Claude desktop (Windows) leaks resources (RADAR_PRE_LEAK_64) and blocks relaunch until reboot
Summary
Claude for Windows appears to leak memory/handles over time. When it eventually crashes or auto-terminates, relaunching fails with "already in use elsewhere", and only a full OS reboot lets the app start again. This has happened 3 times so far.
Environment
- OS: Windows 11 Enterprise 10.0.26200
- Claude desktop app: seen in Windows Error Reporting as versions 1.15962.1.0 and 1.24012.9.0 (leak detected across multiple versions)
- Claude Code CLI: 2.1.246 (installed alongside, separate from this report)
Evidence
Windows Error Reporting (Event Viewer > Application log) recorded two separate "RADAR_PRE_LEAK_64" events for claude.exe:
- 2026-06-28 09:52 — claude.exe 1.15962.1.0
- 2026-07-28 10:33 — claude.exe 1.24012.9.0
Event ID 1001, problem signature P1=claude.exe. RADAR is Windows' built-in resource-exhaustion detector, so this indicates a real, reproducible handle/memory leak in the desktop app, present across at least two release versions.
Symptom
The app auto-terminates unexpectedly, and relaunching it reports it's "already running elsewhere" and refuses to start. The only reliable fix found so far is a full PC reboot.
Ask
Could the team investigate the underlying leak (RADAR_PRE_LEAK_64), and/or make the single-instance lock more resilient to abnormal termination (detect/clear a stale lock left by a dead process instead of requiring a full reboot)?
Happy to provide more diagnostics if useful.