Windows ChatGPT Desktop fails on first launch with ENOENT (.codex-global-state.json.tmp) on Windows 11 25H2 Build 26200

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

Unable to access "About Codex" because the application crashes on first launch. Installed package: OpenAI.Codex_26.707.8168.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Free

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.8737 x64 Windows 11 Home Chinese Version 25H2 Build 26200.8737 HP Laptop

What issue are you seeing?

The application fails on the very first launch.

An error dialog immediately appears with:

ENOENT
...\.codex-global-state.json.tmp-xxxxxxxx

The application exits immediately after this error.

The application never completes initialization.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Download ChatGPT Installer from the official website (https://chatgpt.com/download).
2. Install ChatGPT successfully.
3. Launch ChatGPT for the first time.
4. The application immediately exits with:

ENOENT
...\.codex-global-state.json.tmp-xxxxxxxx

The issue occurs every time.

Troubleshooting already performed:

• Reinstalled ChatGPT multiple times.
• Deleted the entire C:\Users\<username>\.codex directory.
• Reinstalled Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime.
• Verified that Windows permissions are normal.
• Manually created .codex-global-state.json.
• Restarted Windows.

None of the above resolved the issue.

What is the expected behavior?

ChatGPT Desktop should complete initialization successfully and launch normally on first startup.

Additional information

Environment:

• Windows 11 Home Chinese
• Version 25H2
• Build 26200.8737
• HP Laptop
• x64

Installed package:

OpenAI.Codex_26.707.8168.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0

Additional investigation:

The application successfully creates:

C:\Users\<username>\.codex

and

C:\Users\<username>\.codex\sqlite

However, it fails before creating the temporary global state file.

The package LocalState directory remains completely empty:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0\LocalState

No log files are generated.

PowerShell verification confirms Windows file permissions are normal:

New-Item "$env:USERPROFILE\.codex\test.json" -ItemType File

Succeeded.

echo "{}" > "$env:USERPROFILE\.codex\.codex-global-state.json"

Succeeded.

Therefore the issue does not appear to be caused by Windows file permissions.

The failure seems to occur during Codex global state initialization before runtime logging starts.

<img width="1112" height="312" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/e2a064d6-1f27-4db4-830e-78935a817216" />
<img width="1958" height="1050" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/5a7340f0-0df5-48b0-8d0b-9e3917dc129e" />
<img width="1958" height="1050" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/dc26abc4-1764-49e5-af72-f369743abe7e" />
<img width="2252" height="1420" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/1ddbbf84-1685-4de6-acfa-33ccd2d5a7b3" />

If there is any additional diagnostic build or logging option available, I would be happy to test it and provide further information.