Issue Station
Sign In
Tools hereToolbox

codex - 💡(How to fix) Fix Windows desktop app starts codex-windows-sandbox before login and causes heavy disk I/O / system lag [1 participants]

Official PRs (…)
ON THIS PAGE

Recommended Tools

×6

Utilities matched from this issue’s tags and category — try them while you read without losing context.

GitHub issue graph ai analysis

Paste a GitHub issue URL. We fetch that issue, discover linked issues from bodies/comments/timeline, collect linked pull requests, and produce a structured English report.

The report is written in English Markdown for sharing and archival.

Helpful · Quick feedback

Loading…
GitHub stats
openai/codex#19293•Fetched 2026-04-24 10:39:10
View on GitHub
Comments
0
Participants
1
Timeline
5
Reactions
0
Author
GuoSihan0320GuoSihan0320
Participants
GuoSihan0320GuoSihan0320
Timeline (top)
labeled ×4subscribed ×1

Root Cause

Unknown / not relevant yet, because this happens before login completes

Fix Action

Fix / Workaround

So this report is specifically about the desktop app starting a problematic Windows sandbox path even before login/task execution, and about needing a fix/workaround that does not require destructive mutation of possibly shared CLI state.

RAW_BUFFERClick to expand / collapse

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

Unknown (Windows desktop app build not yet verified)

What subscription do you have?

Unknown / not relevant yet, because this happens before login completes

What platform is your computer?

Windows desktop (exact Windows version not yet collected)

What issue are you seeing?

Opening the Codex desktop app on Windows causes the machine to lag heavily before login completes and before any prompt/task is started.

The sign-in UI gets stuck on the "Get started with Codex" screen and shows "Cancel sign in", but does not progress.

At the same time, Task Manager shows a codex-windows-sandbox child process consuming substantial local resources:

  • codex-windows-sandbox ~820 MB memory
  • disk throughput around 132.0 MB/s
  • the full Codex process group around 1.1 GB memory

This makes the whole PC feel choppy / laggy.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

  1. Install/open the Codex desktop app on Windows.
  2. Launch the app.
  3. Attempt to sign in with ChatGPT.
  4. Before login finishes, observe that the UI remains on the sign-in screen.
  5. Open Task Manager and inspect the Codex process group.
  6. Observe codex-windows-sandbox running even though no prompt has been sent, no project/task has been started, and login has not completed.
  7. Observe heavy disk activity and system lag.

What is the expected behavior?

Launching the desktop app and waiting at sign-in should not start a heavyweight sandbox workload that causes sustained high disk I/O and machine-wide lag.

At minimum, the app should either:

  • not initialize the Windows sandbox before login / before the first actual task, or
  • initialize it in a lightweight/non-blocking way that does not degrade the host machine.

Reproducibility

Repeated on app launch.

Additional information

Important constraint from the affected user:

  • Codex CLI appears to be working normally.
  • Because desktop app / CLI may share state under ~/.codex, the user does not want to apply debugging steps that rename/delete shared local state if those steps could break normal Codex CLI behavior.

So this report is specifically about the desktop app starting a problematic Windows sandbox path even before login/task execution, and about needing a fix/workaround that does not require destructive mutation of possibly shared CLI state.

I can provide screenshots from Task Manager / sign-in screen if needed.

extent analysis

TL;DR

The issue can be mitigated by preventing the codex-windows-sandbox process from initializing before login, potentially through configuration changes or code modifications that delay or optimize its startup.

Guidance

  • Investigate the Codex desktop app's startup sequence to identify what triggers the premature initialization of the codex-windows-sandbox process.
  • Consider implementing a lazy loading mechanism for the sandbox, allowing it to start only after the user has successfully logged in and initiated a task.
  • Review the app's configuration files or settings to see if there are any options to disable or delay the sandbox initialization.
  • Monitor the system's resource utilization and disk I/O patterns to better understand the impact of the sandbox on the system's performance.

Example

No specific code snippet can be provided without more information about the app's internal implementation. However, a potential approach could involve modifying the app's startup logic to delay the creation of the codex-windows-sandbox process until after login.

Notes

The fix may require modifications to the Codex desktop app's codebase, and it is essential to ensure that any changes do not affect the normal functioning of the Codex CLI or other shared components.

Recommendation

Apply a workaround by investigating and potentially modifying the app's startup sequence to delay the initialization of the codex-windows-sandbox process, as this approach is likely to mitigate the performance issues without requiring destructive changes to shared state.

Vote matrix · Quick signals

Works
Did the solution work? Tap to confirm.
Easy Fix
Was it a quick fix?
Time Saver
Did it save you time?
Blocking
Was it severely blocking?
Common Issue
Are others likely hitting this too?
Flaky / Intermittent
Is it intermittent?
Verified / Reproducible
Can you reproduce it reliably?
Loading…
#request error#file not found#serialization error#model compatibility#GPU setup

Still need to ship something?

×6

Another batch ranked right after the header list — different links, same matching logic.

Back to top recommendations

TRENDING