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Codex Issues / #32403

Windows MSIX: Computer Use and pet creation fail because bundled runtime relocation leaves bin/cua_node empty

Open 💬 3 comments Opened Jul 11, 2026 by Whisky928
💡 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)?

26.707.3748.0

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?

Computer Use and pet creation fail on Windows Codex Desktop.

Symptoms:

  • Settings > Computer Use shows the plugin is unavailable.
  • Pet creation fails with: Unable to start pet creation.
  • This reproduces both on my original Windows user and on a newly created local administrator user.

Codex app:

  • Microsoft Store / MSIX install
  • Version: 26.707.3748.0
  • Package path:

C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.707.3748.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0

Troubleshooting already attempted:

  • Restarted Codex
  • Updated/reinstalled Codex
  • Reset/Repaired Codex from Windows Settings
  • Cleared/renamed Codex runtime cache:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI
%USERPROFILE%\.codex\.tmp\bundled-marketplaces

  • Added Defender exclusions
  • Ran sfc /scannow, which repaired some system files
  • Ran DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth successfully
  • Tested with a newly created local Windows administrator user

Observed technical details:

  • Codex creates these directories:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex\bin
%LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex\runtimes\cua_node

but both directories remain empty.

  • The bundled runtime files exist in the WindowsApps package:

app\resources\codex.exe
app\resources\cua_node\bin\node.exe
app\resources\cua_node\bin\node_repl.exe
app\resources\cua_node\bin\node_modules\@oai\sky\bin\windows\codex-computer-use.exe

  • Manually copying the bundled executable from WindowsApps to %LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex fails with:

The specified file could not be encrypted.

  • Running cipher /c on the source executable shows:

Compatibility Level: Application Protected

Expected behavior:
Codex should successfully relocate the bundled runtime files from the MSIX/WindowsApps package into %LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex, and Computer Use / pet creation should start.

Actual behavior:
The local runtime directories remain empty, so node_repl / Computer Use native helper paths are unavailable and Computer Use plus pet creation cannot start.

Likely issue:
The Windows/MSIX build appears to fail when relocating Application Protected bundled executable files from WindowsApps to the user-writable runtime directory on this machine.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Feedback ID: 019f32c2-80ba-7ea3-b2d2-364bbdf96d0c

What is the expected behavior?

Codex should successfully relocate its bundled runtime files from the MSIX/WindowsApps package into:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex\bin
%LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex\runtimes\cua_node

After that, Settings > Computer Use should be available, node_repl should start, Computer Use should be able to launch, and pet creation should work without "Unable to start pet creation".

Additional information

Troubleshooting already attempted:

  • Restarted Codex.
  • Updated/reinstalled Codex.
  • Reset/Repaired Codex from Windows Settings.
  • Cleared/renamed Codex runtime cache:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI
%USERPROFILE%\.codex\.tmp\bundled-marketplaces

  • Added Defender exclusions.
  • Ran sfc /scannow. It repaired some system files.
  • Rebooted.
  • Ran DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth successfully.
  • Rebooted again.
  • Tested with a newly created local Windows administrator user.

Observed technical details:

  • Codex creates these directories but leaves them empty:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex\bin
%LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex\runtimes\cua_node

  • Bundled runtime files exist in the MSIX package:

C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.707.3748.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0\app\resources\codex.exe
C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.707.3748.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0\app\resources\cua_node\bin\node.exe
C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.707.3748.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0\app\resources\cua_node\bin\node_repl.exe
C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.707.3748.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0\app\resources\cua_node\bin\node_modules\@oai\sky\bin\windows\codex-computer-use.exe

  • Manual copy from WindowsApps to %LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex fails with:

The specified file could not be encrypted.

  • Running cipher /c on the source executable shows:

Compatibility Level: Application Protected

Likely related errors:

  • bundled_executable_relocation_failed
  • node-repl-missing
  • computer-use native pipe helper paths unavailable

View original on GitHub ↗

3 Comments

github-actions[bot] contributor · 1 month ago

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

  • #31023

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zemeng5208 · 16 days ago

I maintain WinBridge Recovery for Windows Codex Desktop recovery: https://github.com/zemeng5208/winbridge-recovery

This is one of the clearest matches for the local runtime-relocation layer the project is targeting: the official MSIX package contains codex.exe, node.exe, node_repl.exe and codex-computer-use.exe, while the user-side bin / runtimes\cua_node directories remain empty and the source reports Application Protected.

WinBridge v3.1.1 already has a verified byte-stream copy path (FileStream + SHA-256 comparison) and a user-owned official-resource mirror, so it does not depend only on the native copy operation that fails here. It also validates the bundled manifest/runtime paths before switching anything and keeps rollback data.

Important limitation: Application Protected/EFS handling is still marked experimental in the project. I am not claiming a universal fix across every Store package/Windows build yet. The tool does not modify WindowsApps ACLs, ownership, encryption state, package contents, or signatures. For this exact source exists + user runtime empty + helper paths missing state, though, it is a high-confidence diagnostic/recovery target.

zemeng5208 · 16 days ago

Disclosure: I maintain WinBridge Recovery, an independent Windows recovery/diagnostic utility for Codex Desktop.

This report is a very close match for one of the failure classes the project is intended to diagnose: the official MSIX contains the required cua_node / Computer Use binaries, but the per-user runtime is left empty because WindowsApps sources are Application Protected and normal copy/relocation fails. WinBridge checks the installed package, the expected user runtime/cache, plugin versions and pointers, and can recover user-side state from the official installed files when the source is readable, with backup + integrity verification rather than modifying WindowsApps itself.

The important limitation is that this is not a fix for Codex's upstream relocation implementation. If the current Desktop build insists on re-running a failing protected-file relocation on every launch and refuses to reuse a verified runtime, the issue can recur until OpenAI fixes that path. I also would not recommend changing WindowsApps ownership/ACLs or manually patching the package.

For this specific symptom (bin / runtimes\cua_node empty, Application Protected, bundled_executable_relocation_failed, helper paths unavailable), WinBridge should at least be useful for confirming the exact broken layer and attempting a reversible local recovery from the official package.