[Windows][26.721.4979.0] ChatGPT.exe exits silently about 30 seconds after launch; AppX container is destroyed without a crash event

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

• Microsoft Store package: OpenAI.Codex_26.721.4979.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0 - Executable: ChatGPT.exe - Browser component release observed in the desktop log: 26.721.41059

What subscription do you have?

chatgpt pro x20

What platform is your computer?

• Windows 11 Enterprise, version 10.0.22631, x64 - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, driver 32.0.15.6094 - Intel Arc Graphics, driver 31.0.101.5333 - Citrix Indirect Display Adapter, driver 12.40.44.247

What issue are you seeing?

After updating the Windows desktop app to 26.721.4979.0, the app repeatedly exits without an error dialog shortly after launch. The main window finishes loading and becomes visible, but the entire AppX container is destroyed approximately 30 seconds after it is created.

The previous app version worked on the same computer and network. There was no known change to the organization's network or security policy.

This is a silent exit rather than a conventional Windows application crash:

• No matching Application Error or Windows Error Reporting event was recorded.
• No crash dump was created in the standard per-user crash-dump location.
• No matching Code Integrity, AppLocker, or Microsoft Defender block was recorded at the exit time.
• The Codex desktop log ends abruptly after both windows report ready-to-show; it contains no graceful shutdown, fatal error, renderer crash, TLS, certificate, proxy, or WebSocket failure immediately before termination.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Launch Codex from the Windows Start menu.
2. Wait for the main window to finish loading.
3. Do not invoke Browser Use or open an in-app browser page.
4. Wait approximately 10–30 seconds.
5. The window disappears and all ChatGPT.exe processes exit.

This has occurred repeatedly. One captured reproduction is documented below.

What is the expected behavior?

The desktop app should remain open after the main window finishes loading. If a startup component fails, the app should show a recoverable error and preserve the main window instead of silently terminating the entire AppX container.

Additional information

The app successfully initializes its local app server, reads the authenticated account, mounts the renderer routes, and reports the main window as ready. A few seconds later, the desktop log stops without a shutdown message and Windows destroys the complete AppX container.

Captured timeline

Local timezone: Asia/Seoul (UTC+09:00)

15:20:26  AppModel-Runtime Event 210:
          Desktop AppX container created for
          OpenAI.Codex_26.721.4979.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0

15:20:26  AppModel-Runtime Events 201/211:
          Main app process created and added to the container

15:20:47  Desktop log:
          AppServerConnection state changed to connected

15:20:51  Desktop log:
          Main window finished load and became ready-to-show

15:20:52  Desktop log:
          ChatGPT account lookup succeeded

15:20:55  Desktop log:
          avatarOverlay window became ready-to-show

15:20:56  AppModel-Runtime Event 217:
          Desktop AppX container destroyed

Time from AppX container creation to destruction: approximately 30 seconds.

Relevant sanitized desktop-log excerpts

warning Failed to load shell env caller=startup
detail="Timed out after 5000ms."

info [AppServerConnection] app_server_connection.state_changed
currentState=connecting next=connected transport=stdio

info [window-manager] window ready-to-show
appearance=primary rendererWindowVisible=true

info [chatgpt-account-lookup] completed
authenticatedAccountPresent=true authMethod=chatgpt result=succeeded

info [window-manager] window ready-to-show
appearance=avatarOverlay

The only application-level error near startup was a failed fs/readFile request for a missing path:

error [electron-message-handler] Request failed
method=fs/readFile
message="The system cannot find the path specified. (os error 3)"

The same missing-path error appeared for the primary and avatar-overlay renderers. The log then ended without a shutdown or crash record.

Controlled checks already performed

• Observed all ChatGPT.exe processes disappear after launch.
• Monitored for an additional 20 seconds after termination; process count remained zero.
• Checked the Windows Application event log for the preceding three days; no matching application crash or WER event was present.
• Checked Microsoft-Windows-AppModel-Runtime/Admin around the reproduction time; Event 217 confirms container destruction.
• Checked Code Integrity, AppLocker, and Microsoft Defender operational logs at the same time; no matching block event was present.
• Checked the standard user crash-dump directory; no relevant dump was found.
• No SSL/TLS inspection exception or network policy change was made during this reproduction.

Related issues

• #35352 reports the same app package version exiting after an embedded-browser GPU crash and an unsigned SwiftShader fallback being blocked. This reproduction is different because no Browser Use action is required and there is no corresponding Code Integrity block.
• #23814 reports repeated silent Windows desktop closes on an older package, but not this deterministic startup-time AppX container destruction.

Privacy note

The full desktop log is not attached publicly because it contains local paths, conversation identifiers, task identifiers, and account/session metadata. Sanitized excerpts or additional diagnostic artifacts can be provided privately to OpenAI maintainers if requested.