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Codex Issues / #39443

[Windows] Codex app crashes immediately on startup in chrome.dll with C0000005

Open 💬 5 comments Opened Aug 19, 2026 by Dragon-Sturgron
💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (github-actions[bot], contributor) responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.

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

26.810.7004.0

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Plus

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0 x64

What issue are you seeing?

Summary

The Codex desktop app crashes immediately on startup. No application window appears.

The crash occurs through both the normal AppX/Start menu entry and direct execution of the packaged ChatGPT.exe.

Environment

  • Windows 11 Pro x64, build 26200
  • Codex App package: OpenAI.Codex
  • Package version: 26.810.7004.0
  • AUMID: OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0!App
  • Embedded chrome.dll version: 151.0.7922.137
  • ChatGPT Plus subscription

The previous package version 26.814.5167.0 also showed the same startup failure.

Steps to reproduce

  1. Install the signed x64 MSIX package.
  2. Launch Codex from the Start menu.
  3. The process starts but exits immediately.
  4. No application window is displayed.

Crash diagnostics

  • Exit code: -1073741819 (0xC0000005)
  • Exception: C0000005 ACCESS_VIOLATION
  • Process: ChatGPT.exe
  • Faulting module: chrome.dll
  • Exception address: chrome!v8::Context::Exit+0x1b
  • Attempted read address: 0x00000000000001F8
  • Symbol: chrome+507535b
  • Failure bucket: INVALID_POINTER_READ_c0000005_chrome.dll!Unknown
  • Failure hash: {5cd13162-58f6-4190-dced-e6b658b0f99b}

The same exception address, call stack, and failure hash were captured when launching through the normal AppX entry and when launching the packaged executable directly.

Relevant stack frames:

chrome!v8::Context::Exit+0x1b
chrome!node::AsyncResource::CallbackScope::~CallbackScope
chrome!uv_fs_get_result
chrome!ChromeMain
ChatGPT.exe

Troubleshooting already completed

  • Verified that the MSIX package and ChatGPT.exe digital signatures are valid.
  • Confirmed that the package status is OK.
  • Reinstalled the application.
  • Reproduced the crash using two Windows user accounts, including a newly created clean account.
  • Tested with GPU acceleration disabled; the crash was unchanged.
  • Confirmed that AppX, licensing, and Microsoft Store services are running.
  • Confirmed that Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime is installed.
  • No third-party DLL injection was visible in the captured process.
  • NTGLOBALFLAG and Application Verifier flags were both zero.

Expected behavior

The Codex desktop app should open and display its main window.

Actual behavior

ChatGPT.exe starts and immediately terminates with a C0000005 access violation in the bundled chrome.dll, before displaying a window.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

  1. Install the signed Codex x64 MSIX package.
  2. Confirm that the OpenAI.Codex package is registered successfully and its status is Ok.
  3. Launch Codex from the Windows Start menu.

The problem can also be reproduced with the following AppX activation command:

explorer.exe shell:AppsFolder\OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0!App

The ChatGPT.exe process starts but terminates immediately. No application window appears.

The issue reproduces every time and also occurs in a newly created clean Windows user account.

What is the expected behavior?

The Codex desktop application should start normally and display its main window.

Additional information

The process exits with code -1073741819 (0xC0000005).

A ProcDump crash dump analyzed with WinDbg shows:

  • Exception: C0000005 ACCESS_VIOLATION
  • Process: ChatGPT.exe
  • Faulting module: chrome.dll
  • Exception address: chrome!v8::Context::Exit+0x1b
  • Attempted read address: 0x00000000000001F8
  • Failure bucket: INVALID_POINTER_READ_c0000005_chrome.dll!Unknown
  • Failure hash: {5cd13162-58f6-4190-dced-e6b658b0f99b}
  • Embedded chrome.dll version: 151.0.7922.137

The same exception address, call stack, and failure hash were captured through both normal AppX activation and direct executable launch.

Package signatures are valid, GPU acceleration was disabled for testing, required AppX and licensing services are running, and the problem reproduces in two Windows user accounts.

The previous package version 26.814.5167.0 also failed to start.

View original on GitHub ↗

5 Comments

github-actions[bot] contributor · 9 days ago

Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.

  • #38799

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Blackmegg1 · 4 days ago

I am seeing the same deterministic startup crash on a newer Windows desktop package.

Environment

  • Windows 11 x64, build 26100
  • Package: OpenAI.Codex_26.818.5229.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
  • Embedded Chromium / executable version: 151.0.7922.170
  • Intel Iris Xe driver: 32.0.101.7088
  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop GPU driver: 32.0.15.9282

Crash signature

  • Process: ChatGPT.exe
  • Exception: 0xC0000005 (read access violation)
  • Faulting module: chrome.dll
  • Module offset: 0x4FFBD0B
  • Attempted read address: 0x00000000000001F8

The attempted read address is identical to the original report. The module offset differs because this package contains a newer Chromium build.

Behavior

Normal AppX activation or direct execution starts the process, but it exits immediately or shortly after a window briefly appears. A new Crashpad minidump is generated. Windows Event Viewer does not emit a matching Application Error or Windows Error Reporting event; AppModel-Runtime only records process/container creation and destruction.

Troubleshooting completed

  • Full Windows app Reset (AppContainer was successfully deleted and recreated)
  • Complete Microsoft Store uninstall and reinstall
  • Re-registration of the AppX package
  • Reset of local Chromium profile/state
  • Updated Intel graphics driver and restarted Windows
  • Removed active third-party virtual display adapters and related software
  • Tested GPU-disabled launch flags, including:
  • --disable-gpu
  • --disable-gpu-compositing
  • --disable-features=Vulkan,UseSkiaRenderer

The issue persists after all of the above. Compatibility flags can sometimes delay the crash long enough for a window to appear, but the process still exits.

A raw minidump is retained locally but is not attached publicly because it may contain process memory or local metadata. It can be provided privately to an OpenAI maintainer if requested.

Dragon-Sturgron · 4 days ago
我在较新的 Windows 桌面软件包上也遇到了同样的确定性启动崩溃问题。 ### 环境 Windows 11 x64，版本26100 包裹：OpenAI.Codex_26.818.5229.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0 嵌入式 Chromium / 可执行版本：151.0.7922.170 Intel Iris Xe 驱动程序：32.0.101.7088 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 笔记本电脑 GPU 驱动程序：32.0.15.9282 ### 崩溃特征 过程：ChatGPT.exe 异常：（0xC0000005读取访问冲突） 故障模块：chrome.dll 模块偏移量：0x4FFBD0B 尝试读取地址：0x00000000000001F8 尝试读取的地址与原始报告相同。模块偏移量不同，是因为此软件包包含更新版本的 Chromium。 ### 行为 正常激活 AppX 或直接执行后，进程会启动，但会在短暂显示一个窗口后立即退出或很快退出。系统会生成一个新的 Crashpad 小型转储文件。Windows 事件查看器中没有匹配的应用程序错误或 Windows 错误报告事件；AppModel-Runtime 仅记录进程/容器的创建和销毁。 ### 故障排除完成 完全重置Windows 应用（AppContainer 已成功删除并重新创建） 完全卸载并重新安装 Microsoft Store 重新注册 AppX 包 重置本地 Chrium 配置/状态 更新了英特尔显卡驱动程序并重启了Windows系统。 已移除正在运行的第三方虚拟显示适配器及相关软件 测试了禁用 GPU 的启动标志，包括： --disable-gpu --disable-gpu-compositing --disable-features=Vulkan,UseSkiaRenderer 尝试了上述所有方法后，问题依然存在。兼容性标志有时可以延迟崩溃，直到出现一个窗口，但进程仍然会退出。 原始的 minidump 文件会保留在本地，但不会公开提供，因为它可能包含进程内存或本地元数据。如有需要，可以私下提供给 OpenAI 的维护人员。

兄弟我能打开了，我填了一个环境变量NODE_OPTIONS=openssl-legacy-provider

Blackmegg1 · 4 days ago

@Dragon-Sturgron 感谢你的提示！你的回复让我把排查方向转到了 NODE_OPTIONS，最终确认问题确实与这个全局环境变量有关。

我的情况

  • Windows 11 x64，Build 26100
  • ChatGPT/Codex Windows 包版本：26.818.5229.0
  • 启动后立即退出，或者窗口短暂出现后崩溃
  • 崩溃模块：chrome.dll
  • 异常代码：0xC0000005
  • 模块偏移：0x4FFBD0B
  • 尝试读取地址：0x00000000000001F8
  • 每次启动都会生成新的 Crashpad 转储

重装、重置应用、更新显卡驱动、清理应用状态以及禁用 GPU 均无法解决。

最终确认的原因

检查后发现，我的 Windows 用户级和系统级环境变量中都存在：

NODE_OPTIONS=--openssl-legacy-provider

在我的电脑上，解决方法不是继续添加这个变量，而是将用户级和系统级的 NODE_OPTIONS 全部删除。

这也解释了一个此前很奇怪的现象：从某些没有继承该变量的进程环境启动时，ChatGPT 可以打开；从开始菜单或普通 PowerShell 启动时则会立即崩溃。

建议先进行临时验证

可以先在 PowerShell 中只对当前窗口临时清除该变量，不修改永久设置：

Remove-Item Env:NODE_OPTIONS -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

$exe = Join-Path (Get-AppxPackage OpenAI.Codex).InstallLocation 'app\ChatGPT.exe'
Start-Process -FilePath $exe

如果这样启动后不再崩溃，基本可以确认是全局 NODE_OPTIONS 导致的。

永久解决方法

先检查用户级和系统级变量：

[Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable('NODE_OPTIONS', 'User')
[Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable('NODE_OPTIONS', 'Machine')

删除用户级变量：

[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('NODE_OPTIONS', $null, 'User')

使用“管理员身份”打开 PowerShell，再删除系统级变量：

[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('NODE_OPTIONS', $null, 'Machine')

删除后重新登录 Windows、重启资源管理器或重启电脑，使开始菜单继承新的环境变量。

完成上述操作后，ChatGPT 已经可以通过正常的开始菜单入口稳定启动，所有相关进程保持正常响应，也没有再生成新的 Crashpad 崩溃转储。

相关报告

另一个相关报告也指出，Electron 可能拒绝通过全局 NODE_OPTIONS 传入的 --openssl-legacy-provider，删除该变量后应用即可正常启动：

希望这个补充能帮助之后遇到相同 chrome.dll、0xC0000005 或“点击图标没有反应”问题的 Windows 用户。建议先检查 NODE_OPTIONS，不要直接全局添加或修改它；如果旧 Node.js 项目确实需要该参数，最好只在对应项目或临时终端中设置。

maurobh · 2 days ago

I can reproduce this exact startup crash on the current Windows desktop app.

Environment:

  • Package: OpenAI.Codex
  • App version: 26.818.2441.0
  • Windows 11 x64, OS build 26100.1
  • Embedded Chromium: 151.0.7922.170

Behavior:

  • App package status is Ok
  • Launching from Start/AppX or directly via packaged app\ChatGPT.exe creates the process, then it exits before any window appears
  • Direct process exit code: -1073741819 (0xC0000005)

WinDbg result:

  • ExceptionCode: c0000005 (Access violation)
  • chrome!v8::Context::Exit+0x1b
  • Attempted read from 0x00000000000001f8
  • Failure bucket: INVALID_POINTER_READ_c0000005_chrome.exe!v8::Context::Exit
  • Failure hash: {e1ca82f9-308f-9af4-ee69-838de1e4fb0b}

Relevant stack:

chrome!v8::Context::Exit+0x1b
chrome!node::AsyncResource::CallbackScope::~CallbackScope
chrome!uv_timer_get_repeat
chrome!ChromeMain
ChatGPT.exe

Troubleshooting already tried with no change:

  • Full uninstall/reinstall from Microsoft Store
  • Package re-registration checks
  • --disable-gpu
  • --disable-gpu --disable-gpu-compositing --disable-features=Vulkan
  • --disable-gpu --disable-software-rasterizer
  • clean/reset Codex profile data
  • Code Integrity log checked; no relevant block observed

This looks like the same Chromium/V8 startup regression described in this issue, reproduced on build 26.818.2441.0 as well.