[BUG] Claude Desktop on Windows 11 Home: 3 critical bugs causing repeated crash loops

Environment

• OS: Windows 11 Home 10.0.26200 (x64)
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600H
• RAM: 16 GB
• Claude Desktop versions tested: v1.1.3189, v1.1.3363, v1.1.3770, v1.1.3918 (all affected)
• CCD versions: 2.1.41 → 2.1.50
• Observation period: 2026-02-17 to 2026-02-21 (5 days, 5+ crash events)

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Bug 1: local-agent-mode-sessions corruption causes crash loop

Description

Claude Desktop accumulates 500-700+ files in %APPDATA%\Claude\local-agent-mode-sessions\ during normal use. These session files become corrupted over time. On next startup, the app attempts to deserialize all persisted sessions, encounters corrupted data, and the Electron renderer crashes within ~5 seconds, producing a ~33 MB Crashpad dump each time.

Evidence

1. 100% reproducible: local-agent-mode-sessions exists with accumulated data → crash. Delete directory → app starts normally.
2. Recurs daily: After clearing, directory regrows to 500+ files within hours and causes crashes again.
3. Not caused by: MCP servers (tested with empty config), GPU (tested with --disable-gpu), specific app version (all 4 versions affected), or claude-code-sessions (user sessions load fine).
4. Observed across 5 crash events over 5 days — each time, deleting this directory fixed the crash.

Log pattern (repeats on each restart)

[info] Starting app { appVersion: '1.1.3918', ... }
[info] [CCD] Initialized with version 2.1.49
[error] Sentry caught: { type: 'Unknown', value: 'No message', stack: undefined }
[info] Loaded 38 persisted sessions from ...\claude-code-sessions\...   ← OK
// App crashes here when local-agent-mode-sessions has accumulated data
// App continues normally when local-agent-mode-sessions is absent

Suggested Fix

1. Atomic writes: Use write-to-temp-then-rename for session persistence to prevent corruption on crash.
2. Graceful error handling: Catch deserialization errors for individual sessions instead of crashing the renderer. Skip corrupted sessions and log a warning.
3. Session limit / auto-cleanup: Cap the number of persisted agent-mode sessions or implement age-based cleanup.
4. Startup validation: Validate session data integrity before loading into the renderer process.

Current Workaround

Windows Scheduled Task runs hourly to delete the directory:

$target = Join-Path $env:APPDATA "Claude\local-agent-mode-sessions"
if (Test-Path $target) {
    Remove-Item $target -Recurse -Force
}

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Bug 2: cowork-svc.exe / VMCLIRunner infinite retry on Windows 11 Home

Description

Claude Desktop ships cowork-svc.exe which requires Hyper-V services (vmcompute, HNS, vmms). On Windows 11 Home, even when Hyper-V features are enabled via DISM, these three services are never registered by CBS — they only exist on Windows 11 Pro/Enterprise.

VMCLIRunner detects the missing services but retries infinitely instead of gracefully stopping, eventually overwhelming the Electron process and causing crashes.

Evidence

1. Services confirmed missing on Windows 11 Home:

``
Get-Service vmcompute, HNS, vmms → "Cannot find any service with service name"
``

1. Registry key ignored: Setting HKCU\SOFTWARE\Policies\Claude\secureVmFeaturesEnabled = 0 (DWORD) stopped VMCLIRunner in v1.1.3363, but v1.1.3918 ignores this registry key and starts VMCLIRunner again.
2. Config preferences ignored: Setting coworkEnabled: false, secureVmEnabled: false in claude_desktop_config.json preferences also does not prevent VMCLIRunner from starting in v1.1.3918.
3. Only effective fix: Renaming cowork-svc.exe to cowork-svc.exe.disabled in the app resources directory.

Expected Behavior

• Claude Desktop should detect Windows 11 Home (or absence of Hyper-V services) and not attempt to start cowork-svc.exe.
• At minimum, VMCLIRunner should fail gracefully after 1-2 retries, not loop indefinitely.
• Registry keys and config preferences to disable VM features should be respected across all versions.

Current Workaround

Manually rename cowork-svc.exe to cowork-svc.exe.disabled after every auto-update:

$appDir = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\AnthropicClaude"
Get-ChildItem "$appDir\app-*\resources\cowork-svc.exe" | ForEach-Object {
    Rename-Item $_.FullName "$($_.FullName).disabled"
}

Note: This must be re-applied after every auto-update since new versions restore the file.

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Bug 3: autoUpdate: false setting is ignored

Description

Despite setting autoUpdate: false in %APPDATA%\Claude\settings.json, Claude Desktop auto-updates anyway. Observed update path over 5 days:

v1.1.3189 → v1.1.3363 (manual via winget) → v1.1.3770 (auto, ignoring setting) → v1.1.3918 (auto, ignoring setting)

Impact

This bug amplifies Bug 2 significantly:

• Each auto-update installs a fresh cowork-svc.exe, undoing the workaround for Bug 2.
• Each auto-update can trigger a CCD version mismatch (desktop expects newer CCD than installed), causing additional instability.
• Users cannot stay on a known-stable version.

Evidence

// %APPDATA%\Claude\settings.json
{ "autoUpdate": false }

Despite this setting, the app auto-updated from v1.1.3770 to v1.1.3918 on 2026-02-21.

Expected Behavior

When autoUpdate is set to false, the app should not download or install updates without user consent.

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Why This Is Not a Duplicate of #25177 or #25906

• #25177: Cowork LocalAgentModeSessions.start validation failure on macOS — different platform, different symptom (UI unresponsive vs crash loop), different root cause.
• #25906: Crash-loop after quitting during onboarding on macOS — different platform, different trigger (onboarding quit vs session corruption), different error (TypeError in winston vs Crashpad dump).
• This issue: Three distinct, interacting bugs specific to Windows 11 Home that have caused 5+ crash events over 5 days. Includes detailed root cause analysis and workarounds for each.

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Steps to Reproduce

Bug 1 (session corruption):

1. Use Claude Desktop on Windows normally for several hours (agent mode)
2. Close and reopen → crash loop
3. Delete %APPDATA%\Claude\local-agent-mode-sessions\ → works normally
4. Wait a few hours → directory regrows, crash returns

Bug 2 (VMCLIRunner):

1. Install Claude Desktop on Windows 11 Home
2. Launch → observe VMCLIRunner retrying in logs as vmcompute/HNS/vmms services don't exist
3. Set registry secureVmFeaturesEnabled = 0 → works on some versions, ignored on v1.1.3918

Bug 3 (auto-update):

1. Set autoUpdate: false in %APPDATA%\Claude\settings.json
2. Leave Claude Desktop running
3. Observe that it auto-updates to new version anyway

---

Summary

These three bugs interact to create a recurring crash cycle on Windows 11 Home:

1. Auto-update installs new version (Bug 3) → restores cowork-svc.exe
2. VMCLIRunner retries infinitely because Hyper-V services don't exist on Home (Bug 2)
3. Session files accumulate and corrupt (Bug 1) → crash loop
4. User must manually: clear sessions + rename cowork-svc.exe + wait for next auto-update to break it again

All three bugs are Anthropic software issues, not user hardware/OS problems. Windows 11 Home is a fully supported Windows edition with millions of users.