Setup refresh error blocks commands

“Codex cannot execute terminal commands on Windows.”

Is this your bug? What gets counted gets fixed. Pile on.

Paste this into your agent. It files your report, with your error and version.

I hit this bug: rapsheet.dev/sheets/codex/issues/14525/file
Follow it to file my report. Show me the text before you send.

No install. No account. Public and anonymous. The link asks your agent for one report, nothing else. What it sends

Quiet. No reports and thumbs-up in the last two weeks, down from 10 a week at the late-September peak.

Local commands fail with setup refresh error on Windows. Windows sandbox cannot initialize, so every local command, even Get-Location, fails before the process starts; MCP tool calls still execute.

Is this your bug?

File my report

Where: Windows sandbox
Error text: helper_unknown_error: setup refresh had errors
message: "Rejected(\"Failed to create unified exec process: helper_unknown_error: setup refresh had errors\")"Pasted in 3 reports
CreateProcess: Rejected("Failed to create unified exec process: helper_unknown_error: setup refresh had errors")Pasted in 2 reports
Versions: 0.162.1 to 26.928.31416
Platforms: Windows
How bad: Stops work: a core feature can't be used. Some reports say it blocks them completely.

Part of: Windows sandbox setup blocks commands18 bugs

Sandbox setup refresh fails308 people
Sandbox fails at deny-read ACLs10 people
Sandbox setup lock failure12 people
Split writable root sandbox failure3 people
Sandbox fails on WSL UNC paths4 people
Windows sandbox setup fails validating long cua_node runtime paths11 people
Windows setup stops without UAC3 people
Sandbox ACL update failure2 people
Sandbox ACL refresh fails2 people
Managed networking sandbox error2 people

Show all 17Show only the largest 10

Sandbox refresh fails on old runtime2 people
Sandbox fails on Google Drive2 people
Sandbox provisioning failed2 people
Windows sandbox provisioning fails3 people
Windows sandbox setup access denied2 people
Root read access sandbox error12 people
Shell and Node tools fail with MXC 0x80070020 on Windows2 people

Not quite your bug?

WSL agent commands fail to spawn70 people
MXC sandbox startup failure11 people

Original reports11, newest first

Oct 16, 2026Windows command tool fails to start: setup refresh had errorsOn GitHub#54613
Oct 16, 2026Local process bridge is unavailableOn GitHub#54577
Oct 11, 2026Codex CLI fails to create unified exec process on WindowsOn GitHub#53060
Oct 1, 2026Windows sandbox initialization fails with “setup refresh had errors”On GitHub#50007
Sep 30, 2026Windows desktop: exec_command fails before process creation with helper_unknown_error: setup refresh had errorsOn GitHub#49851
Sep 29, 2026Windows: all commands fail with “helper_unknown_error: setup refresh had errors”On GitHub#49234
Sep 28, 2026Local scheduled tasks in Codex on Windows cannot run: setup refresh initialization failsOn GitHub#49142
Sep 28, 2026Windows local commands fail before starting: helper_unknown_error: setup refresh had errorsOn GitHub#49017
Sep 28, 2026Windows sandbox fails with helper_unknown_error: setup refresh had errorsOn GitHub#48979
Sep 27, 2026Setup Refresh had ErrorsOn GitHub#48759

Show all 11Show only the newest 10

Sep 19, 2026Windows sandbox failure wasted user time and Codex usage while blocking all local workOn GitHub#46668