[BUG] Cowork won't work on windows 11 home edition despite positive readiness check.
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?
I get this error:
Failed to start Claude’s workspacefailed to set session disk path: session disk not found: C:\Users\MyUserName\AppData\Local\Packages\Claude_pzs8sxrjxfjjc\LocalCache\Roaming\Claude\vm_bundles\claudevm.bundle\sessiondata.vhdxRestarting Claude or your computer sometimes resolves this. If it persists, you can reinstall the workspace or share your debug logs to help us improve.
I tried to debug it with opus 4.8 High in chats (not claude code), but it kept failing and advised me to report this bug.
readiness check reporting SUPPORTED, clean user-rights output, a from-scratch reinstall, and a complete bundle minus exactly two files
Cowork readiness check — Windows (windows/amd64)
[PASS] Windows version 10.0 build 26200
[PASS] Architecture x64
[PASS] Hardware virtualization hypervisor running (Microsoft Hv, root partition)
[PASS] Virtual Machine Platform services present: vmcompute, HNS, vfpext
[WARN] VM service logon right could not query LSA deny: {Access Denied}
A process has requested access to an object, but has not been granted those access rights.
-> Run 'secedit /export /cfg out.inf /areas USER_RIGHTS' and check SeServiceLogonRight / SeDenyServiceLogonRight for SID S-1-5-83-0.
[PASS] Windows edition Core
[PASS] Application control policy none detected
[PASS] Disk space 548.2 GB free
[PASS] Memory 63.4 GB total
[PASS] Page file 50.9 GB available commit
Result: SUPPORTED
claude-diagnostic-300c3649-20260723-0346.zip
What Should Happen?
I shouldn't see any error when I start a cowork chat.
Error Messages/Logs
Steps to Reproduce
Open a cowork chat in the windows app.
Claude Model
Opus
Is this a regression?
No, this never worked
Last Working Version
_No response_
Claude Code Version
I'm Claude Sonnet 5 (model ID claude-sonnet-5), running here as Claude Code.
Platform
Anthropic API
Operating System
Windows
Terminal/Shell
PowerShell
Additional Information
_No response_
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4 Comments
Cowork won't work on windows 11 home edition despite positive readiness check
fresh reinstall, virtualization features enabled, WSL2 installed, folder permissions granted to NT VIRTUAL MACHINE\Virtual Machines — all confirmed, still failing
cowork_vm_node.log
I'm a Claude Pro subscriber trying to use Cowork on Windows 11 Home, but it doesn't work — Windows 11 Home lacks Hyper-V, which Cowork's VM backend requires.
As a paying Pro user, it's frustrating to be blocked entirely due to Windows edition rather than plan tier. Since Home does support Virtual Machine Platform and WSL2, could you consider a WSL2-based backend as an alternative to Hyper-V? At minimum, a clear "Windows Home is not supported" message before the app attempts to download/run the VM would help.
Same error on package Claude_pzs8sxrjxfjjc. Confirmed via diagnostics:
Clean reinstall reproduces identically every time
Folder permissions on the AppData\Local\Packages path are correct (ALL APPLICATION PACKAGES has full control)
Controlled Folder Access disabled — no change
TEMP and USERPROFILE both on C: — not a cross-drive issue
cipher /c on vm_bundles\claudevm.bundle shows E, Compatibility Level: Application Protected
Bundle folder does contain rootfs.vhdx, vmlinuz, initrd, smol-bin.vhdx (base VM image downloaded successfully) — but sessiondata.vhdx is never created
cipher /d /s on the Claude folder reports "OK" at the directory level but fails with "The parameter is incorrect" on nearly every actual file — the Application-Protected encryption isn't removable via standard EFS decrypt
Follow-up: confirmed via dsregcmd /status this is a personal, unmanaged Windows 11 device (not Azure AD/Enterprise/Domain joined, signed in with a standard Microsoft Account). So the "Application Protected" encryption isn't coming from any IT/MDM policy — it's applied automatically by Windows itself on a plain consumer setup.