Windows setup fails before the UAC prompt, and both setup options are non-functional

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

• #31134

Powered by Codex Action

Tried reinstall, OS restart and "Run as administrator", nothing helps.
The last update made the app completely broken.

The issue was resolved by using CC Switch to first switch to a third-party API, and then switch back to the official subscription.

请问你是怎么解决的这个问题呀 我也遇到了一模一样的问题

Turned out these messages in UI were misleading and the root cause was incorrect value in <user>/.codex/.config.toml.
I backed up the whole .codex directory and deleted it. Then the app started working and I asked an agent to try to find the faulty values and it did.

Deleting everything in C:/Users/username/.codex and reinstalling the app fixed it. I had nothing to lose, because it was the first time I tried installing. Do NOT do this unless you're sure you have nothing in there you're deleting that you need. I don't know what's specifically stored in there.

I ran into the same issue. Codex had been working fine until I added the following entry to ~/.codex/config.toml:

``` toml
[projects.'C:\Users\jhc20\Documents\codex_projects\web']
trust_level = "trustesd"

The problem was caused by the typo in trustesd; the correct value should be trusted. After I removed this entry, Codex started working again.

Therefore, this UAC-related setup screen may be triggered by an invalid entry in ~/.codex/config.toml, rather than by an actual UAC or Windows permission problem. The app should ideally display the configuration parsing error instead of redirecting users to the Windows setup screen.

I am seeing the same Windows setup loop on a Windows 11 ARM64 Oracle Cloud VM over RDP.

Environment:

• Windows 11 ARM64 on Oracle Cloud
• ChatGPT installed from Microsoft Store package 9PLM9XGG6VKS
• Installed version shown by winget: 26.707.3748.0
• Publisher shown by winget: OpenAI
• Account is in the local Administrators group
• EnableLUA is

Update: moving %USERPROFILE%\.codex aside fixed the problem on this machine.

Command used:

if exist "%USERPROFILE%\.codex" ren "%USERPROFILE%\.codex" ".codex.bak-20260711"

After renaming the .codex directory, the ChatGPT Windows app entered normally. This confirms that, at least in this case, the "Complete Windows setup" / "Windows setup incomplete" screen was caused by something in the existing .codex state/config rather than Microsoft Store installation, UAC, or the official app package itself.

It would be helpful if the app surfaced the actual .codex config/state error instead of showing the Windows setup flow.

okay following the advice here let me login properly but has anyone figured out how to retrieve the old chats back? i have backed up the old .codex folder

I backed up ~/.codex/config.toml, then restarted the app so it could generate a new config file. The app is working normally again now.

Confirmed workaround on the Microsoft Store Windows app (version 26.707.3748.0). The app was stuck on Finish Windows setup: the screen showed a UAC illustration, but no real UAC prompt appeared, and retrying failed.

Renaming only the existing config file and restarting the app fixed it immediately:

$cfg = Join-Path $env:USERPROFILE '.codex\config.toml'
if (Test-Path $cfg) {
    $backupName = 'config.toml.bak-' + (Get-Date -Format 'yyyyMMdd-HHmmss')
    Rename-Item -Path $cfg -NewName $backupName
}

This is safer than deleting the entire .codex directory because it preserves sessions and other local state. After restart, the app generated a clean config and completed startup normally.

This further suggests that the Windows/UAC setup page can be triggered by an invalid, stale, or unparsable config.toml, rather than an actual Windows permission failure. It would help if the app surfaced the configuration parsing error directly.

Same problem with windows beta app, so both of them are broken.

The issue lies in config.toml. Switching the CC Switch to a third-party API and then back can fix it. I think the switching process forces a refresh that overwrites the content of config.toml, inadvertently fixing the problem. This method can preserve your settings and sessions.

The issue lies in config.toml. Switching the CC Switch to a third-party API and then back can fix it. I think the switching process forces a refresh that overwrites the content of config.toml, inadvertently fixing the problem. This method can preserve your settings and sessions.

kindly pin my comment if it solved the issue.

Fixed with Claude :D
In my case there was a duplicated line in Codex config (config.toml).
Take care, Codex can modify it and break itself.
Probably OpenAI should provide correct error's type.

Same issue here.

Windows ChatGPT/Codex app version: 26.707.9564.0
Platform: Windows x64

After today’s update I am stuck on the “Finish Windows setup” screen.

No real Windows UAC prompt appears.
“Retry Windows setup” fails/does nothing useful.
“Continue with limited access” also does nothing.
Running the app as administrator does not fix it.

The app is completely unusable because it cannot get past this setup screen.

Same issue here. Windows ChatGPT/Codex app version: 26.707.9564.0 Platform: Windows x64 After today’s update I am stuck on the “Finish Windows setup” screen. No real Windows UAC prompt appears. “Retry Windows setup” fails/does nothing useful. “Continue with limited access” also does nothing. Running the app as administrator does not fix it. The app is completely unusable because it cannot get past this setup screen.

Confirmed workaround on the Microsoft Store Windows app (version 26.707.3748.0). The app was stuck on Finish Windows setup: the screen showed a UAC illustration, but no real UAC prompt appeared, and retrying failed.

Renaming only the existing config file and restarting the app fixed it immediately:

$cfg = Join-Path $env:USERPROFILE '.codex\config.toml'
if (Test-Path $cfg) {
$backupName = 'config.toml.bak-' + (Get-Date -Format 'yyyyMMdd-HHmmss')
Rename-Item -Path $cfg -NewName $backupName
}

This is safer than deleting the entire .codex directory because it preserves sessions and other local state. After restart, the app generated a clean config and completed startup normally.

This further suggests that the Windows/UAC setup page can be triggered by an invalid, stale, or unparsable config.toml, rather than an actual Windows permission failure. It would help if the app surfaced the configuration parsing error directly.

I found a working workaround for this issue.

Environment:

• Windows 10 Home 22H2, build 19045
• ChatGPT/Codex desktop app 26.707.6957.0
• The app was stuck on “Finish Windows setup”
• No real UAC prompt appeared
• Retry and limited-access mode did not work
• Reinstalling/resetting the app did not help

Workaround:

1. Fully close the ChatGPT/Codex desktop app.
2. Open CC Switch.
3. Select the Codex tab.
4. Select the built-in “OpenAI Official” provider.
5. Click Enable / Use.
6. Reopen the ChatGPT/Codex desktop app.
7. Click “Finish Windows setup” again.

After switching Codex back to “OpenAI Official”, the real Windows setup process worked and I was able to enter the app normally.

Before this, my Codex configuration had previously been connected to a custom provider. CC Switch appears to have rewritten or normalized the Codex provider configuration.

This is only a workaround. I have not yet confirmed exactly which config field causes the setup page to fail.

<img width="1090" height="760" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/1427bd96-19c1-405e-96da-efaa759c7c67" />

<img width="902" height="632" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/afd54250-50d9-4c4d-9b71-e6cefe2635dc" />

<img width="1090" height="760" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/d2342612-06f1-43c5-a0cd-537913b43949" />

Confirmed workaround on Windows 11 with the Microsoft Store ChatGPT/Codex app.

Environment:

• Windows 11 x64
• Microsoft Store product: 9PLM9XGG6VKS
• Installed package: OpenAI.Codex_26.707.9981.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0

Symptoms:

• App was stuck on Complete Windows setup / Windows setup incomplete.
• Retry Windows setup only looped back to the same screen.
• Continue with limited access had no effect.
• Uninstalling/reinstalling the app did not fix it.
• AppX deployment logs showed successful Stage/Register operations and the package status was Ok.

What fixed it:

1. Fully close ChatGPT/Codex.
2. Back up the existing Codex config.
3. Rename only %USERPROFILE%\.codex\config.toml so the app starts without that config.
4. Reopen the desktop app.

PowerShell example:

Get-Process ChatGPT,Codex -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Stop-Process -Force

$cfg = "$HOME\.codex\config.toml"
$stamp = Get-Date -Format "yyyyMMdd-HHmmss"

if (Test-Path $cfg) {
    Copy-Item $cfg "$cfg.backup-$stamp"
    Rename-Item $cfg "config.toml.disabled-$stamp"
}

After this, the app opened normally immediately.

In this case, config.toml had previously been modified to add a custom model_instructions_file entry. I did not isolate whether that exact line was the only trigger, so the safer conclusion is that an existing or incompatible ~/.codex/config.toml can incorrectly send the Windows app into the misleading setup/UAC loop.

Important: renaming only config.toml is safer than deleting the whole .codex directory, because it preserves local history, sessions, and other state. The app should ideally surface the actual config parse/compatibility error instead of showing the Windows setup screen.

The issue was resolved by using CC Switch to first switch to a third-party API, and then switch back to the official subscription.

works

I've discovered another critical root cause for the "Finish Windows setup" hang (where the UAC prompt never triggers) that is related to authentication rather than Windows privileges or system features.

The Underlying Issue

If your user session has expired or the OAuth refresh token has been revoked, the desktop app fails to fetch the cloud configuration bundle (cloudConfigBundle) during startup:

failed to load configuration: Your access token could not be refreshed because your refresh token was revoked. Please log out and sign in again.

This causes the backend windowsSandbox/setupStart call to fail with a 401 Unauthorized / Auth error. Instead of displaying a prompt to log out and log in again, the Desktop UI incorrectly routes this error to the "Finish Windows setup" gate, making it appear as a permissions/sandbox setup failure.

This explains why some users find that resetting or deleting config.toml doesn't work for them: if the underlying cause is a revoked OAuth session in auth.json, the cloud config fetch will fail regardless of whether config.toml is clean.

The Fix / Workaround

To break the loop and force the app to show the login screen:

1. Close the ChatGPT/Codex Desktop application completely.
2. Open File Explorer and navigate to your user profile directory: %USERPROFILE%\.codex (usually C:\Users\<username>\.codex).
3. Locate the file named auth.json.
4. Rename auth.json to auth.json.bak (or delete it).
5. Relaunch the ChatGPT/Codex app.

The app will now detect that no login session exists, skip the sandboxing gate, and successfully route you to the Sign In screen. Once you log back in, a fresh OAuth session will be established, and the app will open normally.

通过备份.codex,重启电脑后删除整个.codex,再重装chatgpt然后在ccs更换成官方订阅,验证chatgpt正常后新建ccs供应商解决这个问题
我认为出现这个问题的本质原因是config.toml以及auth.json文件出现错误 chatgpt无法检测到有效的配置误以为是未完成安装导致,所以根据上述的方法对这两个文件进行强制初始化 对于原有的.codex文件被删除可以让codex根据备份文件进行恢复