Windows desktop cold start takes 3–5 min after update; stale AppX cleanup gets 0x12C

Summary

After updating the Windows desktop app, cold launch often takes 3–5 minutes before the UI is usable. During the delay, Windows repeatedly activates and destroys the app's AppX container.

Environment

• Windows 11, x64
• Package: OpenAI.Codex / ChatGPT.exe
• Affected version: 26.915.4065.0
• Previous version: 26.915.3509.0

Steps observed

1. Fully exit the desktop app.
2. Launch it cold after the package has updated.
3. Wait for the first usable UI.

Expected behavior

The updated desktop app starts promptly and Windows completes cleanup of the previous package version.

Actual behavior

The first usable UI can take 3–5 minutes. In the same time window, Windows AppModel-Runtime records repeated AppX container activation and destruction.

Windows evidence

On 2026-09-19 (UTC+8), the package updated from 26.915.3509.0 to 26.915.4065.0 around 16:10. Afterwards, Microsoft-Windows-AppXDeploymentServer/Operational repeatedly logged Event ID 471, approximately every six minutes, while attempting to remove the previous OpenAI.Codex package from the protected WindowsApps\Deleted location.

The affected files included:

• app\resources.pak
• app\v8_context_snapshot.bin

The deployment error was 0x12C (The oplock request is denied).

Between approximately 16:13 and 16:23, Microsoft-Windows-AppModel-Runtime/Admin recorded repeated application-container creation/destruction, matching the user-visible delay.

Ruled out locally

• App data was approximately 97 MB.
• At collection time, approximately 13.7 GB RAM and 38 GB free space on C: were available.
• No ChatGPT application crash event was recorded.

I did not reset the app or manually remove files from protected WindowsApps folders, to avoid losing local state or corrupting package deployment state.

Request

Please investigate whether the Windows desktop updater can leave old package files locked after an update, causing AppX cleanup retries and prolonged cold-start activation.

Start by tracing the Windows desktop updater and package lifecycle associated with the OpenAI.Codex update. Reproduce or correlate AppXDeploymentServer Event 471 with AppModel-Runtime container creation and destruction, then verify that the old package cleanup completes without repeated retries and that cold launch becomes prompt.