Windows 10: Codex background process causes intermittent system-wide mouse stutter
Summary
After a recent Windows 10 update, launching Codex causes intermittent mouse-input stutter across the whole system.
The stutter continues even after closing the Codex window. It stops immediately only after fully terminating the Codex process tree. Launching Codex again makes the issue return.
This appears to be related to Codex remaining active in the background and periodically attempting to collect process snapshots through WMI.
Environment
- OS: Windows 10 Pro, version
10.0.19045.6466 - Codex Desktop version:
26.715.4045.0 - Codex executable:
C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.715.4045.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0\app\resources\codex.exe
Steps to reproduce
- Restart Windows.
- Launch Codex Desktop.
- Use the PC normally for a while.
- Intermittent system-wide mouse stutters begin occurring.
- Close the Codex window.
- The stutters continue.
- Run:
taskkill /F /IM codex.exe /T- The stutters stop immediately.
- Launch Codex again.
- The stutters return.
Expected behavior
Closing Codex should fully stop any background activity that can affect system responsiveness. Codex should not cause periodic system-wide mouse-input stutter.
Actual behavior
- Closing the Codex window does not terminate
codex.exeand its child processes. - The system intermittently stutters until the full Codex process tree is terminated.
- The issue is reproducible: killing the process resolves it, while relaunching Codex brings it back.
Relevant logs
The Codex log repeatedly contains this warning at roughly 16 minute 30 second intervals:
[electron-sampler] Failed to collect child process snapshotThe sampler invokes PowerShell/WMI queries including:
Get-CimInstance Win32_PerfFormattedData_PerfProc_Process
Get-CimInstance Win32_ProcessAt the same time, Windows Event Viewer contains repeated WMI Activity errors involving:
Win32_PerfFormattedData_PerfProc_Process
ResultCode: 0x800706BA
Could not send status to clientThe ResizeObserver loop completed with undelivered notifications messages also appear in the log, but they seem unrelated to the system-wide input stutter.
Notes
- There are no obvious Codex crash reports, GPU reset events, or sustained high CPU usage when checking after the stutter.
- The direct WMI query succeeds but takes roughly 700 ms on this machine.
- This may be related to the Electron process sampler and its repeated WMI process enumeration after recent Windows updates.
8 Comments
Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.
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METOO
i have this for several days now too. on Windows 11.
Yeap. Thought on changing my laptop but now i see that is Codex related.
I guess it helps to see I am not the only one having these strange issues: https://www.reddit.com/r/codex/comments/1uxpr1x/severe_codex_windows_app_lag_and_systemwide_mouse/
All system metrics are green. It will be hard to investigate an issue that is not affecting everybody.
Even today, using the latest versions of Codex CLI and ChatGPT, this issue still occurs.
thanks for the detailed reports and investigation here: they were really helpful 💖
26.730.7989.0that address some major sources of powershell/wmi stormstaskkill.execan still be started by other process-cleanup paths, and we’re continuing to work on reducing that separatelyif you’re still seeing sustained wmi cpu usage or system-wide lag after
26.730.7989.0, please share an updated/feedbackidStill reproducible on Windows app 26.810.4967.0
I am experiencing intermittent severe mouse-pointer/input lag affecting Windows globally, not only the Codex window.
Environment:
Isolation performed:
This suggests an intermittent state retained by the desktop application's process tree, rather than one particular project, conversation, or actively running agent.
A clean baseline showed low CPU/GPU use, ample available memory, minimal interrupt/DPC pressure, and no display or WHEA errors. I have not captured evidence proving WMI is the cause, so this may be WMI/process sampling, helper-process cleanup, renderer state, or another application-wide mechanism.
No
/feedbackID is available yet. Please advise whether a feedback capture taken during the next affected period would be useful and what should be included.I can reproduce the same system-wide input lag on a newer Codex version.
Codex version: 26.810.4967.0
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT
Feedback ID: 01a000b5-c5fa-7801-bc1f-70f9a69abcaa
After restarting Windows, mouse and keyboard input are completely normal until I launch Codex Desktop. Once Codex is running, both mouse movement and keyboard input become choppy across the entire system.
Minimizing the app does not help. The lag stops only after Codex is fully terminated, and returns after launching it again.
CPU, memory, disk, and GPU usage are not saturated. Windows App Repair, closing background utilities, changing USB ports, and testing different mouse connection methods did not resolve the issue.