Windows ChatGPT/Codex Desktop 26.820.9563.0 can hang ~8 minutes before creating its main window

Summary

On Windows, the current ChatGPT/Codex Desktop package 26.820.9563.0 does not create any visible window. Multiple ChatGPT.exe processes remain running and responsive, but every process has MainWindowHandle = 0.

This started after an earlier startup failure that showed:

Unable to locate the Codex CLI binary

The bundled/local Codex CLI itself is present and works correctly.

App / CLI versions

Installed AppX package:

Name: OpenAI.Codex
Version: 26.820.9563.0
InstallLocation: C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.820.9563.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
Status: Ok

Local Codex CLI:

C:\Users\CC\AppData\Local\OpenAI\Codex\bin\d5f4c71927a04589\codex.exe
codex-cli 0.150.0-alpha.8

Running codex.exe --version succeeds.

Observed behavior

Launching the desktop app from the Start menu produces no visible window and no user-facing error.

The latest desktop log contains only:

2026-08-27T05:18:12.542Z info Launching app agentRunId=null allowDebugMenu=false allowDevtools=false allowInspectElement=false buildFlavor=prod enableSparkle=false enableUpdater=true nodeEnv=undefined packaged=true platform=win32
2026-08-27T05:18:12.602Z info Appshot hotkey inactive configured=true enabled=false platform=win32

No further log lines are written.

After launching with an isolated profile plus GPU/sandbox flags, the processes remain alive, but no BrowserWindow is created:

Get-Process ChatGPT | Select-Object Id,Responding,MainWindowTitle,MainWindowHandle

Output:

   Id Responding MainWindowTitle MainWindowHandle
   -- ---------- --------------- ----------------
 6676       True                                0
 7760       True                                0
 9588       True                                0
15300       True                                0

So this is not an off-screen/hidden window; the processes are responsive but have no main window handle.

Reproduction / troubleshooting already tried

1. Uninstalled and reinstalled the Windows app.
2. Rebooted Windows multiple times.
3. Verified AppX package status is Ok.
4. Verified the Codex CLI binary exists and runs (codex-cli 0.150.0-alpha.8).
5. Temporarily set CODEX_CLI_PATH to the working codex.exe, then removed it again for a clean test.
6. Tested launching with a dummy argument.
7. Tested:

--disable-gpu --disable-gpu-compositing --disable-software-rasterizer

No window appears.

8. Tested with a fresh profile and sandbox disabled:

--no-sandbox --disable-gpu --disable-software-rasterizer --user-data-dir=<fresh temp dir>

With these flags the ChatGPT processes stay running, but still no window is created (MainWindowHandle=0).

9. Checked Crashpad reports directory; no new .dmp was produced for these attempts.
10. Disabled OrayIddDriver Device, uninstalled the Sunlogin/Oray remote desktop software, and rebooted. No change.
11. Verified Windows Null kernel driver:

SERVICE_NAME: Null
TYPE: 1 KERNEL_DRIVER
STATE: 4 RUNNING

12. Verified NUL redirection works (NUL_OK).

GPU / display environment

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Laptop GPU
DriverVersion: 32.0.15.7712

Intel(R) Arc(TM) 140T GPU (16GB)
DriverVersion: 32.0.101.7026

A third-party virtual display driver (OrayIddDriver Device) was present originally, but disabling it, uninstalling the associated software, and rebooting did not resolve the issue.

Expected behavior

The ChatGPT/Codex Windows desktop app should create and display its main window normally.

If startup fails before BrowserWindow creation, the app should surface an actionable error rather than silently leaving responsive background processes with MainWindowHandle=0.

Additional context

The failure signature resembles several existing Windows startup issues where logs stop after Launching app / Appshot hotkey inactive, but this report is for the newer 26.820.9563.0 package and differs in that the processes can remain alive and responsive while no main window is ever created.

Start by reproducing the packaged Windows launch and reviewing the desktop log after “Appshot hotkey inactive”; no source file or test is identified in the report. Trace the startup path to the missing BrowserWindow and define done as either a normally displayed main window or an actionable startup error, with the existing PowerShell process checks confirming the result.