[Windows][26.825.5331.0] First launch after update runs headless for several minutes before GUI appears #41536

What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?

26.825.5331.0

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Plus

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0 x64

What issue are you seeing?

After updating the ChatGPT/Codex Windows desktop app to 26.825.5331.0, the application did not show any visible GUI window on the first launch.

Multiple ChatGPT.exe processes started successfully in the background, but all of them initially reported:

MainWindowHandle = 0

The main process was active rather than suspended. One observed main process had approximately:

• 478 MB RAM
• 63 threads
• active CPU usage
• Responding = True
• MainWindowHandle = 0

The Electron/Chromium child process tree included:

• crashpad-handler
• GPU process
• NetworkService
• StorageService

However, during the affected period:

• no ChatGPT.exe --type=renderer process was present
• no codex.exe process was present
• no thread had WaitReason = Suspended

I left the application running without repeatedly restarting it.

After a long delay of several minutes, the ChatGPT window eventually appeared by itself and became responsive.

This behavior occurred immediately after the desktop application update. The application therefore appears to be running normally in the background but remains headless for a long period before completing post-update initialization and creating the renderer/window.

Repair, Reset, reinstalling the application, and rebooting Windows did not provide a reliable fix during earlier reproductions.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Have ChatGPT/Codex Desktop installed on Windows.

2. Update the application to 26.825.5331.0.

3. Launch the application after the update.

4. Observe multiple ChatGPT.exe processes running in Task Manager, but no visible window.

5. Run:

   Get-Process ChatGPT |
   Select-Object Id, MainWindowHandle, MainWindowTitle, Responding

6. Observe that all processes initially have MainWindowHandle = 0.

7. Inspect the process command lines and observe GPU, NetworkService, StorageService and crashpad processes, but no renderer process.

8. Leave the application running without restarting it.

9. After several minutes, the GUI eventually appears by itself.

What is the expected behavior?

The desktop application should create and display its main window promptly after an update.

If post-update initialization, runtime extraction, migration, or update-policy checks require several minutes, the application should display a splash screen or visible progress indicator instead of silently running in the background with no window.

Additional information

No response