[BUG] [BUG] Cowork fails to start VM on Windows ARM64 (Surface Snapdragon) — VM connection timeout / EBUSY / VM service not running

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 Cowork cannot start its virtual machine on my Windows ARM64 device. Errors cycle between:

"VM connection timeout after 60 seconds"
"EBUSY: resource busy or locked" on claudevm.bundle\smol-bin.vhdx
"VM service not running. The service failed to start."

Because Cowork reads files (Excel, PDF, etc.) through this VM, I currently cannot open any file at all.
My setup:

Device: [e.g. Microsoft Surface, Snapdragon X Plus 8-core @ 3.30 GHz]
OS: Windows 11 Pro, ARM64, build
Claude Desktop: v 1.12603.1.0, installed with the ARM64-specific installer
RAM: [32 GB] · Free disk: [250GB]

Things I have tried: full uninstall + manual deletion of AppData\Local\Claude and AppData\Roaming\Claude, reinstall with ARM64 installer, fresh WSL2 + Ubuntu install, wsl --shutdown, "reinstall the workspace" option, run as administrator, enable Virtual Machine Platform via PowerShell + restart. Issue reproduces 100% of the time.
Context: Other users with identical hardware (Surface Snapdragon X Plus) have Cowork working, so this appears to be a VM startup/config issue rather than a blanket ARM64 incompatibility (see also #46516, #46033).

What Should Happen?

Cowork should start its VM and be able to read local files (including .xlsx).

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

Install Claude Desktop with the Windows ARM64 installer on a Surface (Snapdragon X Plus), Windows 11 Pro
Install WSL2 + Ubuntu
Open Claude Desktop → Cowork
Observe "VM connection timeout after 60 seconds" (100% reproduction); intermittently "EBUSY"

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

No, this never worked

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

1.12603.1.0

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

PowerShell

Additional Information

_No response_