[BUG] Claude Desktop 1.1.5368 on Windows: rootfs.vhdx download loop prevents app from loading

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?

Claude Desktop 1.1.5368 on Windows hangs on every launch. The app window never becomes interactive. The cursor spins when hovering over the app, and clicking causes a crash. The root cause is a failed download loop for rootfs.vhdx in the Cowork VM startup sequence.
The cowork_vm_node.log shows the VM repeatedly detecting that rootfs.vhdx is missing, attempting to download it, and failing silently, then cycling back through the same sequence indefinitely. The app never finishes initializing because the VM never completes startup.
Additionally, main.log shows that subsequent launch attempts detect the hung first instance and bail out with: Not main instance, returning early from app ready
This means you cannot recover without manually killing all claude.exe processes in Task Manager.
Steps to Reproduce

Launch Claude Desktop 1.1.5368 on Windows
App window appears but is unresponsive (spinning cursor)
Clicking the app causes it to crash
Relaunching does not help (detects existing hung instance)

Troubleshooting Already Attempted

Downloaded and installed the latest Claude Desktop (1.1.5368)
Rebooted the computer
Killed all claude.exe processes in Task Manager and relaunched
Verified Hyper-V is enabled (Get-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Hyper-V shows State: Enabled)
Verified sufficient disk space (~124 GB free on C:)
No VPN, firewall, or antivirus blocking downloads
Cleared vm_bundles folder (Remove-Item "$env:APPDATA\Claude\vm_bundles" -Recurse -Force) and relaunched. Same result: download loop resumes.
Network connectivity confirmed (log shows API reachability: REACHABLE, Network status: CONNECTED)

What Should Happen?

Environment

Claude Desktop version: 1.1.5368
Windows version: Windows 11 (Build 10.0.26200)
CPU: 13th Gen Intel Core i7-1365U
RAM: ~34 GB total, ~26 GB free
Hyper-V: Enabled
Impact: App is completely unusable. Chat, Code, and Cowork tabs are all inaccessible.

Expected Behavior
Claude Desktop should either:

Successfully download rootfs.vhdx and start the Cowork VM, or
Fail gracefully with an error message and still allow access to Chat and Code tabs without the VM

Actual Behavior
The app hangs indefinitely in a silent download loop, making the entire application unusable with no error message or fallback.

Error Messages/Logs

cowork_vm_node.log (repeating cycle)

2026-03-08 08:51:02 [info] [Bundle:status] rootfs.vhdx missing
2026-03-08 08:51:02 [info] [Bundle:status] rootfs.vhdx missing
2026-03-08 08:51:02 [info] [Bundle:status] rootfs.vhdx missing
2026-03-08 08:51:02 [info] [warm] No warm file found for rootfs.vhdx at current version
2026-03-08 08:51:02 [info] [cache] No cached compressed file for rootfs.vhdx
2026-03-08 08:51:02 [info] rootfs.vhdx not found, downloading...
2026-03-08 08:51:03 [info] [KernelBugMonitor] State reset
2026-03-08 08:51:03 [info] [VM:start] Beginning startup, bundlePath=C:\Users\jesse\AppData\Roaming\Claude\vm_bundles\claudevm.bundle
...
2026-03-08 08:58:36 [info] [VM] Loading vmClient (TypeScript) module...
2026-03-08 08:58:36 [info] [VM] Module loaded successfully
2026-03-08 08:58:38 [info] [Bundle:status] rootfs.vhdx missing
2026-03-08 08:58:38 [info] [Bundle:status] rootfs.vhdx missing
2026-03-08 08:58:38 [info] rootfs.vhdx not found, downloading...

main.log
2026-03-08 09:10:00 [info] [VMCLIRunner] Ensuring VM is started
...
2026-03-08 09:14:26 [info] Not main instance, returning early from app ready

Steps to Reproduce

Run latest version of Claude for Windows after a fresh computer restart.

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

Don't know which Claude for Windows version (unable to access the app to view and Anthropic doesn't label it on their site)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

_No response_