[BUG] Cowork "Virtualization is not available" — CoworkVMService never installed after clean MSIX reinstall on Windows 10 Home

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?

The Cowork tab permanently shows "Virtualization is not available — Claude's workspace requires Virtual Machine Platform, but the virtualization service isn't responding." After investigation, CoworkVMService is completely absent from services.msc — it was never installed by the MSIX installer.

What Should Happen?

CoworkVMService should be installed and running after a clean MSIX install, and Cowork should initialize the VM workspace successfully.

Error Messages/Logs

Virtualization is not available — Claude's workspace requires Virtual Machine Platform, but the virtualization service isn't responding. Restart your computer to resolve this.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install Claude Desktop from claude.ai/download as Administrator on Windows 10 Home
2. Enable Virtual Machine Platform and Windows Hypervisor Platform in Windows Features
3. Restart computer
4. Open Claude Desktop → Cowork tab → error appears immediately
5. Check services.msc → CoworkVMService is not present

Claude Model

Sonnet (default)

Is this a regression?

No, this never worked

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

Claude Desktop 1.3883.0 (93ff6c) — 2026-04-21 (Note: this is Claude Desktop / Cowork, not Claude Code CLI)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

PowerShell

Additional Information

• Enabled Virtual Machine Platform and Windows Hypervisor Platform via Windows Features
• Restarted multiple times
• Full uninstall + clean reinstall from claude.ai/download as Administrator
• Restarted twice after reinstall
• CoworkVMService still not present after all of the above
• Regular Claude chat works fine — only Cowork is affected
• Related issues: #29887, #32004, #37265, #41633, #45715, #50348