[Windows] Codex Desktop stuck on startup spinner/logo after update; terminating codex.exe restores UI #49447

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

Latest available version as reported by the affected user on September 30, 2026. The user installed the offered update that day, and the startup failure persisted afterward. The exact numeric package/About version was not captured. “Latest” refers to the version offered to this user's installation, rather than an independently verified global release. Please do not interpret the 26.924.x versions in related reports as a verified version for this incident.

What subscription do you have?

Not captured in the incident record.

What platform is your computer?

Windows desktop / Codex App. The exact Windows build for the affected device was not captured in the latest incident record.

What issue are you seeing?

Codex Desktop opens but does not reach the normal UI. The initial reported symptom was a persistent loading spinner; after installing an offered update, the app became stuck on its startup logo.

In both cases, the user reports that terminating only codex.exe allowed the app to proceed into its normal UI. The latest post-update recovery was explicitly confirmed by the user.

This prevents normal startup and requires manual process intervention.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Observed sequence on the affected installation:

1. Launch Codex Desktop.
2. The app remains on a loading spinner instead of opening the normal UI.
3. Leave the desktop window open and terminate codex.exe.
4. The normal UI becomes accessible.
5. Install the offered Codex update and launch the app again.
6. The app becomes stuck at the startup logo.
7. Terminate codex.exe again; the user confirms that the normal UI becomes accessible again.

This sequence is based on the user's incident reports, rather than a fresh controlled reproduction. The total number of launches tested, wait duration, and recovery duration were not recorded.

What is the expected behavior?

Codex Desktop should complete initialization and display its normal UI without requiring the user to manually terminate a backend process. If initialization stalls, the app should recover automatically or display an actionable diagnostic.

Additional information

Latest incident timeline

All times are Asia/Shanghai (UTC+8), September 30, 2026, and indicate report times rather than measured onset/recovery times:

• Approximately 09:08: The user reported a persistent spinner, explicitly distinguishing it from the earlier white-screen symptom.
• Approximately 09:12: The user confirmed that ending only codex.exe allowed the normal UI to appear.
• Approximately 09:29: After installing an offered update, the user reported that startup was now stuck at the logo.
• Approximately 09:32: The user confirmed that ending codex.exe still restored access to the UI.

Analysis / hypotheses, not established root cause

Recovery after terminating codex.exe makes the Desktop/backend startup interaction a useful investigation target: app-server initialization, pending bootstrap requests, IPC state, or backend-restart recovery. A startup ordering race or stalled request is plausible, but no process trace or failure-period logs establish it.

The report does not prove that the entire renderer, authentication, networking, or GPU path is healthy. It also does not independently confirm the restarted process's command line or PID; the prior troubleshooting discussion identified the Desktop codex.exe app-server as the likely relevant process.

The earlier troubleshooting history described a separate white-screen symptom that improved with --disable-direct-composition. The latest report concerns a visible spinner/logo. Whether that flag was present during these latest launches was not recorded, so its effect on this incident is unknown.

Related report

• [Windows] Codex Desktop 26.924.1866.0 stuck on startup spinner until app-server codex.exe is terminated #48333 — Windows startup spinner that clears after terminating the app-server process. This is a close symptom/workaround match. Its version, MCP timeout, repeated auth requests, and HTTP 409 warning belong to that reporter and have not been verified on this device.

Please investigate whether these share a startup/recovery defect and improve automatic recovery and diagnostics for a stalled backend initialization.

Evidence limits

This report summarizes user-confirmed observations from a troubleshooting conversation. It contains no raw logs, crash dumps, or screenshots. Earlier assistant explanations and log excerpts from other users are not treated as local diagnostic evidence. No account credentials, private conversation links, or complete conversation transcripts are included.

Prepared with AI assistance and submitted at the affected user's explicit request.