Windows: claude update downloads new version but doesn't swap the binary

Resolved 💬 5 comments Opened Feb 24, 2026 by FBakkensen Closed Mar 25, 2026

Description

claude update reports success and downloads the new version, but the actual claude.exe binary is not replaced. The CLI continues to run the old version.

Environment

  • OS: Windows 11 Enterprise 10.0.26200
  • Shell: Git Bash
  • Install method: Native (~/.local/bin/claude.exe)
  • Current version reported: 2.1.51
  • Expected version: 2.1.52

Evidence

The new version was downloaded into the versions directory, but the binary was not updated:

$ claude --version
2.1.51 (Claude Code)

$ ls -la ~/.local/bin/claude.exe
-rwxr-xr-x 1 user 4096 235398304 Feb 24 02:41 claude.exe

$ ls -la ~/.local/share/claude/versions/
-rwxr-xr-x 1 user 4096 235398304 Feb 24 02:41 2.1.51
-rwxr-xr-x 1 user 4096 235398304 Feb 24 20:59 2.1.52

The claude.exe binary matches the 2.1.51 version file (same timestamp, same size). The 2.1.52 version was downloaded successfully but never copied into ~/.local/bin/.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Have Claude Code 2.1.51 installed natively on Windows
  2. Run claude update (from a separate terminal, not from inside Claude)
  3. Update reports success
  4. claude --version still shows 2.1.51
  5. ~/.local/share/claude/versions/2.1.52 exists but was never swapped in

Notes

  • No update logs found in ~/.local/share/claude/
  • The update was not run from inside a Claude session, so file locking by the running process is not the cause

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