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Codex Issues / #28197

Windows Computer Use settings cannot find plugin; helper paths unavailable

Resolved 💬 3 comments Opened Jun 14, 2026 by bongbong06 Closed Aug 6, 2026
💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (github-actions[bot], contributor) responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.

What happened?

On the Windows Codex desktop app, Settings > Computer Use opens, but the page says it cannot find the Computer Use plugin.

The Codex app is otherwise up to date, and repair/reset/reinstall did not resolve it.

Environment

  • Platform: Windows
  • OS version: Windows 10.0.26200
  • Codex Windows package: OpenAI.Codex_26.609.4994.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
  • Codex app release observed in logs: codex@26.609.41114
  • Locale: Korean (ko-KR)

Symptoms

  • codex://settings/computer-use/google-chrome opens the Computer Use settings page.
  • The page displays a message equivalent to: Cannot find the Computer Use plugin.
  • The bundled computer-use plugin exists inside the WindowsApps package.
  • The Windows Computer Use helper executable also exists inside the package, but direct execution fails with access denied.

Relevant log messages

[computer-use-native-pipe] computer-use notify config ensure finished platform=win32 reason=missing-helper-path status=skipped
[computer-use-native-pipe] computer-use native pipe startup failed errorMessage="Windows Computer Use helper paths are unavailable"
[BundledPluginsMarketplace] bundled_plugins_marketplace_resolve_failed ... copyfile ... plugin.json

Local diagnostics

The bundled plugin was found at a path equivalent to:

%ProgramFiles%\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.609.4994.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0\app\resources\plugins\openai-bundled\plugins\computer-use

The helper executable was found at a path equivalent to:

%ProgramFiles%\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.609.4994.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0\app\resources\cua_node\bin\node_modules\@oai\sky\bin\windows\codex-computer-use.exe

Attempting to run the helper directly fails with:

Access is denied.

Attempting to copy a bundled plugin file out of the WindowsApps package fails with:

The specified file could not be encrypted.

cipher /c reports bundled files such as plugin.json and codex-computer-use.exe as:

Compatibility Level:
  Application Protected

Steps already tried

  • Confirmed Codex is up to date.
  • Opened the Computer Use settings deep link.
  • Repaired the Codex app from Windows app settings.
  • Reset the Codex app from Windows app settings.
  • Reinstalled Codex via Microsoft Store / winget.
  • Restarted Codex.

Expected behavior

Computer Use settings should discover/install the bundled Computer Use plugin and locate the Windows helper paths successfully.

Actual behavior

Computer Use settings remains visible but unusable because the plugin/helper cannot be found or registered.

View original on GitHub ↗

3 Comments

github-actions[bot] contributor · 2 months ago

Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.

  • #27234
  • #26785
  • #26692
  • #26792
  • #27633

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bongbong06 · 1 month ago

Additional diagnostics after reinstall/cache reset:

  • Reinstalled Codex from the Microsoft Store; the issue persists.
  • Current Windows package path/version observed from running process: OpenAI.Codex_26.623.11225.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0.
  • Codex app logs show client version 26.623.81905.
  • In Settings > Computer Use, the Computer Use plugin appears very briefly when opening the page, then the UI falls back to the Korean error message equivalent to Cannot find the Computer Use plugin.
  • This looks like the UI can initially see the local bundled plugin manifest, then a later validation/registration check marks it unavailable.

Local state after reinstall:

  • Bundled plugin files exist under:
  • %USERPROFILE%\.codex\.tmp\bundled-marketplaces\openai-bundled\plugins\computer-use
  • %USERPROFILE%\.codex\.tmp\bundled-marketplaces\openai-bundled\plugins\chrome
  • computer-use/.codex-plugin/plugin.json exists and reports version 26.623.81905.
  • The Computer Use runtime/helper files also exist under:
  • %LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex\runtimes\cua_node\1b23c930bdf84ed6\...
  • codex-computer-use.exe exists.
  • The lower-level helper can be bootstrapped manually from the bundled client and was able to list apps / type into Notepad, so the helper itself can run. The Codex settings/plugin registration layer still reports the plugin as missing.

Chrome plugin state:

  • Chrome extension is installed and enabled in the selected Default Chrome profile.
  • The extension popup still shows Disconnected.
  • Native messaging host registration is missing:
  • Registry key missing: HKCU\Software\Google\Chrome\NativeMessagingHosts\com.openai.codexextension
  • Manifest missing: %LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\extension\com.openai.codexextension.json

Tried without success:

  • Microsoft Store uninstall/reinstall of Codex.
  • Allowing Codex after a Windows Defender Controlled Folder Access notification.
  • Renaming/resetting these local caches and restarting Codex:
  • %USERPROFILE%\.codex\cache\codex_apps_tools
  • %USERPROFILE%\.codex\cache\codex_apps_server_info
  • %USERPROFILE%\.codex\cache\codex_app_directory
  • %USERPROFILE%\.codex\cache\remote_plugin_catalog

The new key symptom is the transient UI state: the Computer Use plugin flashes briefly, then disappears and is replaced by the plugin cannot be found message.

yundongbanxia · 1 month ago

This looks related to the same bundled plugin relocation class of failures, with one extra Chrome-specific layer.

In my case, fixing the WindowsApps bundled resource state restored the bundled marketplace and made Computer Use / Browser work again. The key signal was cipher /c on the bundled plugin source under C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_...\app\resources\...: the broken install had encrypted / Application Protected sources, while the fixed install showed U.

After that, Chrome could be installed as a bundled plugin, but Chrome availability may still fail separately if the native host manifest is missing, for example:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\extension\com.openai.codexextension.json
HKCU\Software\Google\Chrome\NativeMessagingHosts\com.openai.codexextension

So there seem to be two layers worth distinguishing in diagnostics:

  1. bundled marketplace/runtime relocation failure
  2. Chrome extension/native-host registration failure