Windows desktop: local shell and filesystem bridge hangs indefinitely while non-local tools still work

Summary

In Codex Desktop on Windows, every local command and local filesystem operation began hanging indefinitely in an active task. The Codex conversation and non-local tools continued to work, but the agent could no longer inspect or modify the workspace.

Observed behavior

• exec_command returns a running cell but produces no stdout/stderr and never completes.
• wait continues timing out with no output.
• terminate successfully stops the stuck cell.
• The failure persists across:
• Windows PowerShell and cmd.exe
• login: false
• sandboxed and require_escalated execution
• repository worktree, C:\tmp, and C:\Windows
• trivial commands that do not access the repository
• A Node-backed local filesystem check also times out.
• Orchestration-only calls such as tool discovery, web access, and GitHub connector calls still complete normally.

Minimal reproductions

PowerShell:

shell: C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe
workdir: C:\Windows
login: false
cmd: Write-Output ok

Command Prompt:

shell: cmd.exe
workdir: C:\Windows
login: false
cmd: echo ok

Both hang without output.

Node filesystem bridge:

const fs = await import("node:fs/promises");
await fs.stat("C:/tmp");

This times out and resets the kernel.

Expected behavior

The trivial commands should return immediately. If the local execution host or filesystem bridge is unavailable, Codex should surface a terminal error and recovery action instead of leaving every command in a permanently running state.

Impact

The task could not proceed with repository inspection, code edits, tests, database operations, Git commits, or pushes. No workspace or database changes were made after the failure began.

Environment

• Codex Desktop
• Windows
• Observed: 2026-07-14
• Workspace was a local Git worktree under C:\Users\...\Documents\...
• Exact app version was not available to the agent because local execution and filesystem access were already non-functional.

Additional diagnostic signal

The issue appears isolated to the local execution/filesystem host rather than the model turn or general network connectivity: tool enumeration and remote connector calls remain responsive while all local process and filesystem calls hang.