[BUG] Cowork workspace bricked after Chrome automation task on Windows 11 Home, no recovery path

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

I'm a Max plan subscriber who joined specifically for Cowork and was actively using it with no issues until today. During a Cowork session involving Chrome automation and screenshot capture, the task struggled to complete, and afterward the workspace became permanently broken.
Every task now fails immediately with:
This task didn't load properly
CLI output was not valid JSON. This may indicate an error during startup.
Output: sandbox-helper: host share not mounted at /mnt/.virtiofs-root/shared: not a mount point
No recovery is possible from the UI.
Troubleshooting Attempted (all failed)

Cleared cache and restarted via Help > Troubleshooting > Clear cache and restart
Manually deleted the VM bundle at C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Packages\Claude_pzs8sxjxfjjc\LocalCache\Roaming\Claude\vm_bundles\claudevm.bundle
Relaunched Claude Desktop, which triggered a full workspace reinstall
After reinstall completed, workspace fails with a new error: "Failed to start Claude's workspace — VM service not running. The service failed to start."

A fresh VM bundle download still cannot start the VM service.

What Should Happen?

1. A single failing task should not be able to brick the entire workspace beyond recovery.
2. If a workspace becomes corrupted, "Clear cache and restart" or "Reinstall workspace" should actually fix it.
3. If Windows 11 Home is no longer a supported platform, users should receive a clear message about that, not a cryptic VirtioFS mount error. Cowork was working on this same system prior to today.
4. Error messages should be actionable. Neither the VirtioFS error nor "VM service not running" tells the user what went wrong or what to do.

Error Messages/Logs

Failed to start Claude's workspace
VM service not running. The service failed to start.
Restarting Claude or your computer sometimes resolves this. If it persists, you can reinstall the workspace or share your debug logs to help us improve.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Use Cowork on Windows 11 Home (working state)
2. Run a task involving Chrome browser automation and screenshot capture
3. Task struggles and fails to complete
4. All subsequent tasks fail with VirtioFS mount error
5. Cache clear does not resolve
6. Deleting VM bundle and reinstalling workspace does not resolve
7. Fresh install fails with "VM service not running"

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

Claude 1.1.3149 (6625c4) 2026-02-13T20:25:25.000Z

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

Windows Terminal

Additional Information

Environment

OS: Windows 11 Home, version 22H2
Hyper-V: Not available (Windows Home edition)
Windows Hypervisor Platform: Not enabled
Subscription: Max plan
Note: Cowork was functional on this exact system configuration prior to this failure. No system changes were made.