anthropics / anthropics/claude-code

[BUG] Windows: Claude Desktop fails to launch — 0x80070020 when creating the Desktop AppX container

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#92,202 0 comments 1 reaction 0 assignees View on GitHub
area:cowork area:desktop duplicate platform:windows
Dominant language
Python
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Description

**What's wrong?**
Claude Desktop repeatedly fails to launch on Windows. A Windows message box appears: "Ein anderes Programm greift gerade auf diese Datei zu" ("Another program is currently using this file"), pointing at the package install path. There is no actual file lock — the failure is AppX/Desktop-Bridge container creation returning 0x80070020 (ERROR_SHARING_VIOLATION).

**Package:** Claude_1.46388.3.0_x64__pzs8sxrjxfjjc
**OS:** Windows (German locale)
**Last occurrence:** 2026-09-04 21:13

**Event log (Microsoft-Windows-AppModel-Runtime/Admin), same second, repeating:**
- Event ID 208 — 0x80070020: process for package Claude_1.46388.3.0_x64__pzs8… could not be started
- Event ID 215 — 0x80070020: Desktop AppX container for package Claude_1.46388.3.0_x64__pzs8… could not be created (job-to-silo conversion)
- Event IDs 210/211/217 — container created / process assigned / container terminated, interleaved with the failures

**What I tried**
- Killed all package processes via elevated PowerShell (claude.exe, ClaudeDesktop.exe, CoworkVMService.exe, node.exe and the whole descendant tree). Launch still fails with the same error.
- `Get-AppxPackage *Claude* | Reset-AppxPackage` — did not resolve it, and it wipes local app state (login, config).
- Only a logoff/reboot reliably recovers. Not a one-off; it recurs, typically after package updates.

**Expected**
The app should not leave an orphaned Silo/Job object behind when it crashes or is updated. Activation failing with 0x80070020 should self-heal by terminating the stale container job members and retrying, instead of requiring a reboot.

**Also:** the user-facing message is misleading. "Another program is currently using this file" sends users hunting for file locks that do not exist.

**Related:** #53247, #61115, #66497, #73107 — same root cause, still reproducible on 1.46388.3.0.

Contributor guide

No contributing guide indexed for this repository

Research direction

The issue names no repository files, tests, or entry points. Start by tracing the Windows AppX/Desktop-Bridge activation path and the handling of Event IDs 208/215 and 0x80070020; compare related issues #53247, #61115, #66497, and #73107. Done means reproducing the update or crash scenario, handling stale container jobs safely, and replacing the misleading message.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Domain
desktop-dev, operating-systems
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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