[Windows][Computer Use] codex-computer-use leaves the system wait cursor as a classic hourglass

What version of the Codex App are you using?

• App package: OpenAI.Codex_26.803.5235.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
• Bundled Computer Use plugin: 26.803.41515
• @oai/sky: 0.6.2
• codex-computer-use.exe SHA-256: 463D54DDB8A351CB206CB4BEBF4943F63E1BC8087D310D102C5FAE417B255EB4

What platform is your computer?

• Windows 11 Pro 25H2 x64
• OS build: 26200.8973
• Display DPI: 96 / 100% scaling

What issue are you seeing?

After Windows Computer Use sessions, the system-wide Wait cursor is replaced by the classic black-and-white hourglass. It remains changed outside Codex and after Computer Use has finished.

This has reproduced twice in the same Windows login session.

The configured cursor scheme remains Windows Default and the registry still points to the Aero cursor:

HKCU\Control Panel\Cursors
(Default) = @main.cpl,-1020
Wait = %SystemRoot%\cursors\aero_busy.ani
AppStarting = %SystemRoot%\cursors\aero_working.ani
Scheme Source = 2

The file aero_busy.ani itself is valid and renders as the normal blue spinning ring. However, capturing the cursor currently loaded as IDC_WAIT / OCR_WAIT (32514) with LoadCursor + DrawIconEx renders the classic hourglass. This isolates the problem to the session's system cursor object rather than the theme, registry, or cursor file.

Steps to reproduce

1. Start Codex Desktop on Windows.
2. Run one or more Computer Use tasks that control Windows apps.
3. Finish or stop the tasks.
4. Trigger a busy/wait cursor in any Windows application.
5. Observe that the system-wide Wait cursor is now the classic hourglass instead of the Aero blue ring.
6. Open Mouse Properties: the selected scheme still reports Windows Default.

Additional diagnostic evidence

• Windows was not rebooted or signed out between repair and recurrence.
• Five codex-computer-use.exe helper processes remained running after Computer Use tasks had ended.
• I enumerated 1,019 loaded third-party EXE/DLL modules and searched their imports/strings for SetSystemCursor.
• The only loaded third-party module containing that API was the bundled codex-computer-use.exe.
• Stopping the five stale helper processes and directly restoring aero_busy.ani / aero_working.ani with SetSystemCursor at the system-default 32x32 size restored the correct cursor.
• After the helpers were stopped, the cursor remained correct in a follow-up check.
• SystemParametersInfo(SPI_SETCURSORS) returned success during an earlier recovery attempt but did not restore the cursor; direct SetSystemCursor did.

This evidence does not replace an API-call trace, but it strongly localizes the mutation to the Computer Use helper lifecycle.

Expected behavior

Computer Use should not permanently modify Windows system cursor objects. On every success, failure, cancellation, timeout, or helper shutdown path it should:

• restore the exact original cursor state;
• terminate unused helper processes;
• avoid global SetSystemCursor where a private overlay or process-local cursor is sufficient.

Actual behavior

The system-wide Wait cursor remains replaced after Computer Use ends, while multiple helper processes remain alive. Manual re-selecting of Windows Default does not reliably recover it.

Impact

This changes the cursor across the entire Windows desktop and survives Codex task completion. Users may assume their Windows theme or cursor files were corrupted.

Related issue

Possibly related to #25200, where Windows Computer Use leaves the system cursor invisible after a session. This report describes a different final state (classic hourglass) and includes direct evidence involving the loaded IDC_WAIT object and lingering codex-computer-use.exe processes.