CoworkVMService "Access Denied" on Windows 10 - SSH broken

Resolved 💬 5 comments Opened Feb 17, 2026 by yvvirelessguy Closed Mar 17, 2026

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?

OS: Windows 10 (10.0.19045)
Claude Desktop: 1.1.3189 (MSIX package)

cowork-svc.exe fails with "Access is denied" when executed
directly or as a service. MSIX sandbox restrictions on
Windows 10 prevent the service from running.

Result: SSH connections fail with "Host denied (verification
failed)" because CoworkVMService never starts.

What Should Happen?

THe ssh connection to remote server should start successfully

Error Messages/Logs

Host denied (verification failed) Try again

PS C:\Windows\system32> & "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Claude_1.1.3189.0_x64__pzs8sxrjxfjjc\app\resources\cowork-svc.exe" 2>&1
Program 'cowork-svc.exe' failed to run: Access is deniedAt line:1 char:1
+ & "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Claude_1.1.3189.0_x64__pzs8sxrjxfjjc\ ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.
At line:1 char:1
+ & "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Claude_1.1.3189.0_x64__pzs8sxrjxfjjc\ ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : ResourceUnavailable: (:) [], ApplicationFailedException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : NativeCommandFailed

Steps to Reproduce

Create ssh connection on remote server on Windows 10, Cloude App

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

Opus 4.6

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

Windows Terminal

Additional Information

<img width="1920" height="1150" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/016fdc30-5966-4d01-8d06-ca642e85a187" />

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