[BUG] Unable to use Claude Cowork on Windows 11

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 is permanently stuck on "Setting up Claude's workspace" on Windows 11 Home and never progresses.

What Should Happen?

The Cowork workspace should complete setup and be fully usable.

Error Messages/Logs

No error message displayed — the setup spinner runs indefinitely with no feedback.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open Claude Desktop on Windows 11 Home
2. Navigate to the Cowork tab
3. Observe "Setting up Claude's workspace" — it never completes

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

No, this never worked

Last Working Version

N/A

Claude Code Version

1.1.8359 (64248d)

Platform

Other

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

Other

Additional Information

Subscription: Max plan

Troubleshooting already attempted:

• Uninstalled and reinstalled Claude Desktop multiple times
• Help → Troubleshooting → Clear cache and restart
• Attempted to manually delete VM bundle — could not locate vm_bundles directory at %APPDATA%\Claude\vm_bundles or %LOCALAPPDATA%\Claude\vm_bundles
• Confirmed both Virtual Machine Platform and Windows Hypervisor Platform are enabled in Windows Features
• Confirmed running latest app version

Note: Windows 11 Home does not include Hyper-V. If Cowork requires Windows 11 Pro/Enterprise, this should be clearly communicated — I subscribed to Max specifically to use this feature.