[BUG] Claude Cowork conflict with Mac OS 26

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MacOS 26.2, Claude 1.1.2321 (495628) 2026-02-06T22:01:17.000Z

Everything was working fine last night and then this morning cowork starting having fits. I didn't make any updates to the OS or other files (at least that I'm aware of), nor an update to Claude over night.

I did use claude code to troubleshoot and found a solution to get cowork working again. However, I want to be very clear that I am trusting Claude here and I can't fully confirm that this might not end up with lost data. So use at your own risk, make backups, etc. But here's Claude's advice:

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Fix: Cowork VM stuck at guest_vsock_connect (macOS 26.x)

If Cowork fails to start with the VM timing out at the guest_vsock_connect step, resetting the VM bundle fixes it:

1. Fully quit Claude Desktop (Cmd+Q, may need twice)

2. Verify it's dead

ps aux | grep -i Claude.app | grep -v grep

3. (Optional) Back up session data if you want to preserve it

mkdir -p ~/Documents/claude-vm-backup
cp ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/vm_bundles/claudevm.bundle/sessiondata.img ~/Documents/claude-vm-backup/
cp ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/vm_bundles/claudevm.bundle/macAddress ~/Documents/claude-vm-backup/
cp ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/vm_bundles/claudevm.bundle/machineIdentifier ~/Documents/claude-vm-backup/

4. Delete the VM bundle

rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/vm_bundles/

5. Relaunch Claude Desktop - it will re-download the VM image (~10 GB)

First launch may take a few minutes. Cowork conversations are NOT lost (stored separately in local-agent-mode-sessions/).

What you lose: In-VM session state (installed packages, files created within Cowork sessions). What you keep: All Cowork conversation histories, Claude Desktop settings.

Thank you. Problem solved!

Had the same issue, also on MacOS 26.2. Deleting the VM bundle and restarting Claude Desktop did the trick for me as well.

Confirming the same issue on macOS 26.3 final (build 25D5112c), MacBook Pro, Claude Desktop latest version.

Logs from cowork_vm_swift.log showed the identical pattern:

• VM boots successfully
• guest_vsock_connect started — then hangs indefinitely
• Timeout after ~4 minutes, retry attempts with gateway IP incrementing (192.168.65.1 → 192.168.66.1)
• Timeout waiting for VM to stop (state: 1), proceeding with cleanup
• No successful connections

VM config: 4 CPUs, 4GB RAM, EFI/GRUB boot, VZVmnetNetworkDeviceAttachment (shared mode).

Fix that worked for me: Resetting the VM bundle resolved the issue.

1. Fully quit Claude Desktop (Cmd+Q)
2. Back up session data: cp ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/vm_bundles/claudevm.bundle/sessiondata.img ~/Documents/claude-vm-backup/
3. Delete VM bundle: rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/vm_bundles/
4. Relaunch Claude Desktop (re-downloads ~10 GB VM image)

Cowork started normally after this. Conversation histories were preserved.

Thanks @rcwhitney, and Claude I guess. had the same issue, I believe the same timeline as the OP, and this fixed it

same issue MacOS 26.2

Confirmed fix on macOS 26.2 (Tahoe), Claude 1.1.2321 — with full task recovery

Adding to @rcwhitney's and @MaverickKB's findings. I was hitting the same guest_vsock_connect timeout on macOS 26.2 since Saturday night. Rebooting, reinstalling, disabling MCP servers — nothing worked.

The VM bundle delete fix from this thread resolved the boot issue, but the critical missing piece is backing up and restoring sessiondata.img to preserve your Cowork tasks.

Without the restore, all existing tasks throw:

RPC error: ensure user: user dazzling-nifty-thompson should already exist but does not, 
and recovery failed: home directory /sessions/dazzling-nifty-thompson does not exist

Every task becomes orphaned and has to be manually recreated. If you have mature tasks with significant context, that's a painful loss.

Full fix with task recovery:

Step 1 — Quit Claude and back up session data:

osascript -e 'quit app "Claude"'
ps aux | grep -i Claude.app | grep -v grep
mkdir -p ~/Documents/claude-vm-backup
cp ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/vm_bundles/claudevm.bundle/sessiondata.img ~/Documents/claude-vm-backup/
cp ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/vm_bundles/claudevm.bundle/macAddress ~/Documents/claude-vm-backup/
cp ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/vm_bundles/claudevm.bundle/machineIdentifier ~/Documents/claude-vm-backup/

Step 2 — Delete the VM bundle and relaunch:

rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/vm_bundles/claudevm.bundle
open -a Claude

Wait for the ~10 GB VM image to re-download and Cowork to become available.

Step 3 — Restore session data:

osascript -e 'quit app "Claude"'
ps aux | grep -i Claude.app | grep -v grep
cp ~/Documents/claude-vm-backup/sessiondata.img ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/vm_bundles/claudevm.bundle/sessiondata.img
cp ~/Documents/claude-vm-backup/macAddress ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/vm_bundles/claudevm.bundle/macAddress
cp ~/Documents/claude-vm-backup/machineIdentifier ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/vm_bundles/claudevm.bundle/machineIdentifier
open -a Claude

All 8 of my existing Cowork tasks came back fully functional.

What this preserves: All task session state, installed packages, working files inside the sandbox.
What gets replaced: Only the rootfs (the Linux OS image), which was the corrupted component.

+1 to @MaverickKB's recommendation for a "Reset Workspace" button in the UI. This shouldn't require Terminal archaeology.

MacOS 15.7.4 (24G517), same vsock timeout, resolved by deleting vm_bundles

MacOS 26.2 (25C56).. The fix worked. Thanks a lot.

Hit the same issue on MacOS 15.5 (24F74) this morning. @rcwhitney 's fix worked. Thanks!

I've also been having issues, and doing the fixes above to keep history don't work. If I just delete the bundle/vm and let it re-download that works but then I lost everything. smh. That sucks.

Still broken on macOS 26.3 final (25D122), M2 Pro.
Identical symptoms to the original report — VM boots, vsock hangs for 60s, times out in a loop. Tried every workaround suggested across related issues:

Deleted ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/vm_bundles/ — rebuilt, same timeout
Deleted ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/local-agent-mode-sessions/ — no change
Full reboot, reinstall from .dmg — no change
No VPN or firewall interference

This has been broken since ~3 Feb (26.3 Beta 3) and persists on the final release. It's now been 10+ days with Cowork completely unusable on the latest macOS.
Is there any acknowledgement from the team on this? A workaround, an ETA, or even confirmation it's being actively worked on would go a long way. Happy to provide full logs if useful.
Environment:

macOS 26.3 (25D122)
Apple M2 Pro
Claude Desktop (latest)
No VPN/proxy active

I am also having this issue. Like the previous poster:
Deleted ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/vm_bundles/ — rebuilt, same timeout
Deleted ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/local-agent-mode-sessions/ — no change
Full reboot, reinstall from .dmg — no change
No VPN or firewall interference

I got my Mac about two weeks ago and it has never worked for me.

M4 Mac Mini
26.3 (25D125)

@chilidogsonic Are you on the latest version of Claude Desktop? (v1.1.3963)

If so and you're seeing VM timeouts can you send feedback in the app (little bug icon in the bottom left) and make sure to include your logs. Mention this github issue in your feedback so I can find it easily. We're burning down the reasons why the VM times out so would love to fix this (it's one of the last ones)

@chilidogsonic Are you on the latest version of Claude Desktop? (v1.1.3963) If so and you're seeing VM timeouts can you send feedback in the app (little bug icon in the bottom left) and make sure to include your logs. Mention this github issue in your feedback so I can find it easily. We're burning down the reasons why the VM times out so would love to fix this (it's one of the last ones)

Just submitted a bug report with logs.

I’ve been submitting bug reports for weeks

@chilidogsonic Are you on the latest version of Claude Desktop? (v1.1.3963) If so and you're seeing VM timeouts can you send feedback in the app (little bug icon in the bottom left) and make sure to include your logs. Mention this github issue in your feedback so I can find it easily. We're burning down the reasons why the VM times out so would love to fix this (it's one of the last ones)

Experiencing the same issue on macOS 26.3, MacBook Pro. Cowork freezes the entire app on launch immediately after startup, requiring force quit every time. Persists through full reinstall, clearing vm_bundles, clearing local-agent-mode-sessions, and fixing a corrupted claude_desktop_config.json. The app is completely unusable with Cowork enabled on this OS version. Filed separate report at #32225.

Tested on macOS 26.3.1 (released March 4, 2026). Issue persists. Cowork still freezes on launch, same behavior as 26.3.

I have been experiencing this problem for weeks on a macbook pro M1, I have just bought a new M5 Chip macbook air. restored from a backup and i have exactly the same problem on a new computer. I am attaching below a series of actions i have tried today with help from Claude internet version.

CoWork_Bug_Report_Jeremy_Downing_March2026.docx

To say I am unimpressed with co-works inability to even function at a preliminary level, particularly when i have paid to access this function is an understatement. I have spent days on this problem over the last few weeks and have submitted logs to both apple and anthropic.

Closing for now — inactive for too long. Please open a new issue if this is still relevant.

This issue has been automatically locked since it was closed and has not had any activity for 7 days. If you're experiencing a similar issue, please file a new issue and reference this one if it's relevant.