### What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)? 7788 ### What subscription do you have? pro ### What platform is your computer? _No response_ ### What issue are you seeing? ### What steps can reproduce the bug? open desktop chatgpt ### What is the expected behavior? _No response_ ### Additional information _No response_

Codex bug

Open 💬 1 comment Opened Aug 27, 2026 by DiamondXiao

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

7788

What subscription do you have?

pro

What platform is your computer?

_No response_

What issue are you seeing?

What steps can reproduce the bug?

open desktop chatgpt

What is the expected behavior?

_No response_

Additional information

_No response_

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1 Comment

electrity · 1 day ago

## Diagnosis

The issue is caused by the Microsoft Store build of the ChatGPT/Codex desktop app,
version 26.820.7780.0.

During startup, the app tries to copy its bundled codex.exe, rg.exe, and Node runtime
from the encrypted WindowsApps package into:

C:\Users\24425\AppData\Local\OpenAI\Codex

Windows rejects the normal file-copy operation with:

The specified file could not be encrypted.

The desktop app then fails to locate its Codex CLI binary and reports:

Unable to locate the Codex CLI binary.
ChatGPT failed to start.

Testing confirmed that:

The source files are readable but marked Encrypted.
A normal file-copy operation fails.
Copying the same content as a byte stream succeeds.
The destination permissions, disk space, network, proxy, and account configuration

are not responsible.

No newer Microsoft Store version is currently available.

This strongly indicates a bug in the current OpenAI desktop build’s handling of
encrypted Microsoft Store package files.

## Temporary solution

A process-scoped launcher was created:

/C:/Users/24425/Desktop/Start-Codex-Temporary-Fix.cmd:1

The launcher:

Locates the installed Microsoft Store ChatGPT/Codex application.
Locates the existing npm-installed Codex CLI.
Sets CODEX_CLI_PATH only for the application process it launches.
Starts ChatGPT.exe.

This workaround was verified successfully: the Codex CLI initialized, connected, and
the desktop window remained responsive.

It does not:

Modify user-level or system-level environment variables.
Interfere with Microsoft Store updates.
Permanently change the OpenAI installation.

Some features that depend on the bundled Computer Use Node runtime may remain
affected.

## After OpenAI fixes the issue

Completely exit ChatGPT/Codex, delete the temporary launcher, and return to launching
the application normally from the Windows Start menu.The CLI works fine, and you can bypass the restrictions to force-start Codex for now; as for the specific issues, we'll have to wait for an official fix.