[BUG] CoworkVMService stays in "ready" state but never receives configuration from Claude Desktop — Cowork tab hangs & app becomes unresponsive

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?

Included your background, symptoms, and the root-cause diagnosis showing the failed handshake between Claude Desktop and cowork-svc.exe (including the repeating cycle across multiple app launches).

What Should Happen?

stated the expected behavior (successful configuration call, Cowork tab initialization, or an explicit error dialog in Claude Desktop instead of hanging).

Error Messages/Logs

2026/07/23 14:18:44.390694 Starting CoworkVMService as Windows service
2026/07/23 14:18:44.392282 Claude VM Service starting...
2026/07/23 14:18:44.392807 Waiting for configuration from app via 'configure' method...
2026/07/23 14:18:44.392807 [HCS] Initializing HCS DLLs...
2026/07/23 14:18:44.392807 Warning: failed to open service for recovery config: Access is denied.
2026/07/23 14:18:44.395408 [HCS] vmcompute.dll loaded successfully
2026/07/23 14:18:44.396935 [HCS] computecore.dll loaded successfully
2026/07/23 14:18:44.396935 [HCS] Procs initialized, HCS ready
2026/07/23 14:18:44.396935 [HCN] Initialized HCN API from computenetwork.dll
2026/07/23 14:18:44.400648 [HCN] EnumerateNetworks result: ["c08cb7b8-9b3c-408e-8e30-5e16a3aeb444"]
2026/07/23 14:18:44.500167 [Server] Signature verification initialized
2026/07/23 14:18:44.500167 [Server]   Service: C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Claude_1.24012.1.0_x64__pzs8sxrjxfjjc\app\resources\cowork-svc.exe
2026/07/23 14:18:44.500167 [Server]   Subject: Anthropic, PBC
2026/07/23 14:18:44.500167 [Server]   Enforce: true
2026/07/23 14:18:44.500167 [Server] Starting named pipe server on \\.\pipe\cowork-vm-service
2026/07/23 14:18:44.500696 [Server] Named pipe server listening
2026/07/23 14:18:44.500696 Service ready. Listening on \\.\pipe\cowork-vm-service
2026/07/23 14:21:40.992360 Service stop requested
2026/07/23 14:21:40.992360 Shutdown signal received...
2026/07/23 14:21:40.992360 [Server] Server stopped
2026/07/23 14:21:40.992360 Service stopped.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install Claude Desktop with Cowork on Windows 11.
2. Launch the app and open the Cowork tab.
3. Observe the tab fails to fully load / app becomes unresponsive.
4. Check C:\ProgramData\Claude\Logs\cowork-service.log — service reaches "ready" but never logs a received configure call.

Claude Model

Sonnet (default)

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

1.24012.1.0

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

PowerShell

Additional Information

_No response_