claude-code - 💡(How to fix) Fix Cowork slash commands fail on corporate Macs where ~/Documents is a OneDrive symlink (virtiofs mount error) [1 comments, 2 participants]

Environment

• macOS 15.x (Sequoia)
• Claude Desktop app (latest stable)
• Corporate Mac with Microsoft OneDrive managing ~/Documents via IT policy
• ~/Documents is a symlink → /Users/<user>/Library/CloudStorage/OneDrive-<org>/Documents

Steps to Reproduce

1. Be on a corporate Mac where IT has enabled OneDrive folder backup for Documents
2. Verify: ls -la ~/Documents shows a symlink to OneDrive CloudStorage
3. Open Claude Desktop app → cowork mode
4. Run any slash command that produces artifacts (e.g. /sfdc-account-summary <account>)

Expected Behavior

Slash command executes and produces output artifacts.

Actual Behavior

Hard failure with RPC error:

RPC error: failed to mount /mnt/.virtiofs-root/shared/Users/<user>/Documents/Claude/Artifacts/<command> as .artifacts/<command>: source path does not exist and could not be created: /mnt/.virtiofs-root/shared/Users/<user>/Documents/Claude/Artifacts/<command>: mkdir /mnt/.virtiofs-root/shared/Users/<user>/Documents: file exists

Root Cause Analysis

The virtiofs virtual filesystem mounts host paths into the VM for artifact access. When it tries to mkdir /mnt/.virtiofs-root/shared/Users/<user>/Documents, it fails because that path already exists as a symlink (not a real directory) in the host filesystem. virtiofs cannot follow symlinks when creating intermediate directories, so the mount fails entirely.

Note: The error says "file exists" — this is misleading. The path exists but as a symlink, not a real directory, which virtiofs treats as an untraversable file.

Why This Is Widespread

• OneDrive folder backup for ~/Documents and ~/Desktop is the default IT policy at most large enterprises
• IT admins lock this setting (the toggle is greyed out with message: "Your IT department does not allow you to stop folder backup")
• Users have no self-service workaround — it requires an IT ticket or a non-corporate Mac
• This blocks cowork entirely for corporate users, who are the primary target audience for cowork

Suggested Fix

Change the artifacts base path from ~/Documents/Claude/Artifacts to a location that is always a real directory, such as:

• ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/Artifacts (preferred — never symlinked by OneDrive/IT)
• Or: resolve symlinks before attempting virtiofs mount