[Windows][26.908.4834.0] Desktop app starts background ChatGPT.exe processes but never shows a window

Version

Microsoft Store/MSIX package OpenAI.Codex, version 26.908.4834.0 (x64). Executable: app\ChatGPT.exe inside the package.

Platform

Windows 11 Pro 25H2, OS build 26200.9168 after the latest Windows update and restart. The problem existed before this system update and persists afterward.

Symptoms

Launching from the Start menu starts a group of approximately 5–6 ChatGPT processes, but no visible window appears, including in Alt+Tab. Waiting several minutes does not resolve it. The web version of ChatGPT works normally.

The desktop app last worked approximately three months ago. It was not used for a long interval, so the first affected version and exact onset are unknown; this is not a confirmed regression from a specific update.

The installer was obtained from the official website and opened the Microsoft Store installation flow. The current package is installed under C:\Program Files\WindowsApps. An earlier reliability report referenced a D:\WindowsApps installation, before reinstalling.

Steps to reproduce on the affected machine

1. Launch the installed desktop app from the Start menu.
2. Observe background ChatGPT.exe processes in Task Manager.
3. No application window appears.

Troubleshooting completed without resolving the issue

• End the entire application process group and relaunch.
• Windows application Repair and Reset.
• Uninstall/reinstall through the Store flow.
• Full Windows restart; subsequently Windows update and restart.
• Launch with --disable-gpu (whether this build honored it was not verified).
• Launch with a fresh temporary --user-data-dir. The directory was created, but no window appeared. This does not establish isolation of all application state.

A different Windows user account and an alternate proxy/network configuration have not been tested.

Observed diagnostic output

The startup console included:

[sparkle] in_app_updates_policy_wait_started timeoutMs=300000
Launching app agentRunId=null allowDebugMenu=false allowDevtools=false allowInspectElement=false buildFlavor=prod enableSparkle=false enableUpdater=true nodeEnv=undefined packaged=true platform=win32

There is no captured completion/timeout message establishing that this update-policy wait is the cause.

Chromium file logging produced only initial entries, including:

Failed opening key Software\Chromium to set usagestats; result: 5
Desktop Identity Consistency cannot be enabled as no OAuth client ID and client secret have been configured.
VizNullHypothesis is disabled (not a warning)
No entry found for gpu-process/viz-compositor.

Windows Reliability Monitor recorded MoAppHang / "Stopped responding and was closed" for the packaged executable. This may correspond to manually ending the app and is not proof of a spontaneous crash.

Related reports and request

Similar symptoms are reported in #41073 and #42714. This report supplies a more recent affected package version; a shared root cause has not been established. The updater workaround described in #41073 has not been tested on this machine.

Please investigate startup blocking before the window is shown and advise how to collect the appropriate application-level logs for this build. If this is the same issue as an existing report, please consolidate accordingly.

Only transcribed diagnostic details are included; no personal screenshots, credentials, conversation databases, or private files are attached.

Start by comparing the startup symptoms and updater workaround in issues #41073 and #42714, then reproduce the packaged app launch using app\ChatGPT.exe on the affected Windows setup. Investigate the reported in-app update policy wait and the available application-level logs. Done means identifying the startup blocker or consolidating this report with the matching issue, with clear log-collection guidance.