CryptUnprotectData failed
Open 💬 1 comment Opened Aug 27, 2026 by FANGOD
Codex Desktop on Windows repeatedly fails before starting any PowerShell command:
CryptUnprotectData failed: 2148073483
The failure occurs during CreateProcess, including for simple read-only commands.
Restarting/retrying the task did not recover it.
No repository files were modified and no tests/builds were run.
The repeated environment failure consumed approximately 50% of the task token budget.
Date: 2026-08-27
Timezone: Asia/HongKong
Workspace: Windows Codex worktree
Request: investigate DPAPI credential decryption failure in the Codex command host and consider restoring consumed usage.
1 Comment
I am experiencing the same issue on Windows with Codex/ChatGPT Desktop version 26.820.71523.
In my case, Codex can successfully create a new file in a trusted local workspace, but it cannot subsequently read that same file. Reading existing files such as AGENTS.md also fails with CryptUnprotectData failed.
A simple PowerShell command such as Get-Location cannot start because of the same error.
Troubleshooting performed:
Restarted ChatGPT and Windows
Updated from 26.818.61809 to 26.820.71523
Codex Workspace diagnostics report “Codex dependencies look healthy”
Tested both sandbox = "elevated" and sandbox = "unelevated"
Confirmed the workspace is trusted
Confirmed the affected files can be opened normally through Windows
.sandbox-secrets exists and contains sandbox_users.json. I have not deleted or regenerated the sandbox credentials.
Is there a supported way to safely reset/regenerate the Windows sandbox/DPAPI credentials without affecting existing Work projects?