[Windows] image_gen hangs indefinitely when any reference image is supplied

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

26.818.5229.0

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?

The built-in image generation tool succeeds for a minimal text-only request, but consistently hangs indefinitely whenever a local reference image is supplied through referenced_image_paths.

In a separate text-only attempt, the tool also returned this exact error:

image generation failed: network error: error sending request for url (https://chatgpt.com/backend-api/codex/images/generations)

This reproduces in both an existing project task and a newly created, clean projectless task. No personal paths, filenames, or story content are included here.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Start a fresh Codex Desktop task.
2. Run a minimal text-only image-generation request with no reference image. In my test, it succeeded in about 17 seconds.
3. Put one normal JPEG reference image inside the allowed workspace.
4. Verify that Codex can open/view that image successfully.
5. Call the built-in image-generation tool once with referenced_image_paths containing only that one file.
6. Wait.

Actual result:

• One-reference request remained running for about 9 minutes 30 seconds with no image and no structured error; it had to be terminated.
• Two-reference request remained running for about 11 minutes with no image and no structured error; it had to be terminated.
• No generated image artifact was written.
• There were no concurrent image-generation requests.
• Starting over in a clean, focused task did not resolve it.

Control result:

• The same clean task successfully generated a minimal orange-circle image with no reference image in about 17 seconds.

What is the expected behavior?

Reference-image generation should either complete normally or fail within a reasonable time with a structured, actionable error (ideally including a correlation/request ID). It should not remain in an endless running state.

Additional information

The reference was a standard, readable JPEG inside the permitted workspace, and it was successfully opened/viewed before generation.

This appears related to:

• #30121 (Windows/local reference image regression)
• #33050 (same /backend-api/codex/images/generations network-error endpoint and intermittent behavior)
• #33785 (reference-image requests timing out or loading endlessly)

The distinguishing signal here is a successful no-reference control in a brand-new task, followed by consistent indefinite hangs as soon as one or more reference images are provided. Redacted session logs can be provided privately if maintainers request them.