[BUG] EXDEV: cross-device link not permitted when renaming rootfs.vhdx within same folder - Windows 11 username with space

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?

Environment

• OS: Windows 11 Pro 10.0.26200 x64
• Claude Desktop version: 1.11187.4.0
• Username: contains a space ("Territorio DSC")

Problem

Claude Desktop fails to provision the Cowork workspace VM with this error:

EXDEV: cross-device link not permitted, rename
'C:\Users\Territorio DSC\AppData\Roaming\Claude\vm_bundles\claudevm.bundle\.wvm-tmp-LOmhea\rootfs.vhdx'
->
'C:\Users\Territorio DSC\AppData\Roaming\Claude\vm_bundles\claudevm.bundle\rootfs.vhdx'

Why this is a bug

• Source and destination are the SAME folder on the SAME drive (C:)
• A same-drive rename should NEVER throw EXDEV
• No junctions, no reparse points, no symlinks on AppData
• 31GB free on C:
• Permissions verified: SYSTEM, Administrators, and user all have full control
• Reproducible 100% of the time across multiple reinstalls

Suspected cause

The space in the Windows username path ("Territorio DSC") may be
causing the internal path handling to split incorrectly, making
Windows treat the source and destination as different devices.

Steps to reproduce

1. Install Claude Desktop on Windows 11 with a username containing a space
2. Open Cowork tab
3. Workspace provisioning fails with EXDEV error every time

What I tried

• Multiple clean reinstalls
• Full registry and AppData cleanup
• WSL shutdown and update
• Symlinks pointing to space-free paths (C:\ClaudeVM)
• Verified TEMP/TMP variables point to correct long paths
• Disk cleanup to ensure adequate free space

Log file

C:\Users\Territorio DSC\AppData\Local\Temp\ClaudeSetup.log
(attached)

ClaudeSetup.log

What Should Happen?

claude should create a workspace

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install Claude Desktop on Windows 11 with a username containing a space (e.g. "Territorio DSC")
2. Open Claude Desktop
3. Navigate to the Cowork tab
4. Workspace provisioning begins automatically
5. After ~30 seconds error appears: "Failed to start Claude's workspace - EXDEV: cross-device link not permitted"
6. Click "Reinstall workspace" button
7. Same EXDEV error appears every time - 100% reproducible

Additional context:

• Source and destination paths in the error are identical folder on same drive
• Tried creating symlink from AppData path to C:\ClaudeVM (no spaces) - VM still does not provision
• Multiple clean reinstalls attempted with full registry and AppData cleanup
• WSL is installed and wslservice runs fine
• CoworkVMService starts successfully but VM bundle never gets created

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

Name Version ---- ------- Claude 1.11187.4.0

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

Windows Terminal

Additional Information

ClaudeSetup.log