[Windows][WSL][26.825.31414] Project creation and removal fail after switching Agent Environment to WSL

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

26.825.31414

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Pro

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0 x64

What issue are you seeing?

[Windows][WSL][26.825.31414] Project creation and removal fail after switching Agent Environment to WSL

What version of the Codex App are you using?

ChatGPT / Powered by Codex & OWL

Version: 26.825.31414
Release date shown in About: August 28, 2026

What platform is your computer?

Windows 11 x64 with WSL2 / Ubuntu.

What issue are you seeing?

Project management works correctly when the Codex Agent Environment is set to Windows Native, but stops working after switching the Agent Environment to Windows Subsystem for Linux.

The failure is not limited to WSL-hosted folders.

In Windows Native mode, I can successfully create a new Project from a normal Windows folder.

After switching the Agent Environment to WSL and restarting Codex Desktop:

• creating a Project from a WSL folder fails;
• creating a Project from a normal Windows folder also fails;
• a Project that was successfully created earlier in Windows Native mode remains visible, but attempting to remove that Project also fails.

The only visible error when creating a Project is:

创建项目失败

("Failed to create project")

No more detailed error is surfaced in the UI.

This makes the failure appear tied to the selected Agent Environment / Project management backend, rather than to the selected folder itself.

Steps to reproduce

Control: Windows Native works

1. Open ChatGPT / Codex Desktop 26.825.31414.
2. Set:

Agent Environment = Windows Native

1. Fully restart the application.
2. Start a new conversation.
3. Select a normal Windows folder, for example:

C:\Temp\codex-project-test

1. Click Create Project.

Result:

Project created successfully.

Reproduction: switch to WSL

1. Change:

Agent Environment = Windows Subsystem for Linux

1. Fully restart the application.
2. Start a new conversation.
3. Select a WSL folder and click Create Project.

Result:

创建项目失败

1. Repeat using a normal Windows folder such as:

C:\Temp\another-project-test

Result:

创建项目失败

1. Locate the Project that was successfully created earlier while the Agent Environment was Windows Native.
2. Attempt to remove that Project while the Agent Environment is WSL.

Result:

Project removal also fails.

A/B result

The same Codex Desktop installation behaves as follows:

Windows Native
  └─ Windows folder
       └─ Create Project ✅

Switch Agent Environment to WSL
  ├─ WSL folder
  │    └─ Create Project ❌
  │
  ├─ Windows folder
  │    └─ Create Project ❌
  │
  └─ Project previously created in Windows Native
       └─ Remove Project ❌

This strongly suggests that Project CRUD becomes broken when the WSL Agent Environment is active.

Why this does not appear to be a folder-specific problem

I initially suspected a WSL path translation issue.

However, creating a Project from a normal Windows folder also fails when the Agent Environment is WSL.

Conversely, the same Windows folder works when the Agent Environment is Windows Native.

Therefore the distinguishing variable is:

Agent Environment = Windows Native → works
Agent Environment = WSL           → fails

rather than:

Windows filesystem → works
WSL filesystem     → fails

Additional symptom: cross-environment Project identity

A Project created successfully while running in Windows Native mode remains visible after switching the Agent Environment to WSL.

However, in WSL mode the application cannot remove that Project.

This may indicate that the Desktop UI retains the Project record while the active WSL-side Project management path cannot correctly resolve the Project's host/path identity.

For example, the same physical Windows folder may have representations such as:

C:\Temp\project
/mnt/c/Temp/project

If Project identity or CRUD operations depend on the currently selected execution host, switching environments may leave the Project visible but not resolvable by the active backend.

This is only a hypothesis based on the A/B behavior; I do not have a low-level error confirming the exact cause.

Logs

I attempted to search the local Codex Desktop logs immediately after reproducing the failure using Project / workspace / create / remove / WSL / path-related keywords.

I could not find a useful low-level error corresponding to the Project creation failure.

The UI currently exposes only the generic:

创建项目失败

toast.

A more detailed error in the UI or a clearly identifiable Project CRUD log event would make this problem substantially easier to diagnose.

Expected behavior

Switching the Agent Environment between Windows Native and WSL should not disable Project management.

In WSL mode:

• a valid WSL folder should be usable to create a Project;
• a valid Windows folder should either be correctly translated to /mnt/<drive>/... or rejected with an actionable path error;
• existing Projects should remain removable;
• Project identity should remain stable across Windows and WSL path representations;
• changing Agent Environment should atomically switch the runtime without leaving Project state bound to the previous host representation.

Ideally, a saved Project should have a stable identity independent of whether the current execution path is represented as:

C:\...

or:

/mnt/c/...

Related issues

This appears related to the existing Windows/WSL Project identity and environment-switch problem family, but I could not find an existing issue reproducing this exact behavior on 26.825.31414.

Possibly related:

• #32902 — Windows App: WSL switch fails during provisioning, then hides history returned by thread/list
• #30737 — Codex Desktop project sidebar loses thread history when switching between Windows and WSL path views
• #39639 — Switching agent environment breaks WSL folder browsing and leaves stale Windows setup state
• #16815 — WSL agent mode fails during task creation while Windows Native works
• #40881 — WSL mode new-chat creation regression in the 26.820 release family

The important difference in this report is that on 26.825.31414:

1. Windows Native Project creation works;
2. switching to WSL makes all Project creation fail, including normal Windows folders;
3. Project removal also fails in WSL mode for a Project that was successfully created in Windows Native mode.

Impact

This blocks using Codex Desktop Projects with WSL as the Agent Environment.

The practical workaround is currently to keep the Agent Environment on Windows Native for Project management, or avoid Desktop Projects and use another Codex surface for WSL development.

Attachments

Available screenshots:

1. 创建项目失败 toast after attempting Project creation in WSL mode.
2. About dialog showing:

• ChatGPT / Powered by Codex & OWL
• Version 26.825.31414
• Released August 28, 2026.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Project management works correctly when the Agent Environment is set to Windows Native, but Project creation and removal stop working after switching the Agent Environment to WSL.

Reproduction:

1. Open ChatGPT / Codex Desktop 26.825.31414 on Windows.
2. Set Agent Environment to Windows Native.
3. Fully restart the app.
4. Start a new conversation and select a normal Windows folder, for example:

C:\Temp\codex-project-test

1. Click Create Project.
2. Confirm that the Project is created successfully.
3. Change Agent Environment to Windows Subsystem for Linux.
4. Fully restart the app.
5. Start a new conversation and select a folder inside WSL.
6. Click Create Project.
7. Project creation fails and the UI shows:

创建项目失败
("Failed to create project")

1. Repeat the test using a normal Windows folder while Agent Environment is still set to WSL.
2. Project creation also fails.
3. Try to remove the Project that was successfully created earlier while using Windows Native.
4. Project removal also fails.

A/B result:

Windows Native + Windows folder:
Create Project = works

WSL Agent Environment + WSL folder:
Create Project = fails

WSL Agent Environment + Windows folder:
Create Project = fails

WSL Agent Environment + Project previously created in Windows Native:
Remove Project = fails

This reproduces consistently and suggests that the failure is tied to the WSL Agent Environment rather than to a specific folder or filesystem.

What is the expected behavior?

Switching the Agent Environment from Windows Native to WSL should not break Project management.

When Agent Environment is set to WSL:

• I should be able to create a Project from a valid WSL folder.
• A valid Windows folder should either be correctly translated for the WSL environment or produce a specific actionable path error.
• Existing Projects should remain removable.
• Projects created while using Windows Native should remain manageable after switching to WSL.
• Switching Agent Environment should not leave Project state bound to an incompatible Windows/WSL path or host representation.

Project identity and CRUD operations should remain stable across equivalent path representations such as:

C:\Temp\project

and:

/mnt/c/Temp/project

Additional information

Additional isolation results:

• The problem is not limited to folders stored inside WSL.
• A normal Windows folder can be used to create a Project successfully when Agent Environment is Windows Native.
• The same type of Windows folder fails when Agent Environment is WSL.
• A Project created successfully in Windows Native remains visible after switching to WSL, but it cannot be removed while WSL is active.
• Switching back to Windows Native restores working Project creation.

Because both Windows and WSL folders fail only when the WSL Agent Environment is active, this appears to be a Project management / environment-switch issue rather than a filesystem permission problem in one specific folder.

I also attempted to find a more specific low-level Project creation/removal error in the local Codex Desktop logs immediately after reproducing the problem, but I could not find a useful Project CRUD error. The only user-visible message is the generic:

创建项目失败
("Failed to create project")

This makes the failure difficult to diagnose locally.

This may be related to existing Windows/WSL project identity and environment-switch issues:

• #32902 — Windows App: WSL switch fails during provisioning, then hides history returned by thread/list
• #30737 — Codex Desktop project sidebar loses thread history when switching between Windows and WSL path views
• #39639 — Switching agent environment breaks WSL folder browsing and leaves stale Windows setup state
• #16815 — WSL agent mode fails during task creation while Windows Native works

However, I could not find an existing issue that reproduces this exact behavior on 26.825.31414:

1. Project creation works in Windows Native.
2. After switching to WSL, creating any Project fails, including Projects backed by normal Windows folders.
3. Removing a Project that was created successfully in Windows Native also fails while WSL is active.

Screenshot available showing the "创建项目失败" toast.

About dialog:
ChatGPT — Powered by Codex & OWL
Version 26.825.31414
Released August 28, 2026.

<img width="382" height="362" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/2ed96d9d-1211-4276-8e86-466d78eb5f66" />

<img width="781" height="842" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/349ebf97-f083-4476-9f65-1ab5bcf9e348" />