[Windows Desktop] Window disappears, residual processes block relaunch, GPU process crashes, and AppX registration repeatedly breaks

No source file, test, or code entry point is named. Start by reproducing the intermittent window loss and reviewing the Codex desktop logs alongside Windows Application and AppX deployment events. Done means GPU subprocess failure no longer removes the window, residual processes do not block relaunch, and updates preserve Start/taskbar registration without repeated reinstallations.

What version of the Codex App are you using?

The issue has reproduced across these Microsoft Store builds:

• 26.707.9981.0
• 26.721.3996.0
• 26.721.4979.0

The current installed package is OpenAI.Codex_26.721.4979.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0.

What platform is your computer?

Windows 11 x64, hybrid AMD Radeon + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti laptop.

What issue are you seeing?

Codex Desktop repeatedly loses its visible window and taskbar/Start registration. The application does not reliably relaunch afterward unless it is reinstalled or all residual processes are forcibly stopped and the existing AppX package is re-registered.

There appear to be two linked failure modes:

1. The embedded Chromium GPU subprocess crashes and then fails to relaunch.
2. Microsoft Store/AppX repeatedly repairs or stages the already-installed package, sometimes leaving the user registration invalid and the normal launcher missing.

When the visible window disappears, multiple ChatGPT.exe, codex.exe, and codex-code-mode-host.exe processes can remain alive. Clicking the normal launcher then does nothing. Reinstalling from Microsoft Store seems to help only because Store force-stops the residual processes and re-registers the package.

This is severely disruptive: the user has had to reinstall the approximately 743 MB package repeatedly just to reopen the app.

Timeline and evidence

• 2026-07-14: Store update initially failed with 0x80073D02 (package files in use), then completed.
• 2026-07-15 20:21 local: first large crash wave began on 26.707.9981.0.
• Windows Application log recorded 124 repeated Application Error event 1000 entries for the same ChatGPT.exe process, exception 0xc06d007f, faulting module unknown.
• 2026-07-24: build 26.721.3996.0 was installed. Repeated AppX operations then reported 0x80073CF8, 0x80073CF2, StageUserDataAsync, Package data is invalid, and 0x80073D02.
• Codex desktop logs showed the visible app exiting immediately after:

  Recoverable Chromium child process gone ... processType=GPU reason=crashed
  Recoverable Chromium child process gone ... processType=GPU reason=launch-failed
  

• The GPU crash was reproduced with different embedded-browser sites, so it was not specific to Gmail or one webpage.
• A clean uninstall/reinstall installed 26.721.4979.0 but did not permanently resolve the behavior.
• 2026-07-25 19:19:09 UTC and 20:01:07 UTC: GPU subprocess again logged reason=crashed with exit code 101457950, immediately followed by reason=launch-failed with exit code 18.
• After force-stopping all residual Codex processes, re-registering the existing manifest, and relaunching, the app worked again without a Store download.
• 2026-07-26 12:47 local: AppX deployment produced new servicing warnings while operating on 26.721.4979.0:
  • 0x80070005 — could not get security descriptor / access denied
  • 0x80073CFC — hard-link/package servicing failure
  • 0x8007051D — could not check access
  • AppX events 477 and 486 referenced files inside the signed WindowsApps package tree.
• The Start-menu registration has alternated between being absent and returning as OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0!App.

Steps to reproduce

The exact trigger is intermittent, but the observed sequence is:

1. Run Codex Desktop normally on Windows for several hours.
2. Use one or more in-app browser/webview tabs.
3. The visible window disappears without a useful user-facing error.
4. Inspect Task Manager: multiple Codex/ChatGPT helper processes remain.
5. Try to launch Codex again from Start/taskbar: no usable window appears.
6. Microsoft Store may show Install/Update even though Get-AppxPackage OpenAI.Codex reports the package installed and Status: Ok.
7. Store reinstall/repair temporarily restores launchability.

Expected behavior

• A recoverable Chromium GPU subprocess failure should not destroy the visible application window.
• If the window closes, all app-owned processes should exit cleanly or allow a new instance to start.
• App updates should not race with a running instance or corrupt user registration.
• The Start/taskbar launcher should remain registered across updates.
• Users should never need to download and reinstall the same package repeatedly to relaunch Codex.

Workarounds tested

• Clearing only GPU/Dawn/shader caches: did not resolve recurrence.
• Re-registering the AppX manifest: temporarily restores launchability.
• Resetting the embedded-browser profile: did not permanently resolve it.
• Clean uninstall/reinstall: did not permanently resolve it.
• Setting Windows per-executable GpuPreference=2 to use the discrete NVIDIA GPU: reduced GPU failures temporarily but did not prevent later AppX servicing/registration errors.
• Force-stopping residual Codex processes, re-registering the existing manifest, and launching the executable directly reliably avoids another Store download.

Ruled out locally

• NVMe and NTFS report healthy; no disk, Ntfs, stornvme, WHEA, or display-driver error events correlate with the failures.
• AMD and NVIDIA display devices report no PnP problems.
• The first crash predates later installations of Tailscale, Chrome Remote Desktop, and Chrome.
• No GPU driver installation occurred in the inspected onset window.

Privacy note

This report intentionally omits the Windows username, hostname, project names, conversation contents, session identifiers, and complete local paths. Sanitized log excerpts or additional event details can be provided if maintainers request them.