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claude-code - 💡(How to fix) Fix [BUG] Desktop app fails to boot workspace on Windows WSL2 — CLI works fine [1 participants]

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anthropics/claude-code#52810•Fetched 2026-04-25 06:20:18
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Error Message

error message is shown to the user. The only log available (%LOCALAPPDATA%\Claude\Logs\chrome-native-host.log) shows

Error Messages/Logs

  1. Observe it boots partially then crashes — no error shown
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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?

Environment:

  • OS: Windows with WSL2 (Ubuntu, WSL version 2)
  • Claude Code version:
  • WSL distro: Ubuntu (default)
  • Node.js in WSL: v24.14.1
  • bubblewrap & socat: installed and functional (bwrap sandbox test passes)

Description:

The Claude Code desktop app on Windows fails to initialize a workspace. It boots partially then dies consistently. No error message is shown to the user. The only log available (%LOCALAPPDATA%\Claude\Logs\chrome-native-host.log) shows no errors — it only logs the Chrome browser bridge lifecycle and contains no workspace initialization output.

What works:

  • Running claude directly in the WSL terminal works perfectly
  • bwrap --ro-bind / / echo "sandbox works" succeeds
  • WSL2 Ubuntu is healthy, default distro, running

What doesn't work:

  • The Claude Code desktop app on Windows HOME — workspace never fully boots, session dies mid-initialization

What Should Happen?

he Claude Code desktop app on Windows HOME — workspace never fully boots, session dies mid-initialization. it should (cowork) be able to run the bash command but it keeps failing.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

Steps to reproduce:

  1. Open Claude Code desktop app on Windows
  2. Attempt to start a new session/workspace
  3. Observe it boots partially then crashes — no error shown

Expected behavior: Workspace boots successfully, same as running claude in WSL terminal.

Additional context: No .bash_profile or custom shell configuration exists in WSL that could interfere. .bashrc is default Ubuntu. ~/.claude/settings.json only contains {"theme": "auto"}.

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

No response

Claude Code Version

2.1.119

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux)

Additional Information

No response

extent analysis

TL;DR

The issue may be related to the interaction between the Claude Code desktop app and the WSL environment, and checking the app's configuration and dependencies could help resolve the issue.

Guidance

  • Verify that the ~/.claude/settings.json file is correctly formatted and doesn't contain any unexpected settings that could interfere with the workspace initialization.
  • Check the version of Node.js in WSL and ensure it's compatible with the Claude Code version (2.1.119).
  • Run the Claude Code app with increased logging or debugging enabled to see if any error messages are being suppressed.
  • Test the app with a different WSL distro or a clean WSL installation to isolate if the issue is specific to the current environment.

Notes

The issue seems to be specific to the desktop app and not the command-line version of Claude Code, which suggests a potential problem with the app's interaction with the WSL environment.

Recommendation

Apply workaround: Try running the Claude Code app with a different WSL distro or a clean WSL installation to see if the issue persists, and report back with the results to further troubleshoot the problem.

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#api#cache error#pipeline error#runtime error#dependency conflict

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claude-code - 💡(How to fix) Fix [BUG] Desktop app fails to boot workspace on Windows WSL2 — CLI works fine [1 participants]