Computer Use on Windows fails during app/window discovery with 0x80070003

ChatGPT Bugs
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1

Title: Computer Use on Windows fails during app/window discovery with 0x80070003

Environment

  • ChatGPT/Codex desktop app on Windows

  • Windows 11 Pro 25H2, build 26200.8973

  • Computer Use plugin initially: 26.730.61639

  • Computer Use plugin after update: 26.803.41515

  • Tested applications: Reliability Monitor and Windows Calculator

Issue

Computer Use cannot discover or attach to any Windows application. General app discovery and window discovery fail before a target application can be selected.

Exact error

EnumWindows failed: The system cannot find the path specified. (0x80070003)

Reproduction

  1. Install and enable the Computer Use plugin and skill.

  2. Start a Codex task and explicitly invoke @Computer.

  3. Ask Computer Use to operate a Windows application.

  4. Initialize the bundled @oai/sky interface in a fresh Node runtime.

  5. Call sky.list_windows() or sky.list_apps().

Both calls fail with:

EnumWindows failed: The system cannot find the path specified. (0x80070003)

Direct-launch test

To bypass application discovery, Calculator was addressed directly:

sky.launch_app({app:"calc.exe"})

This failed with:

Error: node_repl exec context not found

Calculator was not launched.

Restart and update testing

  • The issue originally occurred with Computer Use plugin 26.730.61639.

  • It reproduced after updating to plugin 26.803.41515.

  • The persistent Node runtime was reset before retesting.

  • The entire Windows PC was subsequently rebooted.

  • After the full reboot, a new Computer Use session produced the same errors.

  • An explicit request to convert USD 1 to CHF using Windows Calculator also failed before Calculator could open.

This rules out a stale ChatGPT process or an update merely awaiting a Windows restart.

Additional version-mismatch symptom

The bundled SKILL.md requires calls such as:

await sky.documentation("guidance")

However, the loaded sky object does not expose a documentation method. Calling it returns:

sky.documentation is not a function

The loaded interface contains methods such as list_apps, list_windows, get_window_state, click, and launch_app, but not the documentation method required by the bundled skill.

Expected behavior

  • list_apps() should return available Windows applications.

  • list_windows() should return windows on the active desktop.

  • Computer Use should request app approval if necessary.

  • Calculator should open and accept the requested currency conversion.

Actual behavior

  • App and window enumeration fail immediately with 0x80070003.

  • Direct Calculator launch fails with node_repl exec context not found.

  • No application permission prompt appears.

  • Computer Use cannot operate any Windows application.

Impact

This completely blocks Computer Use on Windows. The failure is not specific to Reliability Monitor because the same behavior occurs with Windows Calculator and during general application discovery.

Suspected area

0x80070003 corresponds to a path-not-found condition. The Windows EnumWindows API itself does not take a filesystem path, so the error appears to originate in the surrounding Computer Use Windows bridge, its runtime initialization, or a missing dependency.

The absent sky.documentation method may indicate version skew between the bundled Computer Use skill and the loaded @oai/sky runtime.

No system configuration changes were made during testing.

2

Just noticed the status from earlier

We have identified that some users may be experiencing issues with computer use in the latest ChatGPT desktop app update.

We are working on implementing a mitigation.

So maybe it’s the propagation of the mitigation. Or something else.

Reported on GitHub:

Computer Use on Windows fails during app/window discovery with 0x80070003 · Issue #37383 · openai/codex · GitHub