Codex Desktop fails to exit cleanly and crashes on next launch after update
What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?
26.814.5517.0
What subscription do you have?
Plus
What platform is your computer?
Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.19045.0 x64
What issue are you seeing?
After updating the Codex Desktop app to version 26.814.5517.0 on Windows, the app does not shut down cleanly when using Exit.
After exiting the app and trying to open it again, Codex shows the crash screen saying "ChatGPT stopped unexpectedly" and requires clicking Restart.
If I only close the window and leave Codex running in the background, reopening it usually works normally.
The problem is reproducible on two different Windows computers and started on both after updating Codex. One of the computers did not have this problem before the update.
I also observed that after using Exit, Codex/ChatGPT child processes may remain running.
Codex logs also contain repeated messages such as:
"failed to refresh available models: timeout waiting for child process to exit"
This strongly suggests a shutdown/child-process cleanup regression introduced by the recent update.
What steps can reproduce the bug?
- Open Codex Desktop on Windows.
- Use Codex normally.
- Exit the application using Exit (not just closing/minimizing the window).
- Wait for the application to close.
- Open Codex Desktop again.
- The app displays "ChatGPT stopped unexpectedly" and requires clicking Restart.
- After clicking Restart, Codex usually opens again.
If the app is only closed to the background instead of using Exit, reopening it usually does not trigger the crash.
I reproduced this behavior on two different Windows computers after updating Codex.
What is the expected behavior?
When I select Exit, Codex Desktop should terminate cleanly, including all of its child processes.
The next time I launch Codex, it should start normally without displaying the "ChatGPT stopped unexpectedly" recovery screen or requiring a manual Restart.
Additional information
This issue was first observed on one Windows computer after the Codex update.
To rule out a machine-specific problem, I updated Codex on a second Windows computer. That computer had been working normally before the update, but immediately started showing the same behavior after updating.
On the affected installation, process inspection showed multiple ChatGPT.exe processes and codex.exe child processes associated with Codex Desktop.
The logs also repeatedly reported:
"failed to refresh available models: timeout waiting for child process to exit"
I also noticed unrelated plugin manifest warnings in the logs, but no corresponding ERROR entries around one of the tested launches.
Because the same shutdown/relaunch behavior appeared on two different computers after the update, this appears to be a regression in the current Codex Desktop version rather than a machine-specific Windows configuration issue.