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Windows desktop app black screen / spinner on startup in 26.924.2738.0 #48989
Description
Environment
Windows 11 Pro
ChatGPT desktop app version: 26.924.2738.0
Package: OpenAI.Codex_26.924.2738.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
Feedback ID
no-active-thread-01a0e851-3047-76f2-a7e7-9cdb18e715f3
Problem
The ChatGPT Windows desktop app consistently opens to a black screen with a spinning circle and never finishes loading. Windows eventually records the app as not responding.
Windows Event Viewer records repeated:
Event Name: MoAppHang
The program ChatGPT.exe version 154.0.8037.57 stopped interacting with Windows and was closed.
Troubleshooting already completed
Repair completed successfully but did not help.
Multiple reboots did not help.
NordVPN disabled did not help.
Uninstall/reinstall did not help.
A fresh desktop Chromium/UI profile did not help.
Full Windows Reset did not help.
Codex Doctor reports authentication configured, local databases healthy, websocket connectivity successful, and the desktop app installed correctly.
Relevant diagnostics
The app diagnostics show:
Matched leaf route at location "/" does not have an element or Component. This means it will render an with a null value by default resulting in an "empty" page.
Also:
MaxListenersExceededWarning: Possible EventEmitter memory leak detected. 11 destroyed listeners added to [WebContents]. MaxListeners is 10.
The app is successfully reaching ChatGPT APIs and persistent.oaistatic.com with HTTP 200 responses.
Reliable temporary workaround
If the app is launched with Chromium remote debugging enabled, the main renderer at:
app://-/index.html
can be reloaded using the DevTools Page.reload command with:
ignoreCache:true
When this is done, the ChatGPT desktop UI immediately loads and works normally for that session.
However, after closing the app and reopening it normally, the black spinner returns.
This workaround has been reproduced successfully multiple times.
Expected behavior
The desktop app should load normally without requiring the main renderer to be manually reloaded through Chromium remote debugging.
Additional note
ChatGPT Classic was previously installed but has since been uninstalled. Windows Event Viewer did record a hang for ChatGPT Classic.exe earlier the same day.
Activity
github-actions commentedon Sep 28, 2026
Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.
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GideonWhitlock commentedon Oct 1, 2026
I am seeing the same startup failure on two newer ChatGPT Windows builds, with a distinct reproducible GPU-process workaround.
Affected versions
GPU environment
After authentication, the app remains indefinitely on the pulsing ChatGPT logo and Windows records
MoAppHang. Authentication succeeds and the local Codex app-server initializes before the UI hangs.Reproducible workaround: while the app is launching, ending its Chromium GPU child process in Task Manager immediately allows the main interface to load.
Sanitized log line:
WER / MoAppHang reports (Europe/London, BST):
a747f29c-c700-417f-a0db-7f2aa6d603f41ded98a9-2606-4f4d-928c-3a02e69cf4eb6e22d9b8-f488-4f53-8613-3b8fbc766a89Repair, full Reset, restart, sign-out/in, full uninstall/reinstall, and the subsequent app update did not resolve it. The web app works normally.
The current Windows build also lacks the documented
/ → Report issue/feedbackworkflow and cannot produce a session ID. OpenAI Support reviewed the diagnostics and directed me to report them here.CMC-Marketing commentedon Oct 15, 2026
I experienced this issue on Windows 11 with ChatGPT Desktop version 26.1007.71326 (released October 13, 2026).
After completing browser authentication, the application would either remain on the animated startup screen or partially load the interface with my account avatar visible, but no conversations. Clicking anywhere would restart the loading process.
I tried:
None of these immediately resolved the issue.
What finally worked:
After reinstalling, I left the application sitting on the animated loading screen for approximately 10–15 minutes. Eventually, a first-run onboarding screen appeared, asking questions about how I intended to use ChatGPT. Once I completed onboarding, the application immediately loaded my account and conversations normally.
Possible cause: The application may be getting stuck waiting for first-run onboarding to initialize, without displaying any indication that onboarding is pending.
I can't confirm whether the reinstall contributed to the eventual success, but the transition from completing onboarding to the application working was immediate.
Hopefully this helps others experiencing the same issue.