Windows Computer Use native pipe fails: helper paths unavailable on 26.527.31326 #25571

Summary

On Windows, Computer Use / Browser Use appears to be enabled by the runtime availability gate, but the native Computer Use pipe fails to start repeatedly with:

Windows Computer Use helper paths are unavailable

This does not look like the statsig-disabled / entitlement-not-exposed case. The latest logs show available=true reason=available, followed by native helper path failures.

Environment

• OS: Windows 11 x64
• Subscription: ChatGPT Plus
• Codex Windows Store package: OpenAI.Codex_26.527.3686.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
• Codex desktop release from logs: 26.527.31326
• Shell/runtime in this Codex session: Windows PowerShell
• C:\Users\<user>\.codex\config.toml does not contain runCodexInWindowsSubsystemForLinux = true

Observed log evidence

Latest relevant desktop log under:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0\LocalCache\Local\Codex\Logs\2026\06\01\...

shows Browser/Computer Use availability resolving as available:

2026-06-01T07:39:27.963Z info [electron-message-handler] browser_use_availability_resolved available=true browserPane=true platform=Windows reason=available release=26.527.31326

Immediately afterward, native Computer Use pipe startup fails:

2026-06-01T07:39:35.374Z warning [computer-use-native-pipe] computer-use native pipe startup failed errorMessage="Windows Computer Use helper paths are unavailable" platform=win32

The same failure repeats across multiple attempts in the same log:

computer-use native pipe startup failed errorMessage="Windows Computer Use helper paths are unavailable" platform=win32

Browser-use native pipe does start:

[browser-use-native-pipe-server] browser-use native pipe listening pipePath=\\.\pipe\codex-browser-use-...

Local package evidence

The installed Windows Store package exists at a WindowsApps package path similar to:

...\OpenAI.Codex_26.527.3686.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0\app\resources\plugins\openai-bundled\plugins\computer-use

The app also has:

...\app\resources\native\windows-updater.node

but I could not identify a working Windows Computer Use helper path from the runtime behavior.

Expected behavior

When Computer Use availability resolves as:

available=true reason=available platform=Windows

the Windows native Computer Use helper/pipe should start successfully, and Computer Use actions should be able to connect to the local Windows host.

Actual behavior

Computer Use actions fail because the native Computer Use connection is unavailable for the turn. Logs show repeated native pipe startup failure due to missing/unavailable Windows Computer Use helper paths.

Why this seems distinct from entitlement gating

This machine currently does not show:

reason=statsig-disabled

Instead, it shows:

available=true reason=available

then fails at the native helper/pipe layer.

This looks closer to #25512 than #25253, and adjacent to the helper-path symptoms discussed in #25301, except this setup does not appear to be configured to run Codex in WSL.

Troubleshooting already done

• Confirmed GitHub/open issue reports with similar Windows native connection symptoms.
• Checked config.toml for WSL-backed app-server settings; did not find runCodexInWindowsSubsystemForLinux = true.
• Checked current desktop logs and confirmed the failure is reproducible across repeated attempts.
• Earlier reinstall/relogin/device-code auth checks did not resolve the issue.

Request

Please investigate Windows native Computer Use helper packaging/path resolution for Codex 26.527.31326, especially the case where availability resolves as available=true, but the Computer Use native pipe fails with Windows Computer Use helper paths are unavailable.