[Bug] Claude Desktop loses Local environment after Windows reboot

Bug Description

[Windows] Claude Desktop loses the Local environment after every reboot; Code tab falls back to the web surface and asks me to download Claude Desktop

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Desktop / Claude Code

Summary

After every reboot (or full quit and relaunch), the Claude Desktop app on Windows starts in a broken state. The Code tab renders the claude.ai/code web surface instead of the native local UI:

• Local is either missing from the environment picker or greyed out as Download / Desktop only. The desktop app tells me to download the desktop app I am running.
• Only Remote Control (a session registered from another machine) and Cloud can be selected.
• Local sessions do not appear in the list.

A clean reinstall restores Local. The next reboot breaks it again. Reproduced on every reboot since at least 2026-09-10, most recently 2026-09-18.

Reproduction

1. Clean-install Claude Desktop (MSIX package Claude_pzs8sxrjxfjjc).
2. Launch it. Code tab → environment picker → Local is available, and local sessions are listed. ✅
3. Reboot Windows, or fully quit the app from the tray and relaunch.
4. Code tab → environment picker → Local is absent or shows Download. Only Remote Control and Cloud remain. ❌

Reproducibility: 100%, on every reboot.

Expected

Local stays available across restarts, the same as it is right after installing.

Observations

• Session data survives on disk. The local sessions are still under ~/.claude/projects, and claude --resume in the CLI recovers them. The app just stops offering Local after a restart.
• Remote Control is unaffected. RC sessions from another machine (a WSL2 box) stay reachable in the broken state. Only features that need the app's bundled local runtime fail.
• %APPDATA%\Claude\claude-code-sessions was missing in the broken state. The MSIX-virtualized store under %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Claude_pzs8sxrjxfjjc\LocalCache\Roaming\Claude\claude-code-sessions\ exists and holds recent writes.
• Sometimes the broken state also comes with repeated login prompts. Completing login opens a browser tab that tries to reconnect and then hangs.

Workaround

Run local sessions from the terminal (claude --resume), then use /rc so they show up alongside remote sessions in the app's Remote Control list. The session drops when the terminal closes, so this is not a real substitute for Local.

Environment

• OS: Windows 10 22H2
• Claude Desktop: MSIX Claude_pzs8sxrjxfjjc, version 1.49585.0.0 (unchanged since at least 2026-09-10)
• Claude Code CLI: 2.1.268
• Also in use: Remote Control session from a WSL2 machine

Environment Info

• Platform: win32
• Terminal: null
• Version: 2.1.268
• Feedback ID: b0f95c35-63ce-4333-a4dc-3f1171abb86f

Errors

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