Cowork tab shows 'requires newer installation' on EXE/Squirrel installer (not a version issue)

Bug Report

Platform: Windows 11 Pro 10.0.26200
Claude Desktop Version: 1.1.6452
Installation method: Direct EXE installer via winget (Anthropic.Claude)

Problem

On Windows, installing Claude Desktop via the direct EXE installer (Squirrel/winget) results in the Cowork tab showing:

"Cowork requires a newer installation. Reinstall the desktop app to access Cowork and start handing off longer tasks."

This message is misleading. The actual issue is not the version — it is the installation type.

Root Cause

CoworkVMService is registered as WIN32_PACKAGED_PROCESS (type 210), which requires an MSIX package context to run. The EXE/Squirrel installer cannot start this service type because it lacks the required package identity.

SERVICE_NAME: CoworkVMService
TYPE: 210  WIN32_PACKAGED_PROCESS
BINARY_PATH_NAME: C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Claude_1.1.6452.0_x64__pzs8sxrjxfjjc\app\resources\cowork-svc.exe

The EXE installer places Claude at AppData\Local\AnthropicClaude\app-1.1.6452\claude.exe and has its own copy of cowork-svc.exe in resources, but it is never registered as a service.

Expected Behavior

Either:

1. Disable/hide the Cowork tab on EXE/Squirrel installations with a clear message (e.g. "Cowork requires Microsoft Store installation"), or
2. Properly register and support cowork-svc.exe for the EXE installer path

The current message "requires a newer installation" is confusing because the version is already the latest — the real requirement is a different installation type, not a newer version.

Workaround

Uninstall the EXE version and use the MSIX package (Microsoft Store or MSIX\Claude_1.1.6452.0_x64__pzs8sxrjxfjjc via winget).