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Codex Issues / #31676

Windows Desktop UI freezes after typing a prompt (Application Hang: Top level window is idle / Quiesce)

Open 💬 4 comments Opened Jul 9, 2026 by Menvradev
💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (github-actions[bot], contributor) responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.

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

26.623.19656.0

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

The Codex Desktop application consistently freezes after I start typing or editing a prompt.

The backend process continues running and consuming CPU, but the UI becomes completely unresponsive and never recovers.

Developer Tools (Ctrl+Shift+I) also cannot be opened after the freeze.

Windows itself remains responsive (Explorer, taskbar and Alt+Tab continue working normally).

Steps to reproduce

  1. Launch Codex Desktop.
  2. Open or create a conversation.
  3. Start typing a prompt.
  4. After a short time, the UI freezes completely.

Expected behavior

The application should remain responsive while editing prompts.

Actual behavior

  • Entire Codex window freezes.
  • UI stops responding.
  • Backend process is still alive.
  • CPU usage continues.
  • Developer Tools cannot be opened.
  • Force-killing Codex is required.

Troubleshooting already performed

  • Reinstalled Codex.
  • Deleted auth.json.
  • Deleted the entire package directory under:

C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Packages\OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0

  • Codex recreated a fresh package directory.
  • Issue still occurs.
  • Backend logs show successful initialization.
  • No backend crash appears in the logs.

Windows Event Viewer

Windows reports Event ID 1002 (Application Hang).

Example 1

Application:
Codex.exe

Version:
149.0.7827.197

HangType:
Top level window is idle

Example 2

Application:
Codex.exe

Version:
149.0.7827.197

HangType:
Quiesce

No Application Error events are generated.

Only Application Hang.

Additional information

  • Installed from the official OpenAI website.
  • Docker Desktop installed.
  • WSL2 installed.
  • Backend detects Ubuntu and docker-desktop correctly.
  • Backend continues running while UI is frozen.
  • Windows remains responsive.
  • This does not appear to match issues #31236 or #31444 because Explorer, taskbar and Alt+Tab do not freeze.

If needed, I can provide application logs and additional diagnostics.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

  1. Launch Codex Desktop.
  1. Open an existing conversation or create a new one.
  1. Start typing or editing a prompt.
  1. After a short time, the entire Codex UI freezes.
  1. The window becomes unresponsive.
  1. Backend processes remain alive and continue consuming CPU.
  1. Developer Tools (Ctrl+Shift+I) cannot be opened after the freeze.

Additional observations:

  • Reinstalled Codex.
  • Deleted auth.json.
  • Deleted the entire package directory under:

C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Packages\OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0

  • Codex recreated a fresh package directory.
  • The issue still occurs.
  • Backend logs show successful initialization.
  • Windows Event Viewer reports Event ID 1002 (Application Hang).
  • HangType observed:
  • Top level window is idle
  • Quiesce

What is the expected behavior?

The Codex Desktop application should remain responsive while typing or editing prompts.

The UI should continue accepting input, Developer Tools should remain accessible, and the application should not require force-closing.

Windows itself remains responsive during the issue, so only the Codex renderer appears to hang.

Additional information

_No response_

View original on GitHub ↗

4 Comments

github-actions[bot] contributor · 1 month ago

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

  • #30449

Powered by Codex Action

Menvradev · 1 month ago

(Additional findings after opening this issue:

  • Windows Event Viewer consistently reports Event ID 1002 (Application Hang).
  • Two observed HangTypes:
  • Top level window is idle
  • Quiesce
  • The backend process continues running and consuming CPU.
  • Only the renderer/UI becomes unresponsive.
  • Windows Explorer, taskbar and Alt+Tab remain fully responsive.
  • Deleting the entire package data under

C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Packages\OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0
does not resolve the issue.)

Ash0302 · 1 month ago

I am seeing the same UI hang on a newer Windows production build, with a high frequency of reproducible Windows Application Hang events.

Environment

  • Codex/ChatGPT Windows production package: OpenAI.Codex_26.715.2305.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
  • Executable reported by Windows Error Reporting: ChatGPT.exe
  • Executable version: 150.0.7871.124
  • Time zone: UTC+8

Observed behavior

On 2026-07-17, Windows Event Viewer recorded 24 Event ID 1002 (Application Hang) events between 10:04 and 11:22 UTC+8. The frequency increased over time; during the later attempts the app often stopped responding within seconds or a few minutes after launch. The window became unusable and messages could not be sent.

Representative WER data:

Event Name: MoAppHang
Package: OpenAI.Codex_26.715.2305.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
Executable version: 150.0.7871.124

There were no corresponding GPU/display-driver resets, disk errors, system memory-exhaustion events, WebView crashes, or Application Error crash events in the same period. Windows itself remained usable; the failure was isolated to the app window.

The production app was eventually uninstalled because it could no longer be opened reliably. Installing the separately packaged Beta app restored access, which suggests either a production-build regression or production-package local-state/renderer initialization problem.

This failure pattern makes production updates difficult to trust because the affected app cannot be used to report the problem once it enters the repeated startup-hang state.

janis-hau · 1 month ago

Same here on the current Windows production build.

Environment

  • Package: OpenAI.Codex_26.715.2305.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
  • Executable reported by Windows: ChatGPT.exe
  • Executable version: 150.0.7871.124
  • Windows Event Viewer: Event ID 1002 (Application Hang)

Reproduction

  1. Launch the Codex app.
  2. Click New task.
  3. Start typing.
  4. Sometimes a single character appears, then the entire UI freezes and stops interacting with Windows.

This happens before a task is submitted or any workspace command/sandbox execution begins, so it is not model latency or an elevated-sandbox tool timeout. No matching Event ID 1000/1001 crash was recorded; Windows reports the renderer/UI hang via Event ID 1002.

The production desktop app is currently unusable for paid development work.

Frankly, how did a production build that can reproducibly hang during basic text input pass release QA? This should be treated as release-blocking. Please provide either a hotfix or an official rollback to a known-good build, and add a Windows production smoke test covering launch → new task → prompt input before rollout.