[BUG] Cowork VM bundle not provisioned after reinstall — "Virtualization is not enabled" despite all virtualization confirmed working

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?

Cowork VM bundle not provisioned after reinstall — "Virtualization is not enabled" despite all virtualization confirmed working

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Desktop

What's Wrong?

Cowork was working normally for several days. Today, the Cowork tab began showing "Virtualization is not enabled — Claude's workspace requires hardware virtualization (Hyper-V). Enable virtualization in your computer's BIOS/UEFI settings, then restart." Additionally, MCP server connection errors appear ("Could not connect to MCP server mcp-registry" and "Could not connect to MCP server Claude in Chrome").

A full clean uninstall, restart, and reinstall from claude.ai/download did not resolve the issue. The reinstaller failed to download or provision the VM bundle files.

What Should Happen?

Cowork should detect that virtualization is enabled and either use the existing VM bundle or re-download it during installation.

Environment

• Hardware: HP Victus Gaming Laptop 16-r0xxx (i7-13700HX, 32 GB RAM)
• OS: Windows 11 Home (Build 10.0.26200.7840)
• BIOS: Insyde F.26, Intel Virtualization Technology: Enabled
• Claude Desktop version: Latest as of Feb 21, 2026

Diagnostic Evidence

Virtualization is fully enabled at every level:

1. BIOS: Virtualization Technology = Enabled (confirmed visually in BIOS Setup)
2. systeminfo output: "A hypervisor has been detected. Features required for Hyper-V will not be displayed."
3. bcdedit /enum | findstr hypervisor → hypervisorlaunchtype Auto
4. Windows features Virtual Machine Platform and Hypervisor Platform both enabled (re-enabled via DISM and confirmed)

CoworkVMService is running but has no VM to boot:

C:\>sc query CoworkVMService
SERVICE_NAME: CoworkVMService
        TYPE               : 210  WIN32_PACKAGED_PROCESS
        STATE              : 4  RUNNING
                                (STOPPABLE, NOT_PAUSABLE, ACCEPTS_SHUTDOWN)
        WIN32_EXIT_CODE    : 0  (0x0)
        SERVICE_EXIT_CODE  : 0  (0x0)

VM bundle files are completely missing:

C:\>dir "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Claude" /s /b
C:\Users\erics\AppData\Local\Claude\Logs
C:\Users\erics\AppData\Local\Claude\Logs\chrome-native-host.log

C:\>dir "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Claude" /s /b | findstr -i "vm"
(no results)

Steps to Reproduce

1. Have a working Cowork installation on Windows 11 Home
2. Cowork stops working and shows "Virtualization is not enabled" error
3. Uninstall Claude Desktop, restart PC, reinstall from claude.ai/download
4. Cowork tab still shows the same error
5. CoworkVMService is running but no VM bundle files exist in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Claude

Related Issues

This appears to be the same root cause as #27350 and #27316 — the installer does not re-provision the VM bundle after it is lost, and the "Virtualization is not enabled" error message is incorrect.

Is this a regression?

Yes — Cowork was working fine for several days prior to this failure.

What Should Happen?

Cowork should start

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

Just start cowork.

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

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

Claude Code Version

Claude 1.1.3918

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

Other

Additional Information

_No response_