Codex Desktop fails to create/use local ChatGPT Project when WSL mode is enabled on Windows

Summary

On Windows, Codex Desktop fails to create or use a local ChatGPT Project when WSL mode is enabled. The same project creation succeeds immediately after disabling the WSL setting.

This appears to be related to Windows/WSL project path handling rather than the target directory being non-empty.

Environment

• OS: Windows 11
• Codex Desktop
• Codex app version observed in config: 26.908.9136.0
• ChatGPT/Codex model: gpt-5.6-sol
• Reasoning effort: high
• Project directories commonly live under D:\projects\...
• WSL paths are also present, e.g. /mnt/d/projects/...

Relevant desktop config:

[desktop]
runCodexInWindowsSubsystemForLinux = true
integratedTerminalShell = "wsl"

Steps to reproduce

1. Run Codex Desktop on Windows.
2. Enable:

   [desktop]
   runCodexInWindowsSubsystemForLinux = true
   integratedTerminalShell = "wsl"
   

3. Try to create/use a local ChatGPT Project backed by a Windows project directory such as:

   D:\projects\test-project
   

4. Project creation/use fails.
5. Disable WSL mode:

   [desktop]
   runCodexInWindowsSubsystemForLinux = false
   

6. Restart Codex Desktop.
7. Create/use the same project again.

Actual behavior

With WSL mode enabled, project creation/use fails.

Expected behavior

Codex Desktop should correctly map the Windows project directory into WSL and create/use the project successfully.

Workaround

Disable:

runCodexInWindowsSubsystemForLinux = true

After switching back to Windows-native execution, project creation works normally.

Additional notes

• The issue does not appear to be caused by the target project directory containing existing files.
• The config includes both Windows project paths (D:\projects\...) and WSL equivalents (/mnt/d/projects/...).
• This strongly suggests a path conversion / project-root / initialization issue in the Windows + WSL integration layer.

Start by reproducing project creation with runCodexInWindowsSubsystemForLinux enabled and a Windows path such as D:\projects\test-project, then compare it with native Windows execution. Trace the Windows/WSL project-path and initialization flow; done means the same local project can be created and used successfully while WSL mode remains enabled.