Windows Store app fails on startup: "Unable to locate the Codex CLI binary"

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

26.609.4994.0

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Plus

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.22000.0 x64

What issue are you seeing?

After installing Codex from the Microsoft Store, the application fails immediately on startup with:

"Unable to locate the Codex CLI binary. Set CODEX_CLI_PATH or ensure the Electron resources include bin/codex."

Steps to reproduce:

1. Install Codex from Microsoft Store.
2. Launch Codex.
3. Error dialog appears immediately.

Expected behavior:
Codex starts normally.

Actual behavior:
Startup fails with the CLI binary error and the application cannot be used.

Investigation performed:

• Uninstalled and reinstalled the Store package.

• Package status reports OK:

OpenAI.Codex_26.609.4994.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0

• No external codex executable exists on PATH:

where.exe codex
-> not found

Get-Command codex
-> not found

• Verified that the package contains:

app\resources\codex.exe
app\resources\codex-command-runner.exe

• Verified runtime files are created under:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex\runtimes\cua_node...

• No relevant Windows Application log entries were generated.

Observation:

The error suggests the CLI binary is missing, but the Store package actually contains app\resources\codex.exe. This appears to be a startup path-resolution or runtime initialization problem rather than a missing file.

Store package version:
26.609.4994.0

Package family:
OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Install Codex from the Microsoft Store.
2. Launch Codex.
3. The application immediately displays:

"Unable to locate the Codex CLI binary. Set CODEX_CLI_PATH or ensure the Electron resources include bin/codex."

The issue persists after uninstalling and reinstalling the Store package.

What is the expected behavior?

Codex should start normally and display the application UI without requiring any manual configuration of CODEX_CLI_PATH.

Additional information

Investigation performed:

• Package version: 26.609.4994.0

• Package status reported as OK by Get-AppxPackage.

• Reinstallation did not resolve the issue.

• No external "codex" executable exists on PATH.

• Verified that the package contains:

app\resources\codex.exe
app\resources\codex-command-runner.exe

• Runtime files are created under:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex\runtimes\cua_node...

The error suggests the CLI binary is missing, but the binary appears to exist within the installed package. This may indicate a startup path-resolution or runtime initialization issue.

<img width="557" height="172" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/3f567aa5-f8da-45a6-af7e-a9dae7eb128b" />