Codex Stable 26.608.1337.0 crashes immediately after launch on one Windows user profile only

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

26.608.1337.0

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Plus

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0 x64

What issue are you seeing?

Summary

Codex Stable crashes immediately after launch on my primary Windows user profile.

The application creates several processes for about 1–2 seconds and then all processes exit. No window is shown.

Environment

• Windows 11 x64
• Codex Stable 26.608.1337.0
• Microsoft Store installation
• ChatGPT Plus subscription

What works

• Codex Stable works correctly on a newly created Windows user account on the same PC.
• Codex Beta works correctly on the affected user account.
• ChatGPT Desktop works correctly on the affected user account.

What does not work

• Codex Stable crashes immediately after launch on my primary Windows user account.

Troubleshooting already performed

• Reinstalled Codex multiple times
• Removed %USERPROFILE%\.codex
• Removed %LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex
• Removed %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\OpenAI.Codex_*
• Reset AppX package state
• Rebooted Windows
• Verified Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime is installed
• Checked Windows Defender protection history (no Codex-related blocks)
• Tested with default TEMP/TMP paths
• Verified AppRepository permissions
• Verified CapAuthz registry keys exist

None of the above resolved the issue.

Additional findings

A Crashpad dump is generated every time Codex crashes.

Codex repeatedly creates:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex\runtimes\cua_node\.staging-*

directories but never completes runtime initialization.

After launch, approximately 4–7 Codex processes appear in Task Manager and terminate within 1–2 seconds.

ProcMon traces did not reveal a clear file access or permission failure.

Attachments

• Crash dump zip attached
• ProcMon traces available if needed

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Sign in to the affected Windows user account.
2. Launch Codex Stable from the Start Menu.
3. Observe that several Codex processes appear in Task Manager.
4. Within 1–2 seconds all processes exit.
5. No application window is displayed.

The issue occurs every time on this specific Windows user profile.
The same PC can run Codex Stable successfully from a newly created Windows user account.

What is the expected behavior?

Codex should start normally and display the application window and login screen instead of terminating immediately.

Additional information

Additional observations:

• Codex Beta works correctly on the affected account.
• ChatGPT Desktop works correctly on the affected account.
• Codex Stable works correctly on a newly created Windows user account on the same machine.
• Crashpad dump files are generated after every launch attempt.
• Codex repeatedly creates cua_node/.staging-* directories but never completes runtime initialization.
• Multiple reinstall attempts did not resolve the issue.
• AppX reset, cache removal, and local data removal did not resolve the issue.

Crash dump zip is attached.

codex-crash-dump.zip