[Windows] Bundled plugins (Computer Use, Browser, Chrome, LaTeX) unavailable — copyfile fails on EFS-encrypted WindowsApps files

[lumingfei334-create]

内容：

Environment

• Codex version: 26.527.3686.0 (also reproduced on 26.519.11010.0)
• OS: Windows 11 Home China (Build 26200)
• Install method: Microsoft Store

Description

All bundled plugins (Computer Use, Browser, Chrome, LaTeX) show as unavailable in the plugin marketplace. The logs show two related errors:

Error 1: Marketplace copy fails

Node.js copyfile cannot copy plugin manifests from C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\ to the user's .codex\.tmp\bundled-marketplaces\ staging directory. This affects all 4 bundled plugins.

Error 2: Computer Use native pipe startup fails

Computer Use native pipe fails with "Windows Computer Use helper paths are unavailable", reason=missing-helper-path.

Logs

Marketplace resolve failure (affects browser, chrome, computer-use, latex):
[BundledPluginsMarketplace] bundled_plugins_marketplace_resolve_failed errorCode=UNKNOWN
errorMessage="UNKNOWN: unknown error, copyfile 'C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.527.3686.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0\app\resources\plugins\openai-bundled\plugins\computer-use.codex-plugin\plugin.json' -> 'C:\Users...\bundled-marketplaces\openai-bundled.staging-...\plugins\computer-use.codex-plugin\plugin.json'"

Computer Use native pipe failure:
[computer-use-native-pipe] computer-use native pipe startup failed
errorMessage="Windows Computer Use helper paths are unavailable"
errorStack="Error: Windows Computer Use helper paths are unavailable
at Ft (E:\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.527.3686.0_x64__...\main-DGcSGf52.js:7:12783)"

Bundled plugins reconcile skipped:
[bundled-plugins] bundled_plugins_reconcile_skipped_features_unavailable reason=focus

Suspected Root Cause

Files in C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\ are protected by EFS (Encrypting File System). Node.js fs.copyFile / fs.cp cannot handle EFS-encrypted files when copying outside the package directory. Manual testing confirmed Copy-Item and robocopy also fail with "The specified file could not be encrypted".

Workaround Attempted

Manually reading files with System.IO.File.ReadAllBytes and writing to user .codex\plugins\ succeeded for text and binary files, but the app does not recognize manually-placed plugins.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install Codex from Microsoft Store on Windows 11
2. Open Codex → Plugins
3. Observe that Computer Use, Browser, Chrome, LaTeX show as unavailable

[github-actions]

Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.

• Codex Desktop Windows crashes when clicking Settings > Connections > Connect computer #25194

Powered by Codex Action

[Statusnone420]

Additional data point from the same Windows Store build family. This appears to affect more than just Computer Use; other bundled plugins are also missing/unavailable in the UI after the update.

Environment:

• OS: Windows 11 Pro
• Codex package: OpenAI.Codex_26.527.3686.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
• Installed via Microsoft Store / Windows Update
• Windows Update installed the Codex update on May 29, 2026

Symptoms:

• Settings > Computer use shows: Computer Use plugins unavailable
• Other bundled plugins also appear missing/unavailable after the update
• computer-use is still enabled in config.toml
• Computer Use plugin files exist on disk
• Installed app bundle contains computer-use plugin version 26.527.31326
• Local plugin cache still has computer-use version 26.527.30818
• chrome@openai-bundled logs missing or invalid plugin.json

Computer Use health check fails before reaching Windows automation:

Computer Use native pipe path is unavailable

Node REPL runtime state:

hasNativePipeObject: false
hasCreateElicitation: true
SKY_CUA_NATIVE_PIPE_DIRECTORY: missing
nodeRepl.nativePipe: missing

Process / pipe evidence:

No running codex-computer-use process
No Computer Use named pipe under \\.\pipe\

There had been a codex-computer-use client alive earlier on May 29, but after the update/restart there is no helper process and no native pipe available to the plugin session.

This looks like Codex Desktop is failing to reconcile/start/expose the bundled plugin native IPC services after the update, rather than the user disabling Computer Use or the plugin being completely absent.

[Koratun]

I submitted a bug report (019e77ef-a2c0-73c1-aeee-01cfffa81c1a contains details) showing that after the most recent public update Computer Use shows the same pipe missing error and Chrome plugin has regressed and no longer functions. This is the most similar open issue I could find to my errors. I have replicated the issue on three separate devices and 2 different ChatGPT accounts. Running Diagnose issues in Codex Workspace returns Codex dependencies look healthy.

[Statusnone420]

Follow-up: full clean reinstall resolved this on my machine.

I do not know if this confirms the root cause, but it may help narrow the failure mode.

What fixed it for me:

• Fully uninstalled the Codex Windows app
• Fully uninstalled the Codex CLI
• Closed/killed remaining Codex-related processes
• Deleted remaining .codex folders under my user profile
• Reinstalled the Codex Windows app
• Reinstalled the Codex CLI
• Reopened Codex and confirmed bundled plugins were available again

Important detail from cleanup: deleting .codex was initially blocked by a bundled Chrome extension-host.exe path inside .codex plugin/cache/temp folders, which makes me think stale or locked per-user bundled plugin state may survive the app update and prevent the updated app from reconciling/starting bundled plugins cleanly.

After the clean reinstall, Computer Use works again for me.

I would not recommend this as a normal user workaround without warning, because deleting .codex is effectively a destructive reset. But as a diagnostic datapoint: clearing the app/CLI plus per-user .codex state fixed the bundled plugin unavailable state on Windows 11 Pro.

[2agathon]

Adding another Windows reproduction with extra diagnostics. I originally suspected this might be a local cache/home migration issue, but after a clean reset and reinstall it still reproduces.

Environment

• Codex app package: OpenAI.Codex_26.527.3686.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
• Install method: Microsoft Store
• OS: Windows 11, x64
• Network/region checks: reproduced with system-level egress in both Singapore (SG) and United States (US), so this does not look like only the EEA/UK/CH region gate.
• Accounts: reproduced with two different ChatGPT/Codex accounts on the same Windows machine.

User-visible symptom

Settings → Computer Use shows:

Computer Use plugins unavailable
Always-allowed apps
None yet

No Install button is shown.

What was tried

1. Clean home/config/cache migration check

The Codex/Claude home path changes were ruled out:

• CODEX_HOME and CODEX_SQLITE_HOME cleared.
• Codex active home reset to %USERPROFILE%\.codex.
• Later performed a full clean reset: moved/removed .codex, %LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex, %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0, cleared workaround env vars, uninstalled Codex, rebooted, reinstalled from Store.
• After clean reinstall and login, Computer Use still showed unavailable.

2. WindowsApps/Application Protected copy behavior

Source files inside the Store package show EFS/Application Protected behavior. Copy-Item fails when copying from C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.527.3686.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0\app\resources\...:

The specified file could not be encrypted.

Directory EFS pollution was ruled out: %TEMP%, %LOCALAPPDATA%, %USERPROFILE%, C:\Users\Public, C:\Windows\Temp, and D:\data\save_tmp all showed U / “New files added to this directory will not be encrypted.”

Observed copy-method difference:

• Copy-Item: fails with The specified file could not be encrypted
• cmd copy /b: fails with the same error
• robocopy: succeeds
• .NET File.Copy: succeeded in one source copy test, but later the safer workaround was to use robocopy

3. Manual prewarm workaround did not make the app recognize Computer Use

Manually copied/prewarmed these binaries to %LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex\bin:

codex.exe
node.exe
node_repl.exe
rg.exe
codex-command-runner.exe
codex-windows-sandbox-setup.exe

Verified local bin was unencrypted:

U bin

Also copied/decrypted bundled marketplace/plugin cache:

%USERPROFILE%\.codex\.tmp\bundled-marketplaces\openai-bundled
%USERPROFILE%\.codex\plugins\cache\openai-bundled

Verified important files were present and U:

%USERPROFILE%\.codex\plugins\cache\openai-bundled\.agents\plugins\marketplace.json
%USERPROFILE%\.codex\plugins\cache\openai-bundled\plugins\computer-use\.codex-plugin\plugin.json

Also tried adding the bundled marketplace and enabling plugins in %USERPROFILE%\.codex\config.toml:

[marketplaces.openai-bundled]
source = '\\?\C:\Users\Administrator\.codex\plugins\cache\openai-bundled'

[plugins."browser@openai-bundled"]
enabled = true

[plugins."chrome@openai-bundled"]
enabled = true

[plugins."computer-use@openai-bundled"]
enabled = true

[plugins."latex@openai-bundled"]
enabled = true

Also set helper env vars based on a community workaround:

CODEX_CLI_PATH=%LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex\bin\codex.exe
NODE_REPL_NODE_PATH=%LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex\bin\node.exe

Even after restarting Codex/Windows, the UI still showed Computer Use plugins unavailable.

4. SQLite/log observation

Logs showed plugin sync completing with an empty installed plugin set:

completed remote installed plugin bundle sync installed_plugin_ids=[] removed_cache_plugin_ids=[] failed_remote_plugin_ids=[]

This seems important: after manually making files/config available, the app still appears to not consider computer-use@openai-bundled installed/available.

Current conclusion

This no longer looks like only stale local state or a user home/cache migration problem. After clean reset + Store reinstall + testing with two accounts + non-restricted network egress, the Windows app still shows Computer Use unavailable.

There may be two related issues here:

1. The Store/MSIX WindowsApps package resources are Application Protected, and some copy paths fail with The specified file could not be encrypted.
2. Even after manually prewarming the local cache and enabling computer-use@openai-bundled, Codex still reports no installed plugins / does not expose Computer Use.

It would be helpful if Codex could either:

• avoid a copy API that preserves/propagates the protected/encrypted attribute from WindowsApps, or
• read bundled plugin metadata directly from the installed app package, or
• provide a clearer diagnostic in Settings when Computer Use is disabled by feature flag/rollout/account policy rather than local plugin files.

[endfish]

I hit what appears to be the same Windows bundled-plugin issue and found a workaround that has survived repeated restarts of the Codex app.

Environment:

• Codex Desktop: 26.527.3686.0
• Bundled plugin version: 26.527.31326
• Windows, Microsoft Store / WindowsApps install

Symptoms observed:

• Settings showed Browser / Computer Use as unavailable.
• Logs repeatedly contained:
  • Windows Computer Use helper paths are unavailable
  • reason=missing-helper-path
  • bundled_plugins_marketplace_resolve_failed ... EBUSY ... rmdir ... chrome\\extension-host\\windows\\x64
  • bundled_plugin_install_skipped_missing pluginName=computer-use
• browser_use_availability_resolved available=true was often present, so Browser itself was actually able to start; the UI/plugin state seemed to be confused by the bundled marketplace/cache state.

The key local finding was that the generated runtime marketplace under:

%USERPROFILE%\.codex\.tmp\bundled-marketplaces\openai-bundled

could become incomplete. In the broken state it only contained part of the Chrome extension-host tree, while the installed app resources still had the complete marketplace including browser, chrome, computer-use, and latex:

<OpenAI.Codex install location>\app\resources\plugins\openai-bundled

In that state, computer-use was absent from the user plugin cache, including the helper:

%USERPROFILE%\.codex\plugins\cache\openai-bundled\computer-use\26.527.31326\node_modules\@oai\sky\bin\windows\codex-computer-use.exe

Workaround that fixed it locally:

1. Stop all Codex-related processes.
2. Re-register the openai-bundled marketplace to the installed app resources directory, not the generated .codex\.tmp\bundled-marketplaces directory.
3. Ensure the bundled plugins are present in %USERPROFILE%\.codex\plugins\cache\openai-bundled, especially computer-use.

The rough PowerShell shape is:

$pkg = Get-AppxPackage OpenAI.Codex
$market = Join-Path $pkg.InstallLocation "app\resources\plugins\openai-bundled"
$codex = (Get-ChildItem "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\OpenAI\Codex\bin\*\codex.exe" | Sort-Object LastWriteTime -Descending | Select-Object -First 1).FullName

# If openai-bundled is already registered to the broken temp path, remove/re-add or otherwise update it.
& $codex plugin marketplace add $market

# Then make sure browser/chrome/computer-use are installed/enabled from openai-bundled.
# In my local workaround I also mirrored the installed bundled plugin folders into:
# %USERPROFILE%\.codex\plugins\cache\openai-bundled\<plugin>\26.527.31326

After doing that, normal launching from the Codex desktop icon started working again. Logs changed from missing-helper-path to computer-use notify config ensure finished ... status=already-present / status=installed.

This looks like a startup/reconcile race or source mismatch: Codex writes the runtime bundled marketplace under .codex\.tmp, but the Chrome extension-host path can be busy, leaving that generated marketplace incomplete. Subsequent plugin installation then treats computer-use as missing even though it is present in the installed app resources.