[BUG] Claude Desktop's MSIX filesystem virtualization causes rename() to fail with EXDEV

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?

This is for: Claude Desktop version 1.1.6679, Windows, MSIX install.

MSIX filesystem virtualization causes rename() to fail with EXDEV when moving downloaded VM bundle files from %TEMP% to %APPDATA%\Claude

The destination path is hardcoded as C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Claude\vm_bundles\claudevm.bundle\rootfs.vhdx

But under MSIX this path is virtualized to LocalCache\Roaming\Claude, and the OS treats them as different devices for the purposes of atomic rename.

cowork_vm_node.log

What Should Happen?

This is the message from my conversations with Claude:

At this point we've exhausted the reasonable self-service fixes. This is a genuine bug in Claude Desktop's MSIX packaging on Windows — the EXDEV issue is something Anthropic needs to fix on their end. I'd recommend filing a bug report at github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues with a summary of what you've found, since you've actually done excellent diagnostic work that would be very useful to them:

MSIX filesystem virtualization causes rename() to fail with EXDEV when moving downloaded VM bundle files from %TEMP% to %APPDATA%\Claude
The destination path is hardcoded as C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Claude\vm_bundles\claudevm.bundle\rootfs.vhdx but under MSIX this path is virtualized to LocalCache\Roaming\Claude, and the OS treats them as different devices for the purposes of atomic rename
Claude Desktop version 1.1.6679, Windows, MSIX install

In the meantime, Chat mode should still work normally — Cowork just won't be available until Anthropic fixes the packaging bug.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install Claude Desktop for Windows.
2. Open Claude Desktop
3. Click on the Cowork tab.
4. Attempt to do anything with Cowork.
5. There will be an error message about a failure with the service.

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.50 (Claude Code)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

Non-interactive/CI environment

Additional Information

_No response_