openai-bundled enabled = true
If I manually change:

js_repl = false
to:
js_repl = true
in C:\Users\angel\.codex\config.toml, the setting is automatically rewritten back to js_repl = false after restarting Codex.

Chrome native messaging host is missing:

HKCU\Software\Google\Chrome\NativeMessagingHosts\com.openai.codexextension
C:\Users\angel\AppData\Local\OpenAI\extension\com.openai.codexextension.json

Attempting to use Chrome control fails with:

windows sandbox failed: spawn setup refresh

Some local checks also fail with:

windows sandbox: CreateProcessWithLogonW failed

Things I already tried:

Reinstalled Codex Desktop
Reinstalled / verified the Codex Chrome Extension
Verified Chrome profile path
Tried changing js_repl manually
Restarted Codex and Chrome
Tested after reinstalling Codex, but the issue persists

This started immediately after installing a Codex Desktop update. It looks like Codex is disabling js_repl on startup and therefore never registering the Chrome native host, which leaves Chrome / Computer Use unavailable.

dmk75perm · 2 months ago

Same issue:
Computer Use native pipe works:

ping => pong
list_windows returns real Windows windows

But official mcp__node_repl.js still fails:

node_repl kernel exited unexpectedly
windows sandbox failed: spawn setup refresh

Live node_repl.exe command line:
"C:\Users\dmk75\AppData\Local\OpenAI\Codex\bin\34ab3e1324cc55b5\node_repl.exe"

No --disable-sandbox arg is present.

Codex desktop generated config in app.asar constructs:
{ args: [], command: nodeReplPath, env, startup_timeout_sec: 120 }

Expected:
Generated node_repl config should pass args: ["--disable-sandbox"] when the Windows sandbox helper path fails, or honor user config for node_repl args.

iceweasel-oai contributor · 2 months ago

this is now fixed