codex - 💡(How to fix) Fix Windows Desktop update installs but Codex does not relaunch afterward

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

Codex Desktop on Windows, Microsoft Store/AppX package after the update:

• OpenAI.Codex_26.519.3891.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0

The update appears to have replaced:

• OpenAI.Codex_26.519.2736.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0

What subscription do you have?

Unknown / not relevant to the updater behavior.

What platform is your computer?

Windows 11 Education, version 10.0.26200, build 26200, 64-bit.

What issue are you seeing?

When I manually trigger a Codex Desktop update from the in-app update affordance in the top-left corner, the UI changes to an "installing" state. Normally, after installation completes, Codex should restart/relaunch automatically.

For the current update, Codex did not relaunch after reaching the installing state. I waited and checked Task Manager thoroughly for Codex-related processes, but did not find an active Codex process during that period. I had to start Codex manually again.

After manually reopening Codex, the installed package version is 26.519.3891.0, so the package installation itself appears to have succeeded. The failure seems to be in the post-update relaunch / user-visible recovery path.

This has happened twice now across recent updates. The immediately previous update did relaunch eventually, but took noticeably longer and remained visible in Task Manager while it was installing. In this failed case, I did not see a visible installer/Codex process after the app disappeared.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Run Codex Desktop on Windows with an update available.
2. Click the in-app update affordance in the top-left corner.
3. Observe that Codex enters the "installing" state.
4. Wait for the expected automatic restart/relaunch.
5. Check Task Manager for Codex-related processes if the app does not come back.

Observed result:

• The package update completed according to Windows deployment logs.
• Codex did not relaunch automatically.
• No obvious Codex process was visible in Task Manager while waiting after the app disappeared.
• Manually launching Codex afterward worked and showed the updated package installed.

What is the expected behavior?

After an in-app update reaches the installing state and the package update succeeds, Codex should either:

• relaunch automatically, or
• show a clear failure/recovery message explaining that the update installed but Codex could not restart, with instructions to launch it manually.

It should not silently disappear after installation, leaving no clear signal about whether the update succeeded, failed, or is still running in the background.

Additional information

I searched for existing issues before filing this. The closest issues I found were related but not exact duplicates:

• #24010: launch crash when a Windows Store update is detected but cannot be downloaded.
• #23814: Windows desktop silent closes/restarts and sidechat state issues; it mentions one update-time hang, but the main issue is repeated post-update/session behavior.
• #23053: update prompt should show target versions and environment impact.

Local Windows deployment evidence for the failed relaunch case:

2026-05-22 10:25:10 local: Remove started for OpenAI.Codex_26.519.2736.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
2026-05-22 10:25:11 local: Remove completed successfully for OpenAI.Codex_26.519.2736.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
2026-05-22 10:25:13 local: Preferred package version changed from OpenAI.Codex_26.519.2081.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0 to OpenAI.Codex_26.519.3891.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
2026-05-22 10:25:41 local: Stage completed successfully for OpenAI.Codex_26.519.3891.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
2026-05-22 10:25:42 local: RegisterByPackageFamilyName started for OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0 with ForceTargetApplicationShutdownOption, RegisterHighestVersion, FailIfNeedsRemediation, SkipDeploymentOperationRpcCallerIsAdminCheck
2026-05-22 10:25:43 local: Register completed successfully for OpenAI.Codex_26.519.3891.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0

Codex desktop log timing around the update:

2026-05-22T08:25:11.746Z info [AppServerConnection] Stopping app-server transport connectionId=1 transport=stdio
2026-05-22T08:25:11.746Z info [AppServerConnection] app_server_connection.state_changed cause=stop_process ... currentState=connected ... next=disconnected ...
2026-05-22T08:25:11.771Z info [browser-session-registry] IAB_LIFECYCLE removed browser session window windowId=1

No Windows Application log entries for Codex.exe / Application Error / Application Hang were found in the 2026-05-22 10:20-10:35 local window.

The next Codex desktop logs on this machine start at 2026-05-22 10:27:07 local, after I manually reopened the app.