Windows Codex IDE sandbox exec fails before PowerShell starts: spawn setup refresh
Open 💬 1 comment Opened Jun 4, 2026 by sandmanfresh
Title:
Windows Codex IDE sandbox exec fails before PowerShell starts: spawn setup refresh
Environment:
- OS: Windows
- IDE: VS Code
- Extension: Codex / openai.chatgpt
- Workspace: reproduced in existing repo and brand-new folder
- Shell attempted by Codex:
"C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe" -Command whoami
Issue:
Sandboxed exec_command fails before PowerShell starts.
Error:
CreateProcess { message: "Rejected(\"Failed to create unified exec process: spawn setup refresh\")" }
Observed:
- Sandboxed whoami fails with the error above
- Sandboxed Get-Location fails the same way
- Escalated whoami works and returns dougpersonal\dougm
- Escalated git/version/location checks work
- No PowerShell output is produced, so failure appears to occur in Codex sandbox/unified exec setup before process launch
Tried:
- Reloaded IDE window
- Restarted machine
- Logged out/in to Codex
- Uninstalled/reinstalled Codex extension
- Tested in brand-new folder outside repo/OneDrive
- Edited/reset sandbox config; Codex prompted to set up clean sandbox and reported success
- Failure persisted
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