Cowork fails to start workspace on Windows 11 Pro — “Request timed out: configure”

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?

Title
Cowork fails to start workspace on Windows 11 Pro — “Request timed out: configure”

What’s wrong?
On Windows 11 Pro, Cowork consistently fails to start the workspace.
The Cowork tab shows a startup spinner and then the error:

Failed to start Claude's workspace: Request timed out: configure

Regular Chat mode works; only Cowork is affected.

My environment

OS: Windows 11 Pro (from PowerShell: (Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_OperatingSystem).Caption)

Virtualization: Enabled in BIOS (Intel VT‑x / AMD SVM)

Windows features (all Enabled):

Microsoft-Hyper-V-All

VirtualMachinePlatform

Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux

WSL:

Default distribution: Ubuntu

Default version: 2 (wsl --status)

Claude Desktop: [put your version from the app’s About dialog]

CoworkVMService:

StartType: Automatic

Status: Running (after Start-Service -Name CoworkVMService)

Steps to reproduce

Launch Claude Desktop on Windows 11 Pro.

Wait for the app to fully load.

Switch to the Cowork tab.

Start any workspace/task.

Wait for “Configuring” / similar state.

After ~60 seconds, observe:
Failed to start Claude's workspace: Request timed out: configure

What I’ve already tried (unsuccessful)

Fully quit Claude, rebooted Windows.

Manually started the VM service:

Start-Service -Name CoworkVMService → service status is Running.

Verified Windows virtualization stack:

Get-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Hyper-V-All → State: Enabled

Get-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName VirtualMachinePlatform → State: Enabled

Get-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux → State: Enabled

wsl --status → Default distro Ubuntu, version 2.

Reset Cowork VM state (deleted claude-code-vm / vm_bundles under %APPDATA%\Claude, then rebooted).

Clean reinstall of Claude Desktop (uninstalled, deleted %APPDATA%\Claude and %LOCALAPPDATA%\Claude, rebooted, reinstalled).

Despite all of this, Cowork still fails with the same “request timed out: configure” message, even though CoworkVMService is running and Windows virtualization/WSL2 are fully enabled.

Relevant log excerpt
(from PowerShell:)

powershell
Get-Content "$env:APPDATA\Claude\logs\cowork_vm_node.log" -Tail 200 |
Select-String -Pattern 'error','failed','timeout','timed out','exception','VM','workspace','configure' -SimpleMatch

Get-Content : Cannot find path 'C:\Users\david\AppData\Roaming\Claude\logs\cowork_vm_node.log' because it does not
exist.
At line:1 char:1

• Get-Content "$env:APPDATA\Claude\logs\cowork_vm_node.log" -Tail 200 |
• ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
• CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (C:\Users\david\...ork_vm_node.log:String) [Get-Content], ItemNotFoundEx

ception

• FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetContentCommand

Why I think this is a bug

Other GitHub issues show similar patterns where the VM service and Windows virtualization stack are healthy, but Cowork still times out connecting/initializing the workspace on Windows 11.
github
+2

In my case, all required Windows features (Hyper‑V, VirtualMachinePlatform, WSL) are enabled and CoworkVMService is running, so it appears to be a Cowork‑side VM connection or initialization bug rather than a missing prerequisite.

If you need more logs (Event Viewer entries, full cowork_vm_node.log, or Desktop app logs), I can provide them.

What Should Happen?

When I open the Cowork tab and start a workspace, Claude should successfully start the Cowork VM, connect to it, and show a ready workspace within a few seconds instead of timing out.

I should see a usable Cowork environment (file tree/terminal/editor, depending on the task) with no error messages about “Failed to start Claude’s workspace” or “Request timed out: configure,” and I should be able to run tasks and interact with the workspace normally.

Error Messages/Logs

Get-Content : Cannot find path 'C:\Users\david\AppData\Roaming\Claude\logs\cowork_vm_node.log' because it does not
exist.
At line:1 char:1
+ Get-Content "$env:APPDATA\Claude\logs\cowork_vm_node.log" -Tail 200 |
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (C:\Users\david\...ork_vm_node.log:String) [Get-Content], ItemNotFoundEx
   ception
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetContentCommand

Steps to Reproduce

Launch Claude Desktop on Windows 11 Pro.

Sign in (if prompted) and wait for the main chat screen to load.

Click on the Cowork tab.

Create a new workspace or start any Cowork task.

Wait while it shows “Starting/Configuring workspace” (or similar).

After about 30–60 seconds, observe that the workspace fails to start and shows the error:
Failed to start Claude's workspace: Request timed out: configure.

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

Version 1.3109.0 (35cbf6)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

PowerShell

Additional Information

_No response_