[BUG] Cowork Virtualization Detection False Negative on Windows 11 Home (Hyper-V Enabled)

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?

The Cowork desktop application incorrectly reports that virtualization is not enabled and refuses to launch, despite Hyper-V and all necessary virtualization features being fully installed, enabled, and actively running on the system.

It appears Cowork's detection logic may be checking for a Windows OS edition flag (Pro/Enterprise) or an expected registry key/WMI class behavior rather than querying the actual HypervisorPresent state or HCS availability. This creates a false negative that blocks capable hardware configurations from utilizing Cowork.

Environment

OS: Windows 11 Home

Hardware: HP Omen 45L Workstation

CPU: Intel Core i7-10700

RAM: 32 GB RAM

App: Claude Desktop (Cowork feature)

Issue: Persistent "Virtualization is not enabled" error on launch

Hyper-V Status (Verified via PowerShell as Administrator)
All of the following Windows Optional Features are confirmed in State: Enabled:

HypervisorPlatform

Microsoft-Hyper-V-All

Microsoft-Hyper-V

Microsoft-Hyper-V-Tools-All

Microsoft-Hyper-V-Management-PowerShell

Microsoft-Hyper-V-Hypervisor

Microsoft-Hyper-V-Services

Microsoft-Hyper-V-Management-Clients

Steps Taken to Verify & Troubleshoot

Enabled HypervisorPlatform and VirtualMachinePlatform via DISM (both succeeded).

Ran Hyper-V unlock script and confirmed State: Enabled.

Set hypervisorlaunchtype to Auto.

Confirmed vmms (Hyper-V Virtual Machine Management) service is Status: Running.

Installed WSL2 + Ubuntu.

Performed full system restarts after configuration changes.

What Should Happen?

Cowork should evaluate the actual availability of the hypervisor and Host Compute Service (HCS) / Host Network Service (HNS). If the hardware and hypervisor state meet the operational requirements, the VM bundle should provision and the workspace should start, regardless of the underlying Windows edition name.

If Windows 11 Home is definitively, technically unsupported due to native API limitations (even with brute-forced Hyper-V installations), the error message should clearly reflect an OS compatibility issue rather than blaming the user's virtualization state.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

<img width="950" height="883" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/bbf7dd1a-f555-4fc8-9951-83f1787a6918" />

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

1.1.3647

Claude Code Version

Claude 1.1.3918 (a4b368) 2026-02-20T23:13:32.000Z

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

PowerShell

Additional Information

_No response_