Windows app 26.924.2738.0 stuck loading after successful authentication and local initialization #48694

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

26.924.2738.0 (Windows package version; the About dialog is inaccessible because the app is stuck loading)

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Pro

What platform is your computer?

Windows 10, build 19045, x64

What issue are you seeing?

The Windows desktop app stays on its loading screen immediately after launch and never reaches the home screen.

The captured logs show successful app-server initialization, local SQLite initialization, account lookup, and project migration with projectCount=10. However, app_start reports outcome=failure and reason=timeout after approximately 121 seconds.

The logs also show in_app_updates_policy_timeout after 300 seconds with policy=pending.

The issue persists after reinstalling, testing a fresh app profile, and switching to a separate mobile-data connection.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. On the affected Windows 10 computer (build 19045, x64), launch the desktop app with Windows package version 26.924.2738.0.
2. Wait at least two minutes for startup to complete.
3. The app remains on the loading screen and never displays the home screen or project list. Waiting more than five minutes does not resolve it.

No prompt or task is required to reproduce the issue. It happens during startup, so token usage and context-window usage are not applicable.

What is the expected behavior?

The app should complete startup and display the home screen, allowing me to access my existing projects and conversations.

Additional information

Troubleshooting already completed:

• Fully closing the app and restarting Windows.
• Windows app Repair and uninstalling/reinstalling.
• Correcting PATH so reg.exe, tar.exe, and git.exe resolve correctly.
• Successful runtime installation and validation, including Node and Python probes.
• Cache isolation.
• Renaming AppData\Roaming\Codex and testing with a fresh profile.
• Testing on a separate mobile-data connection. No VPN is in use.

During troubleshooting, a separate local SQLite "disk I/O error" dialog appeared. A diagnostic against the original database returned SQLITE_IOERR_TRUNCATE, while a copy of the backup passed PRAGMA quick_check. Restoring the backup removed the database error dialog, but the original startup loading issue remains. The original database and backups have been preserved.

Additional log details:

• Bundled app-server version: 0.158.0-alpha.2.1
• App build number: 11645
• app_start durationMs: 121238.5
• Another warning: "Artifact Session host Unix-socket transport is not available on Windows."

The relevant logs cover September 27, 2026, approximately 20:13–20:18 KST (11:13–11:18 UTC).

Please investigate the startup timeout and advise a recovery procedure that preserves existing projects and conversations.

codex-20260927-2100-t0-redacted.log

codex-20260927-2100-t1-redacted.log