[BUG] Cowork "sdk-daemon not connected" — persists through reinstalls on Windows (v1.1.5749)

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 consistently fails with "sdk-daemon not connected" error. Regular Chat mode works perfectly — only Cowork is affected.

This persists through:

• Multiple full restarts of Claude Desktop
• Complete uninstall and fresh reinstall from claude.ai/download
• Multiple system reboots

The error appears immediately when attempting to use Cowork. No task execution occurs before the failure.

What Should Happen?

Cowork workspace should start successfully and connect to the Claude API, the same way regular Chat mode works without issues.

Error Messages/Logs

⚠ Something went wrong
sdk-daemon not connected

(Please attach full logs from %APPDATA%\Claude\logs\cowork_vm_node.log and %APPDATA%\Claude\logs\main.log)

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install Claude Desktop on Windows (fresh install from claude.ai/download)
2. Log in with paid subscription
3. Switch to the Cowork tab
4. Attempt any task
5. Immediately fails with "sdk-daemon not connected"

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

1.1.5749 (ecf3d9)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

Other

Additional Information

Environment

• Claude Desktop Version: 1.1.5749 (ecf3d9)
• Platform: Windows
• Windows Version: (fill in: e.g., Windows 11 Pro 24H2, Build 26100.xxxx)
• Hyper-V: (fill in: Enabled / Not available on Home)
• Virtual Machine Platform: (fill in: Enabled / Disabled)
• Windows Hypervisor Platform: (fill in: Enabled / Disabled)
• Subscription: Paid plan
• VPN active: (fill in: Yes / No)
• Antivirus/Firewall: (fill in: Windows Defender only / Other)

Expected Behavior

Cowork workspace should start successfully and connect to the Claude API, the same way regular Chat mode works without issues.

Actual Behavior

Cowork fails immediately with:

⚠ Something went wrong
sdk-daemon not connected

No task execution occurs. Chat mode continues to work fine.

Troubleshooting Already Attempted

• Full uninstall + reinstall of Claude Desktop (multiple times)
• System reboots (multiple times)
• Currently on v1.1.5749 — well past the v1.1.4328 networking fix, which did not resolve this

Related Issues

• #25876 — Win 11 Pro, Hyper-V enabled, ECONNRESET → sdk-daemon not connected
• #29848 — Cowork completely unusable on Windows, recurring VM crashes
• #28309 — hvsock dies after idle, sdk-daemon not connected
• #25516 — v1.1.2998.0 severe instability on Windows
• #30655 — Orphaned VM process blocks all resume attempts
• #24918 — Cannot connect to Claude API from workspace (Windows 11 Home)

Logs

Logs from the following locations should be attached:

• %APPDATA%\Claude\logs\cowork_vm_node.log
• %APPDATA%\Claude\logs\main.log

Additional Context

This appears to be part of a broader pattern of Cowork Windows instability that multiple users have reported since launch. The v1.1.4328 patch did not resolve the issue for this environment.

Terminal/Shell note: This issue occurs within Claude Desktop's Cowork feature, not in a terminal environment. "Other" was selected for Terminal/Shell as there is no "Claude Desktop" option.