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Codex Issues / #26323

Add Linux ARM64 (aarch64) agent binaries to fix Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) crashes on Windows ARM64

Open 💬 0 comments Opened Jun 4, 2026 by kindintelligence

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

26.601.10930

What subscription do you have?

Max20

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0 x64

What issue are you seeing?

On a Windows ARM64 machine, enabling Run agent in WSL causes the Codex Desktop App to enter an infinite startup crash/boot loop. When WSL mode is enabled, Codex appears to copy or run bundled x64 Linux helper binaries inside the WSL distro. Since the distro is ARM64 Linux, those x64 Linux binaries fail to execute, causing the WSL setup/handshake process to fail fatally during startup. The app then repeatedly crashes on launch, making it impossible to open Codex until the global state file is manually edited.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

  1. Use a Windows ARM64 device, such as a Snapdragon X Elite machine.
  2. Install and open Codex Desktop App.
  3. Enable the Run agent in WSL environment setting.
  4. Restart or reopen Codex.
  5. Observe that Codex enters an infinite startup crash/boot loop.

What is the expected behavior?

  1. Codex should detect the architecture of the WSL Linux environment and run the correct helper binary for that distro.
  2. For ARM64 WSL distros, Codex should use a native Linux aarch64 helper binary instead of an x64 Linux binary.
  3. The app should also fail gracefully if WSL helper setup fails, rather than entering an unrecoverable startup crash loop.

Additional information

Current workaround:

Manually edit .codex-global-state.json and set:

"runCodexInWindowsSubsystemForLinux": false

After that, Codex can launch again in Windows Native mode.

However, Windows Native mode is a poor workaround for WSL projects because accessing files through \\wsl$ causes severe plugin cache scanning bottlenecks.

Suggested fix:

  • [ ] Bundle Linux ARM64 / aarch64 agent/helper binaries with the desktop app.
  • [ ] Detect the WSL distro architecture, not only the Windows process architecture.
  • [ ] Use the aarch64 Linux helper when the WSL distro is ARM64.
  • [ ] Avoid locking users out of the app if WSL setup fails.

View original on GitHub ↗