Hey, I dont know if anyone else is struggling with this issue but im stuck on the Finish Windows Setup page on chatgpt. It tells me to click Finish setup button but when I do I just get the “Windows setup didn’t finish” error everytime without even prompting me the user access control. I’ve tried redownloading, resetting, restarting PC but nothing is working. Not even the continue with limited access works. I’m not connected to school or organisation Microsoft account either. Is there any solution to this. Has been happening for 3 days now.
Same here. I installed the app from OpenAI. Since the last update, I can’t select ‘Approve for me’ when working. I assumed it had to do with this Unfinished Windows Setup. But, it fails all the time. I tried to run the sandbox installer directly, but it requires some arguments and has no help info. I presume is not intended to be run standalone.
Any help is welcome
Same here. But I managed to make it work for me by doing this:
-
Close VS Code and ChatGPT Desktop App.
-
Open File Explorer and Paste this on search bar:
%USERPROFILE%\.codex
- Rename
config.tomlto:
config.toml.bak
- Open VSCode Again, try to open the Codex Widget.
- Go to the ChatGPT Desktop App and try to Setup again.
Many thanks @webst2r . Unfortunately, I’ve tried it to no avail.
When I’ll finish some development I’m working on now, I’ll uninstall and reinstall. I see that ChatGPT app can be downloaded from the Windows marketplace. I may try that as well.
At least in my case, this kept occurring because there was an invalid [mcp_servers] entry in my config.toml that I had just recently added as a test. It looked like this:
[mcp_servers.obsidian-vault.tools.obsidian_delete_file]
approval_mode = "prompt"
ChatGPT had given me that line, but when I included it in config.toml, I suddenly started getting the ChatGPT Codex “Finish Windows setup” prompt and “Windows setup didn’t finish” error. I removed that line from my config.toml, and Codex now opens normally again.
- Close Codex.
- Open PowerShell.
- Run:
Rename-Item "$HOME\.codex\config.toml" "config.toml.backup"
- Reopen Codex and complete Windows setup.
well this worked but I lost all the prior project folders and chats…
Issue
ChatGPT was stuck on “Finish Windows setup”.
Clicking Try Windows setup → Yes (UAC) did nothing, and the setup never completed.
Method 1 (Recommended)
Close ChatGPT/Codex, open PowerShell (Note: Open PowerShell (Win + X → Terminal/PowerShell) before running the commands.), and run:
Rename-Item "$HOME\.codex\config.toml" "config.toml.backup"
Reopen ChatGPT and complete Windows setup.
Why it works: Renaming
config.tomlforces ChatGPT/Codex to create a fresh configuration, which can resolve a corrupted or incomplete setup state.
Method 2
Create a backup and remove the existing configuration:
Copy-Item "$HOME\.codex\config.toml" "$HOME\.codex\config.toml.bak"
Remove-Item "$HOME\.codex\config.toml"
Reopen ChatGPT.
Why it works: ChatGPT/Codex generates a new default
config.tomlon the next launch while keeping a backup of the original configuration.
Question
Has anyone else experienced this issue? If so, did resetting config.toml also resolve it, or is there an official explanation for why this configuration becomes corrupted?
none of the ideas presented here worked for me.
Happened to me to. Tried renaming the file - it doesn’t work. Tried by opening it without network connection, it can load but once turning back the connection on, it says token expired something.
I tried by logout & relogin. 1st relogin, I couldn’t select my email. 2nd try, it says i cannot use my work email. And magically on the third try, i managed to login and complete the windows setup.
Once i get in, in the place i draw the green circle, there’s box to complete the windows setup. Not sure if this gonna help anyone.
this worked for me, I also turned off the internet while doing this
Nothing worked for me. Then, I updated the app from the Windows store. Still, same issues. Then I edited the App Settings (Settings->Apps->Installed Apps->ChatGPT) and tried to repair the app, in the Reset section.
After that, I could finally complete the Windows setup!
I tried them all, still not working! I am not sure what to do 
Thankyou! followed your steps and it Worked 
Note that this issue can have multiple causes. One that’s not mentioned here is if you have Windows Firewall managed by group policy, and the Public profile is set to “Block all incoming connections”, and you have any active Public network profile connections when you try setting up ChatGPT it will fail. You can see this in the .codex\.sandbox log as:
“setup error: helper_firewall_policy_ineffective: local firewall policy modifications do not apply to every current profile: LocalPolicyModifyState result=HRESULT(0x00000001)”
A workaround is switching the network profile to Private for your active network connection(s) and retrying.
This really helpful thanks
Thank you sir. You are a savior. Even chatgpt itself, didn’t help here
This worked for me, thanks!