[BUG] Cowork VM renaming fails: EXDEV: cross-device link not permitted

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-App) Cowork is not able to start the VM, as it can't rename the just downloaded rootfs.vhdx stored in
..\AppData\Roaming\Temp\wvm-Zd77Z9\rootfs.vhdx to
..\AppData\Roaming\Claude\vm_bundles\claudevm.bundle\rootfs.vhdx
responding with Error:

Fehler beim Starten von Claudes Arbeitsbereich
EXDEV: cross-device link not permitted, rename 'C:\Users\XXX\AppData\Roaming\Temp\wvm-sZe4DN\rootfs.vhdx' -> 'C:\Users\XXX\AppData\Roaming\Claude\vm_bundles\claudevm.bundle\rootfs.vhdx'

What Should Happen?

Claude Desktop should fallback to a copy and delete function, if renaming doesn't work

Error Messages/Logs

# cowork_vm_node.log:
2026-03-25 17:55:35 [info] [Bundle:status] rootfs.vhdx origin missing
2026-03-25 17:55:35 [info] [Bundle:status] rootfs.vhdx origin missing
2026-03-25 17:55:35 [info] [warm] No warm file found for rootfs.vhdx at current version
2026-03-25 17:55:35 [info] [cache] No cached compressed file for rootfs.vhdx
2026-03-25 17:55:35 [warn] rootfs.vhdx origin missing, redownloading...
2026-03-25 17:55:35 [info] Downloading rootfs.vhdx...
2026-03-25 17:55:38 [info] [KernelBugMonitor] State reset
2026-03-25 17:55:38 [info] [VM:start] Beginning startup, bundlePath=C:\Users\XXX\AppData\Roaming\Claude\vm_bundles\claudevm.bundle
2026-03-25 17:55:38 [info] [VM:start] Bundle version: fb30784dadb34104626c8cf6d8f90dd47cd393cc
2026-03-25 17:55:38 [info] [VM:start] VM instance ID: b9626325-cbe5-4dd2-978b-1b44c0784048
2026-03-25 17:55:38 [info] [VM:steps] download_and_sdk_prepare started
2026-03-25 17:55:38 [info] [downloadVM] Download already in progress, waiting...
2026-03-25 17:57:47 [info] rootfs.vhdx.zst checksum validated
2026-03-25 17:57:49 [error] [download] VM download failed: EXDEV: cross-device link not permitted, rename 'C:\Users\XXX\AppData\Roaming\Temp\wvm-sZe4DN\rootfs.vhdx' -> 'C:\Users\XXX\AppData\Roaming\Claude\vm_bundles\claudevm.bundle\rootfs.vhdx'
2026-03-25 17:57:49 [error] [VM:start] Startup failed: Error: EXDEV: cross-device link not permitted, rename 'C:\Users\XXX\AppData\Roaming\Temp\wvm-sZe4DN\rootfs.vhdx' -> 'C:\Users\XXX\AppData\Roaming\Claude\vm_bundles\claudevm.bundle\rootfs.vhdx'
    at async Object.rename (node:internal/fs/promises:782:10)
    at async aYr (D:\WindowsApps\Claude_1.1.8629.0_x64__pzs8sxrjxfjjc\app\resources\app.asar\.vite\build\index.js:989:20154) {
  [stack]: [Getter/Setter],
  [message]: "EXDEV: cross-device link not permitted, rename 'C:\\Users\\XXX\\AppData\\Roaming\\Temp\\wvm-sZe4DN\\rootfs.vhdx' -> 'C:\\Users\\XXX\\AppData\\Roaming\\Claude\\vm_bundles\\claudevm.bundle\\rootfs.vhdx'",
  errno: -4037,
  code: 'EXDEV',
  syscall: 'rename',
  path: 'C:\\Users\\XXX\\AppData\\Roaming\\Temp\\wvm-sZe4DN\\rootfs.vhdx',
  dest: 'C:\\Users\\XXX\\AppData\\Roaming\\Claude\\vm_bundles\\claudevm.bundle\\rootfs.vhdx'
}
2026-03-25 17:57:49 [info] [VM:start] Skipping auto-reinstall (already attempted once)
2026-03-25 17:59:30 [info] [Bundle:status] rootfs.vhdx origin missing

Steps to Reproduce

• Install Claude for Windows
• go to Tab Cowork

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

Claude for Windows 1.1.8629 (befdfc)

Platform

Other

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

Other

Additional Information

This Bug got reported here aswell, but it got closed by bot: https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/25911