Windows: Claude Desktop AppData\Claude grows unboundedly, no relocation option; symlink/junction workaround breaks app on startup

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?

%AppData%\Roaming\Claude grows continuously with no cleanup — in my case, largely from local-agent-mode-sessions\...\outputs, which accumulated hundreds of duplicate versioned files (e.g. Session_Review_Asks_and_Template_v9 through v24, near-identical, ~150-220KB each) plus stray .tmp files, filling my C: drive.

There's no built-in setting to relocate this data to another drive.

What Should Happen?

Following the pattern in #57998 and #61350, I copied AppData\Roaming\Claude to a separate D: drive and created a directory junction (mklink /J, later also tried /D) at the original C: path pointing to D:.

Result: the app now refuses to start entirely, with the error:

Failed to start Claude's workspace
configure: path C:\Users[username]\AppData\Roaming\Claude is a symlink or junction, refusing to open

This matches the exact failure mode reported in #61350 ("Symbolic links and junctions to D: break the app on startup").

Error Messages/Logs

Failed to start Claude’s workspaceconfigure: path C:\Users\Patrick Kager\AppData\Roaming\Claude is a symlink or junction, refusing to openRestarting Claude or your computer sometimes resolves this. If it persists, you can reinstall the workspace or share your debug logs to help us improve.

Steps to Reproduce

Use mklink to symbolically link Appdata/Claude file to my D:

Claude Model

Sonnet (default)

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

Never worked

Claude Code Version

2.1.104

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

Other

Additional Information

_No response_