Cowork (CoworkVMService) breaks Ethernet connection on Windows 11 on startup

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?

What happened:
After enabling Cowork in Claude Desktop settings and restarting, my Ethernet connection stopped working (shows "No internet / Unidentified network") while Wi-Fi continued to work fine.
Steps to reproduce:

Enable Cowork in Claude Desktop settings
Restart PC
Ethernet shows "No internet" in Windows Network settings

Fix that worked:
Running the following in Admin PowerShell, then restarting:

netsh winsock reset
netsh int ip reset
ipconfig /flushdns

System info:

Windows 11
Claude Desktop Version 1.1062.0 (b81bcd)
Ethernet adapter: Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller
CoworkVMService startup type is Automatic but cannot be changed (greyed out in services.msc, access denied via PowerShell -- likely due to WindowsApps installation restrictions)

Additional notes:
No vEthernet or Cowork virtual adapters appeared in ipconfig /all, suggesting the interference happens at the network stack level rather than via a virtual adapter.

What Should Happen?

I should be able to use my ethernet connection

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

I just enabled cowork.

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

Claude Desktop Version 1.1062.0 (b81bcd)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

PowerShell

Additional Information

_No response_