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claude-code - 💡(How to fix) Fix [BUG] Cowork never initializes on Windows 11 arm64 (Snapdragon X / HP Omnibook) — smol-bin.arm64.vhdx locked in read-only AppX directory, never copied to writable location [1 participants]

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anthropics/claude-code#45549•Fetched 2026-04-09 08:02:48
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Error Message

The error is: On x64 builds, the installer appears to copy smol-bin.x64.vhdx from the AppX resources directory to a writable AppData location before mounting. On arm64, this copy-out step appears to be missing or failing silently, leaving the app attempting to mount the vhdx in-place from a protected, read-only AppX directory. The EBUSY error references a path that doesn't exist, suggesting the path construction logic may also have an arm64-specific bug.

Error Messages/Logs

Observe EBUSY error referencing a vm_bundles path that does not exist

Root Cause

CoworkVMService is present and running. Fully quitting Claude Desktop and relaunching does not resolve the issue. The vm_bundles directory cannot be cleared because it was never created.

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Preflight Checklist

  • I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
  • This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
  • I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

Cowork has never successfully initialized on this machine.

The error is: EBUSY: resource busy or locked, open 'C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Claude\vm_bundles\claudevm.bundle\smol-bin.vhdx'

Investigation reveals the vhdx is not present at that path. Instead, smol-bin.arm64.vhdx is located inside the read-only AppX installation directory: C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Claude_1.1062.0.0_arm64__pzs8sxrjxfjjc\app\resources\smol-bin.arm64.vhdx Neither %APPDATA%\Claude\vm_bundles nor %LOCALAPPDATA%\Claude\vm_bundles exists. The VM bundle is never copied to a writable location. Only %LOCALAPPDATA%\Claude\Logs exists, and cowork_vm_node.log is never created, indicating the VM process never initializes far enough to write logs.

CoworkVMService is present and running. Fully quitting Claude Desktop and relaunching does not resolve the issue. The vm_bundles directory cannot be cleared because it was never created.

Suspected Root Cause

On x64 builds, the installer appears to copy smol-bin.x64.vhdx from the AppX resources directory to a writable AppData location before mounting. On arm64, this copy-out step appears to be missing or failing silently, leaving the app attempting to mount the vhdx in-place from a protected, read-only AppX directory. The EBUSY error references a path that doesn't exist, suggesting the path construction logic may also have an arm64-specific bug.

What Should Happen?

smol-bin.arm64.vhdx should be copied to a writable location (e.g., %LOCALAPPDATA%\Claude\vm_bundles) on first launch, and Cowork should initialize from there.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

Install Claude Desktop on a Windows 11 arm64 machine (Snapdragon X Elite) Open Claude Desktop and navigate to Cowork Observe EBUSY error referencing a vm_bundles path that does not exist Confirm vhdx is present only in the AppX resources director

Claude Model

Sonnet (default)

Is this a regression?

No, this never worked

Last Working Version

No response

Claude Code Version

Claude Desktop version: 1.1062.0.0 (visible in Get-AppxPackage output)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

PowerShell

Additional Information

No response

extent analysis

TL;DR

The issue can be resolved by copying the smol-bin.arm64.vhdx file to a writable location, such as %LOCALAPPDATA%\Claude\vm_bundles, to allow Cowork to initialize.

Guidance

  • Verify that the smol-bin.arm64.vhdx file exists in the read-only AppX installation directory (C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Claude_1.1062.0.0_arm64__pzs8sxrjxfjjc\app\resources\).
  • Create the %LOCALAPPDATA%\Claude\vm_bundles directory and copy the smol-bin.arm64.vhdx file to this location.
  • Check if the CoworkVMService is running and try restarting it after copying the file.
  • If the issue persists, investigate the path construction logic for arm64-specific bugs.

Example

No code snippet is provided as it is not clearly supported by the issue.

Notes

The issue seems to be specific to arm64 builds, and the fix may need to be applied only for this architecture. The EBUSY error suggests a resource locking issue, but in this case, it appears to be a red herring due to the incorrect path.

Recommendation

Apply the workaround by copying the smol-bin.arm64.vhdx file to a writable location, as this is a more feasible solution given the current information.

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claude-code - 💡(How to fix) Fix [BUG] Cowork never initializes on Windows 11 arm64 (Snapdragon X / HP Omnibook) — smol-bin.arm64.vhdx locked in read-only AppX directory, never copied to writable location [1 participants]