[BUG] Claude Desktop (Windows/MSIX): GPU process crash (exitCode 101457950) kills entire app on AMD integrated graphics — recurring, all OS-level mitigations exhausted

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 Chromium GPU process inside Claude Desktop crashes with exitCode: 101457950 (0x060C201E) and takes the entire app down with it — all 15–19 Claude.exe processes exit within seconds. The underlying CoworkVMService and cowork-svc survive every crash; only the Electron app dies.

This has happened on 3 separate days, on two app versions (1.26832.0 and 1.28929.0), and persists after exhausting every OS-level mitigation available (see Additional Information). The trigger is typically shortly after launch, or when a browser preview pane is created for a Claude Code session. In the most recent instance the app crashed ~25 seconds after a fresh launch with no user interaction.

As a cascade effect, the crash frequently leaves the MSIX package in a wedged state: CoworkVMService removal fails with "Access is denied" even when elevated, RemovePackage is rejected with 0x80073CFA ("requires developer mode"), and subsequent installs fail with AddPackage 0x80073CF9 / 0x80073CF6 — matching #49917 / #49655. The user then sees the misleading dialog "Administrator access is required to install Claude with full features" even though the installer WAS elevated.

Hardware: AMD Radeon(TM) Graphics (Ryzen integrated, single GPU — NOT a hybrid/dual-GPU setup). This appears to be the same class as #80468 (identical exit code, hybrid graphics) and #83028 (Intel iGPU + browser pane, marked "no workaround available"), but on AMD iGPU with extensive mitigation data.

What Should Happen?

1. A GPU-process crash should not kill the whole app — Chromium/Electron is designed to fall back to software rendering when the GPU process dies; Claude Desktop should recover the same way instead of exiting entirely.
2. Users should have a way to force software rendering: a hardware-acceleration toggle in settings, or a launch flag/config file that works under MSIX. Currently ELECTRON_EXTRA_LAUNCH_ARGS is ignored (MSIX sandboxing, #31990), direct exe launch with --disable-gpu is blocked by Windows (Access denied on WindowsApps), and no toggle exists in the UI (#77857) — so this failure is completely unrecoverable from the user side.
3. The installer should stop/remove CoworkVMService before RemovePackage, and should not report an elevated-installer failure as "Administrator access is required".

Error Messages/Logs

main.log (crash signature — identical on 3 separate days):

2026-08-12 08:27:24 [info] [Preview] Created browser preview { serverId: 'browser-preview-...', cwd: 'D:\\EWUSOS' }
2026-08-12 08:27:28 [info] GPU process gone: {
  type: 'GPU',
  reason: 'crashed',
  exitCode: 101457950,
  serviceName: 'GPU'
}

2026-08-13 10:59:18 [info] [oauth] using cached token ...
2026-08-13 10:59:20 [info] GPU process gone: {
  type: 'GPU',
  reason: 'crashed',
  exitCode: 101457950,
  serviceName: 'GPU'
}

Crashpad minidump written at exact crash time:
Crashpad\reports\5dbc2fcc-edc6-442d-bd89-2507fe5fcf5e.dmp (2026-08-12 08:27:28) — available on request.

External watchdog (15-second sampling):
2026-08-12 08:27:16, CoworkVMService=Running, Claude.exe count=15, cowork-svc count=1
2026-08-12 08:27:31, CoworkVMService=Running, Claude.exe count=0,  cowork-svc count=1

Memory state 35s before one crash (app's own log — no memory pressure):
[process-memory] tree_rss_sum=1628MB electron(10)=1628MB sys_free=21262MB/31622MB

Installer cascade after crash (ClaudeSetup.log, full log available on request):
Removing conflicting CoworkVMService...
WARNING: failed to remove conflicting service: could not open CoworkVMService: Access is denied.
Windows rejected data-preserving removal (0x80073CFA, requires developer mode); relying on in-place update
MSIX installation failed: AddPackage failed with HRESULT 0x80073CF9
ERROR dialog: "Administrator access is required to install Claude with full features."  <-- misleading, installer was elevated

Steps to Reproduce

1. Windows 11 Pro 25H2 (build 26200) machine with AMD Radeon integrated graphics (Ryzen iGPU, single GPU).
2. Install Claude Desktop (MSIX, tested on 1.26832.0 and 1.28929.0) with Cowork.
3. Launch Claude Desktop and start a Claude Code session with a browser preview pane (or in some instances, simply launch the app and wait ~25 seconds).
4. Observe in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Claude_pzs8sxrjxfjjc\LocalCache\Roaming\Claude\logs\main.log: GPU process gone: { reason: 'crashed', exitCode: 101457950 } followed by all Claude.exe processes exiting.
5. Attempt to relaunch → frequently fails ("Can't open this app"); attempt reinstall → AddPackage 0x80073CF9/0x80073CF6 until CoworkVMService is manually stopped, packages removed, and machine rebooted.

Claude Model

Not sure / Multiple models

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

N/A (never worked crash-free on this hardware)

Claude Code Version

Claude Desktop 1.28929.0 (MSIX package Claude_pzs8sxrjxfjjc). This report concerns the Desktop app, not the CLI.

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

PowerShell

Additional Information

Hardware/driver details:

• AMD Radeon(TM) Graphics (Ryzen iGPU, single GPU)
• Crash reproduced on driver 31.0.14070.0 (June 2023) AND after updating to 32.0.21045.1000 (July 2026)
• 32 GB RAM, 21+ GB free at crash time
• Windows Defender only, zero detections; no Event Viewer Application-log crash entry is written (Crashpad captures internally)

Mitigations attempted — ALL failed to stop the crash:

1. GPU driver update June 2023 → July 2026 (AMD Adrenalin) — crash recurred next day
2. Windows Graphics settings: fixed GPU preference for Claude (High performance) — no effect
3. "Optimizations for windowed games" disabled for Claude — no effect
4. MPO disabled (HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Dwm\OverlayTestMode=5) + reboot — crash within ~25s of next launch
5. ELECTRON_EXTRA_LAUNCH_ARGS=--disable-gpu — ignored (MSIX sandboxing, as documented in #31990)
6. Direct launch of WindowsApps\...\app\claude.exe --disable-gpu — blocked, Access denied (MSIX)
7. Clean reinstall (full package removal + reboot + elevated install) — installs fine, crash recurs

Related issues: #80468 (same exit code, hybrid graphics), #83028 (Intel iGPU + browser pane, "no workaround"), #31990 (MSIX blocks GPU flags), #77857 (no HW-accel toggle), #49917 / #49655 (wedged package / CoworkVMService).

Crashpad .dmp files and full ClaudeSetup.log available on request.