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Codex Issues / #29347

Windows: clicking WSL/UNC file links in chat can restart Codex Desktop

Open 💬 0 comments Opened Jun 21, 2026 by kutayilmaaz

Summary

On Windows, clicking a clickable file link in a Codex chat that points to a WSL/UNC path appears to close/restart Codex Desktop and interrupts the active turn.

This is separate from the Browser/Chrome localhost policy issue discussed in #24559. Browser Use was not involved in the click that triggered this behavior.

Environment

  • OS: Windows 11 Version 25H2
  • Codex package observed in logs: OpenAI.Codex_26.616.6631.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
  • Codex app log location inspected: C:\Users\kutay\AppData\Local\Packages\OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0\LocalCache\Local\Codex\Logs\2026\06\21
  • Workspace path type: WSL UNC path

Example Link

The clicked link was rendered from a WSL/UNC file path similar to:

\\wsl.localhost\Ubuntu-24.04\home\crawl\codes\umayarge\radarminer\local_server\docs\chrome-local-qa.md

It appeared as a blue clickable file link in the chat message. After clicking it, Codex Desktop closed/restarted and the related thread turn was left interrupted.

Observed Evidence

  • Previous Codex process log ended around 2026-06-21T15:29:21Z.
  • Windows AppModel Runtime log then recorded the OpenAI.Codex AppX container being destroyed at local time 2026-06-21 18:29:24.
  • A new Codex process was created at local time 2026-06-21 18:29:25.
  • No Codex WER crash report or dump was found under the checked WER/CrashDumps locations.
  • The restarted app later resumed the affected thread with the turn marked interrupted.

Relevant AppModel event sequence:

18:29:24 Destroyed Desktop AppX container ... for package OpenAI.Codex_26.616.6631.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
18:29:25 Created Desktop AppX container ... for package OpenAI.Codex_26.616.6631.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
18:29:25 Created process 18464 for application OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0!App

The Codex logs also showed repeated WSL/UNC watcher warnings in this environment, for example:

EISDIR: illegal operation on a directory, watch '\\wsl.localhost\Ubuntu-24.04\home\crawl\codes\umayarge\radarminer'

That may or may not be related, but it suggests WSL/UNC path handling is already hitting Windows/Electron edge cases.

Expected Behavior

Clicking a WSL/UNC file link should either:

  • open the file safely,
  • show a handled error/toast, or
  • ignore unsupported paths,

but it should not restart/close Codex Desktop or interrupt an active turn.

Workaround

Avoid emitting clickable Markdown links for WSL/UNC paths. Use plain code-formatted text paths instead.

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