Windows Computer Use runtime blocked by EPERM, then helper fails EnumWindows

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

26.803.5235.0

What subscription do you have?

Unknown / not shown in diagnostics

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0 x64

What issue are you seeing?

Computer Use cannot initialize in the ChatGPT/Codex Windows desktop app.

The initial failure is:

EPERM: operation not permitted, lstat 'C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\OpenAI\Codex'

The Windows ACLs on that directory are healthy: the current user, Administrators, and SYSTEM have full control. The bundled cua_node runtime and @oai/sky package are present and their manifests are intact.

After staging the installed @oai/sky package inside the permitted workspace to bypass the initial sandbox denial, the package loads, but its first lightweight call fails with:

EnumWindows failed: The system cannot find the path specified. (0x80070003)

Completely quitting and reopening the desktop app does not fix either failure.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Open the ChatGPT/Codex Windows desktop app and a local task.
2. Install/enable the bundled Computer Use plugin.
3. Ask Codex to use Computer Use.
4. The required initialization import of @oai/sky fails while resolving the bundled runtime with the EPERM/lstat error above.
5. Completely quit the app, ensure it is no longer running, reopen it, and retry. The same error occurs.
6. Verify C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\OpenAI\Codex exists and that the current user has full control. The error persists.
7. When the installed package is staged in the task workspace so it can load without touching the denied runtime path, calling sky.list_apps() launches the helper but fails with the EnumWindows error above.

What is the expected behavior?

The bundled Computer Use runtime should be readable by the trusted helper, and sky.list_apps() should enumerate targetable Windows applications and windows.

Additional information

Installed app package: OpenAI.Codex_26.803.5235.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0

Computer Use plugin version: 26.803.41515

Bundled CUA Node runtime manifest reports Node 24.14.0, runtime archive cua-node-0.0.6-20260723162306-088049353ddc-windows-x64.zip, and target windows-x64.

No Windows ACLs or security settings were changed during diagnosis. Restarting the app did not help. Reinstallation was not attempted because related Windows runtime reports indicate that reinstall may preserve the local runtime directory and may not resolve sandbox/bridge failures.