Windows app with "Run agent in WSL": every command fails with "Failed to create unified exec process: No such file or directory" (arg0 helper dir deleted by Windows exec-server) #49731

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

Powered by Codex & OWL Version 26.928.21956

What subscription do you have?

20usd

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0 x64

What issue are you seeing?

no-active-thread-01a0f3f0-94ff-7451-83bf-3238585cc8fe

Subject: Codex desktop on Windows with "Run agent in WSL" enabled: every command fails with "Failed to create unified exec process: No such file or directory"

Environment

• Windows 11 Pro 10.0.26200, WSL2 Ubuntu (kernel 6.18.40.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2), systemd=true
• Codex desktop package OpenAI.Codex_26.928.2636.0_x64 (Windows codex.exe under %LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex\bin\c6fe824d725f02d7, WSL binary under %USERPROFILE%.codex\bin\wsl\65bf23c0b8844a0d)
• config.toml: runCodexInWindowsSubsystemForLinux = true
• Project opened from \wsl.localhost\Ubuntu\home...\projects... (inside WSL)
• CODEX_HOME = C:\Users....codex (on /mnt/c from WSL's point of view)

Symptom
Every command the agent tries to run (git, pwd, with any cwd or shell) fails before execution:
exec_command failed: CreateProcess { message: "Rejected("Failed to create unified exec process: No such file or directory (os error 2)")" }
Reproduces after a full Windows reboot. Also in a new chat.

What I found (strace -f -p , filtered on ENOENT)

• The WSL agent creates %CODEX_HOME%\tmp\arg0\codex-arg0XXXXXX with symlinks (codex-linux-sandbox, apply_patch, codex-execve-wrapper) pointing to the WSL codex binary.
• Every command then fails on:
  execve(".../tmp/arg0/codex-arg0XXXXXX/codex-linux-sandbox", [... "--command-cwd", "/tmp", ... "--", "/bin/bash", "-c", "pwd"]) = -1 ENOENT
• At that point tmp/arg0 contains only a different directory, created by the Windows-side process, holding apply_patch.bat / applypatch.bat. The WSL agent's directory (with codex-linux-sandbox) is gone.
• Timeline from one boot: WSL codex app-server started 22:53:24; Windows "codex.exe exec-server --remote https://codex-cloud-environments.chatgpt.com/api --environment-id ccarenv" started 22:53:41; by 22:54 the WSL helper dir no longer existed.
• Killing exec-server only makes the app respawn it within seconds. I found no setting to disable it (Codex Cloud and Legacy Codex Cloud have no environments; Connections has no devices; "codexCloudAccess" in .codex-global-state.json is "enabled_needs_setup").

What steps can reproduce the bug?

any command

What is the expected behavior?

No response

Additional information

No response