EBUSY: resource busy or locked
Another process holds the file or device Claude Code needs.
127 issues · 18 open · 109 resolved (86%) · first seen Aug 26, 2025
First response · local
What to do now
Most likely: The operating system rejected a file or directory operation.
- Read the first path in the error and verify that it exists and belongs to the expected user.
- Check disk space, permissions, symlinks and whether another process holds the target.
- Reproduce with the smallest affected path before changing project-wide permissions.
These are conservative triage steps, not an official Anthropic fix. Use the issue and workaround evidence below before making a destructive configuration change.
Is this getting better or worse?
This class of problem is converging. 37 new reports in the last 90 days vs 52 in the 90 before — -29%. The open backlog peaked at 19 in 2026-07 and sits at 18 today.
Derived by counting each matching issue from its creation date until it closed. First-party
computation over the anthropics/claude-code tracker — the trend is not published
anywhere upstream.
Which builds report this
67 of these reports name the Claude Code build they were running, spanning 54 releases. Heaviest reporters:
- Claude Code v2.1.12
- Claude Code v2.1.219
- Claude Code v2.1.119
- Claude Code v2.1.128
- Claude Code v2.1.116
- Claude Code v2.1.92
- Claude Code v2.1.70
- Claude Code v2.1.3
Report volume, not a defect count: an issue can mention a build without that build having caused the failure. Versions come from the version string in the bug-report template, matched against real published tags.
Do these get fixed?
Median time to close is 4 days across 109 closures. Of the 109 closures with a recorded reason, 11% were closed as completed and 97 as not-planned or duplicate. The most recent completed fix landed in 2026-05.
Workarounds reported by the community
35 of these issues post a workaround someone says worked. The highest-engagement ones:
- [BUG] [BUG] Cowork VM fails to start on Windows ARM64 (Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge, Snapdragon)
- …in the original post plus: - Installed x64 version via the workaround from 30864 (Add-AppxPackage) — different error: "Microsoft Virtual BIOS — enabling failed with error Not Implemented (0x80004001)" - Enabled Hypervis…
Found in the thread of #40198 · still open - [BUG] Cowork VM guest kernel never boots on Snapdragon X Plus (ARM64) — connection timeout every attempt
- …in ARM64 boot, not a hardware incompatibility. Working user workaround: open the workspace → ignore the 60 s error → leave the app open ~25 min (do NOT restart the app/service/PC — that kills the booting VM; the error di…
Found in the thread of #39636 · resolved - [BUG] Cowork ARM64: VM boots but guest never connects — "VM connection timeout after 60 seconds
- …l connection — the timer fires before the guest can answer. Workaround: Waiting ~3 min after app launch before using Cowork allows the retry cycle to catch the VM in a ready state. Ask: Increase the guest connection time…
Found in the thread of #39161 · still open - [BUG] GPU process crash (exitCode 101457950) kills Claude Desktop and corrupts MSIX package when Opus 5 performs an in-page browser action (Windows 11)
- …A/software rendering). Worth cross-referencing that thread. Workaround in the meantime: avoiding the embedded Browser pane entirely and using curl/WebFetch for anything that needs real web content.
Found in the thread of #81159 · resolved - Cowork: VM connection timeout on Windows ARM64 (Snapdragon X Plus)
- …er-V plumbing issue on the Snapdragon X Plus, not something you can fix with wsl --install or a restart. The EBUSY "VM is already running" errors you see later in the log are a downstream symptom, not the cause — after a…
Found in the thread of #45480 · resolved
Excerpts are quoted from the linked issue so you can judge relevance before opening it. Threads that only ask for a workaround, or report that there is none, are excluded. These are community suggestions, not official guidance from Anthropic — read the full thread before applying one.
Matching issues 1–100
Ranked by community engagement (reactions weighted over comments).
- [BUG] [BUG] Cowork VM fails to start on Windows ARM64 (Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge, Snapdragon)
- [BUG] Cowork VM guest kernel never boots on Snapdragon X Plus (ARM64) — connection timeout every attempt
- [BUG] Cowork ARM64: VM boots but guest never connects — "VM connection timeout after 60 seconds
- [BUG] GPU process crash (exitCode 101457950) kills Claude Desktop and corrupts MSIX package when Opus 5 performs an in-page browser action (Windows 11)
- Cowork: VM connection timeout on Windows ARM64 (Snapdragon X Plus)
- [BUG] v2.1.32 / Opus 4.6 regression: New tab unresponsive + EBUSY .claude.json lock
- [Bug] Temporary files with "tmpclaude-xyz-cwd" pattern left in repository root
- [BUG] /insights fails with EBUSY on Windows — cannot read current session's session-meta file (v2.1.71 regression)
- Cowork VM connection timeout on Windows 11 Pro ARM64 - guest agent never connects
- [Bug] Terms acceptance prompt repeats daily or every 12 hours
- [BUG] Cowork Windows: Triple-parallel VM startup race condition causes "VM is already running" failure loop
- session usage jumped 30% per prompt in less then 1 minute of entering the prompt
- [Bug] Windows path handling broken in bash tool execution
- Cowork VM: 'Virtualization is not enabled' after update to 1.1.3918 - yukonSilver unsupported regression
- Claude Desktop (Windows MSIX) auto-update silently fails with 0x80073D02 while app is running
- [Bug] csharp-lsp Unhandled method window/workDoneProgress/create in StreamJsonRpc
- [BUG] Cowork — VM boots but guest never connects; HNS network silently not created (Windows 11 ARM64 / Snapdragon X)
- Claude Desktop (Cowork): TLS verification failure on bridge.claudeusercontent.com — bundled Node CA bundle issue on Windows 11 [regression ~1 week]
- [Bug] IntelliJ IDEA Plugin Regression in Latest Version
- [Bug] Plugin installation installs all skills instead of selected plugin only
- [Bug] Typing letter 'N' in /feedback command cancels input
- [BUG] File locking on windows
- /plugin install fails on Windows with EBUSY rename errors (Defender real-time scan race)
- Windows: App unusable after update — file lock + spawn EBUSY (v1.3561.0.0)[BUG]
- [SYS-034] v2.1.113 native binary switch terminates running sessions on upgrade — API Error: terminated
- EBUSY: resource busy or locked when running multiple Claude instances concurrently
- Setting showTurnDuration to false does not do anything. Still see those durations.
- Recurring mid-session freeze on Windows — Opus 4.7, no consistent trigger
- [Bug] /terminal-setup hangs indefinitely with immutable config files on NixOS
- [BUG] Claude Desktop (Windows/MSIX 1.25927.0): main process OOM-crashes at ~4.4 GB during session restore — ~3 min uptime, every launch
- [BUG] Claude Desktop crashes repeatedly on Windows — 403 from claude.ai triggers Turnstile → GPU process crash loop (affects multiple users, worsening after Fable 5 update)
- [BUG] "Windows auto-updater EBUSY: running 245MB SEA locks its dir during swap"
- [BUG] Cowork "VM connection timeout after 60 seconds" — all repair paths exhausted
- [Bug] Safety filter triggering inconsistently on repeated queries with same subject matter
- [BUG] [BUG] Claude Desktop fails to open on Windows 10 — EBUSY on chrome-native-host.exe
- [BUG] Claude deleted production data
- [BUG] Claude Desktop v1.1.5368 - Cowork tab freezes UI on Windows (VM boots successfully but Electron main thread hangs)
- [Bug] Token consumption issue - request investigation and resolution
- new /config "Show code diff footer" does not seemingly do anything.
- [Bug] Chrome launched with custom arguments causes Cloudflare CAPTCHA loop on claude.ai authentication
- [BUG] Error spawning Claude: Error: spawn EBUSY
- [BUG] VS Code terminal randomly interrupts Claude Code + node process hangs + EBUSY on debug files (Windows)
- [Bug] Repeated Permission/Login Prompts on Every Startup
- Windows MSIX: failed auto-update while app is hung uninstalls Claude Desktop (RemoveForAllUsers) - app disappears, daily reinstall required
- [BUG] sandbox.filesystem の deny bind-mount が Bash コマンド終了後も残存・累積する（解除に sudo umount が必要）
- [BUG] Claude Code Desktop: Critical Knowledge Gaps Causing Token Waste
- [BUG] Auto-update orphans MCP child processes on Windows, breaking next launch of npx-based MCP servers (EBUSY)
- [BUG] "✗ Auto-update failed" banner fires on a native install already running the latest channel version (transient check-failure surfaced as install-failure)
- [BUG] CLI crashes (exit code 1) on unhandled McpError -32001 AbortError during tool_use
- [Bug Report: Unable to process - no bug details provided]
- [Bug] Update check shows incorrect stable version (2.1.126 vs 2.1.139)
- [Bug] GitHub MCP server connection fails when spawned by Claude Code on Windows
- [Bug] Remote review quota consumed on Anthropic API rate-limit crash with zero findings
- I'm ready to generate GitHub issue titles for Claude Code bug reports. Please provide the bug report content and I'll create a concise, technical issue title following the specified format.
- [Bug] VSCode integration not working: text selection does not trigger conversation popup
- [BUG] Claude Code Desktop lost sessions, zombie processes, worktree fallback, usage spike, and /feedback unusable
- [Bug] Authentication Error: 401 Unauthorized on API Requests
- Claude Desktop on Windows 11 25H2 crashes when switching to Code section (Chat and Cowork work fine)
- Cowork VM orchestrator loses handle to healthy VM, retries forever due to stuck .auto_reinstall_attempted sentinel
- Plugin marketplace installation flow needs improvement
- [BUG] Claude Cowork not working on Windows ARM64 (Snapdragon X Plus Surface) - tried everything, still getting VM timeout
- EBUSY file lock error on Windows when multiple sessions write to .claude.json
- EBUSY: concurrent instances race on .claude.json (Windows)
- [Bug] Plugin command tab UI not opening on Windows Terminal, folder selection dialog displayed instead
- [BUG] Cowork never initializes on Windows 11 arm64 (Snapdragon X / HP Omnibook) — smol-bin.arm64.vhdx locked in read-only AppX directory, never copied to writable location
- C:/Program Files/Git/insights crashes with EBUSY on Windows when session-meta file is locked
- [BUG] npm install fails EBUSY on libvips-42.dll with running sessions — regression from v2.1.87 (Windows)
- [Bug] Excessive token consumption in new sessions - context not clearing properly between conversations
- [BUG] /insights fails with EBUSY on current session's metadata file (Windows)
- [BUG] VM connection timeout after 60 seconds
- [BUG] Error adding Superpowers plugin marketplace on Windows 10
- Sandbox leaves behind empty stub files in working directory after bash command completes
- Claude Desktop: Chrome Extension MCP bridge disconnects repeatedly, prompts for re-authentication
- [BUG] Cowork Windows - "Could not determine session storage dir" on Windows 10 Pro
- EBUSY: resource busy or locked on .claude.json with multiple concurrent sessions (Windows)
- EBUSY: resource busy or locked on .claude.json with multiple concurrent instances (Windows)
- [BUG] Claude Desktop Windows — CSP blocks analytics endpoint, AutoUpdater memory leak, hourly Chrome bridge drops
- [Bug] Context output missing syntax highlighting
- [Bug] Anthropic API: Infinite loop after response completion with zero token usage
- command matching priority is messed up yet again. /conf or /con lands on /compact every other time.
- [Bug] EBUSY: Resource locked when accessing .claude.json config file
- [Bug] Unintended file deletion on filesystem
- [Bug] Compact Command Fails with "Conversation Too Long" Error
- I apologize, but I do not feel comfortable generating an issue title from this message, as it appears to be an angry, non-technical complaint that does not provide specific technical details about a software issue. If you would like to file a GitHub issue
- [Bug] Incomplete Error Message: Truncated Logging Output/
- [Bug] Premature Execution Without User Input Confirmation
- [Bug] Critical Git Commit Failure: Partial Commit Instead of Full Project State
- [Bug] Incomplete Commit: Partial Staging Instead of Full Repository Commit
- [BUG] [BUG] Cowork fails to start VM on Windows ARM64 (Surface Snapdragon) — VM connection timeout / EBUSY / VM service not running
- [BUG] Auto-updater silently fails on Windows when VS Code extension is active (regression since 2.1.147)
- Plugin install fails with EBUSY on Windows for PRIVATE repos (public works fine; not casing-related)
- [BUG] Write/Edit on Windows SMB UNC path crashes CLI with uncaught EUNKNOWN
- [Bug] Auto-update failure notification displayed persistently
- [Bug] Claude 3.5 Opus 200K context window incorrectly charged as extra usage on Max plan
- plugin install fails on Windows with EBUSY when other sessions hold cache handles
- [BUG] session-meta records 'Unknown skill' error as first_prompt, polluting /insights telemetry
- [BUG] Windows: Plugin marketplace path breaks when username contains spaces/accents (VS Code task context)
- [BUG] /insights gives error 'Error: EBUSY: resource busy or locked, open'
- [BUG] Claude Desktop - Google OAuth login loop, claude:// callback not delivered to running instance (Windows Store)
- [BUG] Chrome Native Host copy fails with EBUSY on every startup (should check hash first)