The desktop app issues on Windows — page 3
Issues the maintainers labelled both platform:windows and area:desktop.
1,518 issues · 494 open · 1,024 resolved (67%) · first seen Feb 9, 2026
Is this getting better or worse?
This class of problem is still growing. 903 new reports in the last 90 days vs 599 in the 90 before — +51%. The open backlog peaked at 494 in 2026-08 and sits at 494 today.
Derived by counting each matching issue from its creation date until it closed. First-party
computation over the anthropics/claude-code tracker — the trend is not published
anywhere upstream.
Which builds report this
659 of these reports name the Claude Code build they were running, spanning 132 releases. Heaviest reporters:
- Claude Code v2.1.229
- Claude Code v2.1.246
- Claude Code v2.1.209
- Claude Code v2.1.170
- Claude Code v2.1.227
- Claude Code v2.1.237
- Claude Code v2.1.247
- Claude Code v2.1.222
Report volume, not a defect count: an issue can mention a build without that build having caused the failure. Versions come from the version string in the bug-report template, matched against real published tags.
Do these get fixed?
Median time to close is 34 days across 1,024 closures. Of the 1,024 closures with a recorded reason, 21% were closed as completed and 807 as not-planned or duplicate. The most recent completed fix landed in 2026-08.
Workarounds reported by the community
451 of these issues post a workaround someone says worked. The highest-engagement ones:
- [FEATURE] Add font size adjustment for Code tab in Claude Desktop
- …rl+- also do not work inside the Code tab. The only current workaround is to change the entire Windows display scaling, which affects all applications system-wide and is not a practical solution. Proposed Solution Please…
Found in the description of #48237 · resolved - [Feature Request] Native WSL Remote Integration for Claude Code Desktop on Windows
- …l: wrong shell, broken paths, toolchain mismatches. The SSH workaround is too clunky for daily use. VS Code's Remote - WSL solved this years ago. Claude Code Desktop deserves the same. This would unlock the Desktop UI fo…
Found in the thread of #49933 · resolved - Claude Desktop (Windows): provide a way to disable the bundled Cowork background service (CoworkVMService) for users who don't use Cowork
- …esktop is not an option for me — I use it daily. - The only workarounds are user-hostile : take ownership of and force , or schedule a task at logon. Both may break on package updates and feel wrong on a system level. Se…
Found in the description of #57371 · still open - [Regression] Desktop app: session time-range filter only appears when Group by is set to State
- …th its last value, unreachable from any UI. is not a usable workaround Worth flagging since it is the obvious suggestion: in code mode the State renderer buckets sessions into flat / / … lists with no project headers. So…
Found in the thread of #78775 · still open - [FEATURE] Allow configuring VM bundle (vhdx) storage location
- …ve. NTFS junctions ( ) fail. There is no reliable user-side workaround. For me, it's quite unconvenient. I have to move other files to D: to continue use Cowork. - OS: Windows 11 - Latest Claude Desktop Proposed Solution…
Found in the description of #56089 · still open
Excerpts are quoted from the linked issue so you can judge relevance before opening it. Threads that only ask for a workaround, or report that there is none, are excluded. These are community suggestions, not official guidance from Anthropic — read the full thread before applying one.
Matching issues 201–300
Ranked by community engagement (reactions weighted over comments). Listing the top 300 of 1,518 matches; the statistics above cover all 1,518.
- [BUG] API Error (model ref): 400 The provided model identifier is invalid.. Try --model to switch to us.anthropic.claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929-v1:0.
- [BUG] Cowork-Tab missing, cowork_vm_node.log never created
- [BUG] Claude Desktop crashes on switching to Code mode (Windows 11 Home, MSIX)
- [BUG] Cowork tab not appearing on Windows 11 Home — yukonSilver not supported
- [BUG] Claude Desktop (Windows Store / MSIX): Code sessions silently fail to persist due to EXDEV error inside MSIX sandbox, even when everything is on C: — resolved by switching to Win32 installer
- [BUG] Claude Desktop Cowork on Windows fails to start VM with HCS 0x80070003
- [BUG] MSIX: Code sessions lost on restart — EXDEV error in session save (fs.rename across VFS reparse point)
- [Windows] Clipboard copy produces garbled Chinese text after v2.1.92 update
- [BUG] Cowork VM service not starting on Windows 10 after v1.1.9493 update
- Session history not showing in desktop app sidebar after update (Windows 11)
- Desktop Code tab uses 200k context instead of 1M on Max plan (Windows)
- Allow me to hide data shown in claude desktop I don't need (so I can declutter the UX and love you even more)
- [BUG] validation_failed on login + continuous OAuth 403 spam causes screen to go blank (Windows)
- [BUG] "Failed to load session" — Consistent crash on Windows ARM (Surface Laptop 7) during active Claude Code sessions
- [BUG] Windows Desktop app 1.37937 (2026-08-25 update): slash autocomplete blank, then first-position-only / single-command, chip styling gone
- send_message (cross-session): sender gets "Message sent", recipient session is never written to and stops responding permanently
- 2.1.229 Windows: cross-session message now delivers but immediately freezes the recipient session (zero output until watchdog) — regression persists from 2.1.227
- Desktop Browser pane: allow user-approved local hostnames (hosts-file aliases) as trusted preview origins — currently all subresources blocked with ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT
- Windows Desktop: turns initiated while session window is unfocused (cross-session send_message delivery) never start; watchdog-killed after ~980s — regression 2.1.222 -> 2.1.227
- [BUG] Claude desktop session indexing bug
- Desktop: sessions spawned by scheduled tasks missing from Recents and unpinnable (Search-only); Routines sidebar section intermittent
- [BUG] Cowork broken since Chat/Cowork merge rollout 8–9 July: projects disappear within 24h (ongoing data loss) and connector tools never reach Cowork sessions (Windows 11, Desktop 1.20186.0)
- Claude Desktop (Windows): `</> Code` conversation history silently lost on restart — and Claude doesn't detect the gap
- Claude Desktop Code tab ignores NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS on Windows MSIX install behind corporate SSL proxy
- [BUG] Desktop (Windows): Pinned sidebar sessions stop reordering by recent activity after update (v1.14271.0)
- [BUG] Cowork local-agent-mode sessions missing from Recents despite intact data on disk (Windows)
- [BUG] Images sent by agent via SendUserFile never render in Desktop app chat (local session, claude.ai webview)
- **[BUG] Cowork locks up after ~5 min — EventEmitter memory leak (MaxListenersExceededWarning) accumulates per session, Electron renderer freezes**
- [Bug] OTel not initializing on Windows Desktop despite correct remote-settings.json cache
- [BUG] Dispatch permanently shows "Can't reach your desktop" — needs server-side pairing reset
- MCP tool-result widgets render as empty boxes (Claude Code Desktop)
- [BUG] Claude Desktop (Windows): MCP tool calls hard-terminated and bridge wedge after repeated timeouts
- Chip-spawned task runs on primary checkout instead of fresh worktree
- [Regression 1.9659.2] computer-use tools disconnect after first use in Code mode (Windows)
- [UNACCEPTABLE/UNRESOLVED] Cannot open a folder in the desktop app on Windows — 7 closed issues, zero fixes, paying customers locked out of basic IDE functionality for 2+ months
- [Desktop/Windows] App crashes on rapid window resize after extended conversation - conhost stack overflow + RADAR resource leak
- [BUG] Sonnet 4.6 blocked by forced 1M context mode requiring additional credits on Pro plan
- [BUG] International Keyboardlayouts do not support all shortcuts in Desktop App
- [BUG]
- [BUG] Incorrect keyboard shortcut icon in Windows
- No option to revert to pre-redesign color theme in desktop app
- [BUG] Claude Desktop fails to launch on Windows 11 Home 25H2 (26200.8117) — frontend never sends configure IPC to healthy CoworkVMService
- [BUG] Linux Desktop: session_stale_relogin (elevated_auth) forces ~daily re-login; sign-in demanded twice during Cowork folder-access grants
- [BUG] CoworkVMService crasht wiederholt ("Access is denied" bei Recovery-Actions-Konfiguration), App muss neu gestartet werden – Regression nach Update auf 1.32352.1.0
- Cross-session send_message delivers to the target session's queue but never triggers a responding turn (regression in desktop 1.28929.0 / CC runtime 2.1.227, still broken in 2.1.231)
- Claude Desktop (Windows): heavy ad-stack page in in-app Claude Browser pane crashes entire app, no crash dump, kills all hosted sessions
- [BUG] Windows: CoworkVMService can never arm its own recovery actions ("Access is denied" at every start) — service death becomes a silent claude.exe hang with no crash dump (root cause of #59794 and #66849, both closed stale)
- [FEATURE] Bring Remote Control to the Desktop app's native Code sessions (parity with CLI)
- [BUG] File viewer panel does not syntax-highlight PHP files (v2.1.199, Windows)
- [BUG] Cowork desktop app: white screen on launch, RPC "message too large" error
- [BUG] Windows local-agent-mode: agent session processes + MCP fleets not reaped on session end (accumulate across launches)
- [BUG] Scheduled-task sessions surface inconsistently in Desktop sidebar: sometimes as unmarked ordinary chats, sometimes not at all; no badge, no running indicator, no reliable way to find them
- Session title diverges between Desktop app and mobile/web — two independent title stores that never reconcile
- [BUG] Claude Code Desktop for Windows always starts Powershell
- [BUG] Desktop app intercepts Windows screenshot shortcuts and triggers file-association errors on Windows 11.
- [BUG] Code session shared via Dispatch becomes unrecoverable in UI after app restart — sessions-bridge auto-disposes, CLI resume works
- [BUG] Windows Desktop app + SSO (Team plan): oauthAccount not hydrated to ~/.claude.json, OTel metrics emitted without user identity
- [BUG] Connector tool permissions (Always Allow) reset to default after every Claude Desktop upgrade
- Three intertwined bugs in the Remote/Worktree feature: MCP push, gh ENOENT, plugin-setup hang
- [BUG] Closed Claude Code sessions leave zombie subprocesses that corrupt session files ("No message found with message.uuid")
- [BUG] Stucked loading screen on Deskop Claude
- [BUG] Cowork tab missing on Windows (only Chat and Code shown)
- [BUG] Remote SSH daemon (ccd-cli/2.1.111) exits with code 1 on initialize when hookCallbackIds are present
- [BUG] Claude Desktop Windows - Window cannot be resized below minimum width (regression, last 2 days)
- [BUG] Claude Desktop Windows: periodic ~60s system-wide keyboard focus loss (~10s duration) while app is running in background
- [FEATURE] Auto-continue in new conversation when context limit is reached
- [Bug] Windows Desktop: Multiple project sessions share same CLI instance and closing one affects others
- [BUG] ENABLE_TOOL_SEARCH not working in Desktop App - MCP tools fully loaded despite settings
- Feature: Share scheduled tasks between CLI and Desktop
- [Bug] Update 1.1.7714 broke Claude Code desktop app — ccd-cli passes --allow-dangerously-skip-permissions as root + Hyper-V not initializing on Windows
- Fresh install: desktop app sidebar shows no session history despite intact ~/.claude/projects data
- Cross-session send_message queues and renders in target session UI but is never injected into its context (regression v2.1.222 -> v2.1.227, Windows desktop)
- [Bug] pdf-viewer plugin: local PDFs always rejected — MCP roots never populated + Windows file:// path mangling (C:\C:\...)
- [BUG] Reinstalling Claude Desktop on Windows wipes Code tab session history (no warning, no recovery)
- [BUG] Windows Desktop integrated terminal hardcodes powershell.exe → "Shell exited" (CreateProcess error 1260) when PowerShell 5.1 is blocked by policy
- [BUG] Desktop app: forked sessions never enable Remote Control, so they never appear on mobile/web
- [BUG] Windows (MSIX): quit-for-update never completes; stale processes hang the relaunched app or block later launches ("Another program is currently using this file") until reboot
- [BUG] Windows MSIX/Cowork: in-app Claude Code writes silently virtualized (succeed but don't persist), and in-place updates deadlock on the Cowork VM service's file handles
- Let read-only ccd_session_mgmt__search_session_transcripts be pre-authorized (it forces manual approval on every call)
- Desktop app: session stuck in "Running" state in sidebar after all background work has finished
- [FEATURE] Desktop app: copy button at the bottom of long code blocks (avoid scrolling back to top)
- [BUG] Cowork tab missing - rootfs.vhdx detected as missing but never downloaded after clean reinstall (Windows 11)
- [BUG] Claude Desktop: uninstalled extension cannot be reinstalled (install hangs / no-op), state survives app reinstall
- [BUG] Cowork — VM boots but guest never connects; HNS network silently not created (Windows 11 ARM64 / Snapdragon X)
- [BUG] "Usage credits required for 1M context" error when context is set to Medium on Sonnet 4.6
- [BUG] if one deletes the working directory during or between Claude Desktop sessions, it does not recover well
- [BUG]
- [BUG] Old chats wiped, no session summary
- [BUG][Windows] Desktop app ignores defaultMode: bypassPermissions in settings.json — mode picker missing "Bypass permissions" option
- [BUG] Desktop: misbehaving DXT can spam unblockable file-attach consent dialog with no UI escape
- Code mode hangs silently on all models and sessions on Windows desktop app after May 4 Opus 4.7 incidents
- Chat search omits Code chats currently open in other windows; no body-text index for Code chats
- [BUG] Close button in Image Preview gets covered by window close button
- [BUG] EXDEV on MSIX workspace setup (rootfs.vhdx rename fails) - Win32 workaround from #48362 no longer exists, no fix available
- [BUG] Claude Desktop Crashing under 1 minute every time I load it (PC)
- [BUG] Cowork tab missing — yukonSilver misdetection, build 1.3109.0, Windows 11 MSIX
- [BUG] Code mode crashes silently on Windows after v1.3109.0 update
- [BUG] Cowork tab missing on Windows 11 Pro - only Chat and Code tabs visible
- [BUG] File viewer fails to open files with non-ASCII (Japanese) filenames on Windows
- Voice input appears in multiple sessions simultaneously