Codex Desktop Windows native sandbox setup fails, WSL works; unelevated fallback also fails

Summary

Codex / ChatGPT Desktop on Windows gets stuck during Windows native sandbox setup.

The app UI shows:

• 正在完成 Windows 设置
• ChatGPT 正在创建在你的计算机上运行所需的沙盒。这可能需要几分钟
• Windows 设置未完成
• 重试 Windows 设置

Retrying does not complete setup.

Current workaround

Switching Agent Environment from Windows Native to WSL works. This suggests the issue is specific to Windows native sandbox setup/initialization rather than the project itself.

Attempted workaround that did not fix it

Setting the Windows sandbox fallback to unelevated did not resolve the setup loop.

Example attempted config:

[windows]
sandbox = "unelevated"
sandbox_private_desktop = false

Environment details / clues

• Windows native sandbox setup fails.
• WSL Agent Environment works.
• unelevated fallback still fails.
• Windows user profile path contains non-ASCII characters.

Diagnostics

Running in elevated PowerShell:

systeminfo | findstr /i "Virtualization"

Output includes:

Virtualization-based security: Status: Running
Base Virtualization Support

Running:

Get-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Containers-DisposableClientVM,VirtualMachinePlatform,Microsoft-Hyper-V-All

returns a PowerShell parameter binding error because FeatureName expects a string, not an array.

Running:

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Containers-DisposableClientVM,VirtualMachinePlatform,Microsoft-Hyper-V-All -All

returns:

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature : 功能名称 Containers-DisposableClientVM 未知。

Expected behavior

The Windows native setup flow should either complete successfully, fall back cleanly, or show a precise diagnostic explaining which prerequisite failed.

Actual behavior

The Desktop app remains stuck at the Windows setup retry screen for Windows Native. WSL works as a workaround.

Notes

This may be related to existing Windows Desktop sandbox setup loop reports, but this case is notable because both Windows Native and the unelevated fallback fail, while WSL works.

No source files, tests, or implementation entry points are named. Begin by reproducing the Windows Native setup loop and compare it with the working WSL path and failing unelevated fallback, including the non-ASCII profile path and reported prerequisite diagnostics. Done means setup completes, fallback works cleanly, or the UI identifies the missing prerequisite precisely.