{"slug": "claude-desktop-spawns-1-8-gb-hyper-v-vm-on-every-launch-even-for-chat-only-use", "title": "Claude Desktop spawns 1.8 GB Hyper-V VM on every launch, even for chat-only use", "summary": "Anthropic's Claude Desktop app for Windows launches a 1.8 GB Hyper-V virtual machine on every startup, even when users only need basic chat functionality and have no intention of using agent or Cowork modes. The VM spawns via a service-triggered RPC interface event, consuming over 11% of total memory on a 16 GB system and pushing idle memory usage from 50% to 62% before any user action. The bug persists even after deleting thousands of stale session files, and the Hyper-V Compute Admin event log shows repeated JSON document errors tied to the VM launches.", "body_md": "-\n[Notifications](/login?return_to=%2Fanthropics%2Fclaude-code)You must be signed in to change notification settings -\n[Fork 21.3k](/login?return_to=%2Fanthropics%2Fclaude-code)\n\n# [BUG] Claude Desktop spawns 1.8 GB Hyper-V VM on every launch, even for chat-only use #29045\n\n[invalidIssue doesn't seem to be related to Claude Code](https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues?q=state%3Aopen%20label%3A%22invalid%22)Issue doesn't seem to be related to Claude Code\n\n## Description\n\n### Preflight Checklist\n\n- I have searched\n[existing issues](https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues?q=is%3Aissue%20state%3Aopen%20label%3Abug)and this hasn't been reported yet - This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)\n- I am using the latest version of Claude Code\n\n### What's Wrong?\n\n[BUG] Claude Desktop spawns 1.8 GB Hyper-V VM on every launch, even for chat-only use\n\nEnvironment\n\nNote: This issue is specific to the Claude Desktop app (Windows), not Claude Code CLI.\n\nOS: Windows 11 Pro 25H2, Build 26200.7840\n\nHardware: Razer Blade 15 Base Model (Late 2020), i7-10750H, 16 GB RAM\n\nClaude Desktop: Latest version as of 2/26/2026\n\nWindows Features: VirtualMachinePlatform enabled; Hyper-V, WSL, Docker, and Windows Sandbox are all disabled\n\nCore Isolation / Memory Integrity: Off\n\nSummary\n\nThe Claude Desktop app launches a Hyper-V virtual machine (Vmmem) consuming approximately 1.8 GB of RAM every time it starts — even when the user only needs chat functionality and has no intention of using Cowork or agent mode. On a 16 GB laptop, this represents over 11% of total memory consumed by infrastructure that isn't being used.\n\nSteps to Reproduce\n\nInstall Claude Desktop on Windows 11 with VirtualMachinePlatform enabled\n\nUse Cowork/agent mode at least once (this creates session files)\n\nClose and reopen Claude Desktop — or simply reboot the machine\n\nOpen Task Manager and observe Vmmem consuming ~1,800 MB\n\nWhat Happens\n\nOn every launch, the Claude Desktop app triggers the Hyper-V Host Compute Service (vmcompute) via an RPC interface event, which spawns a vmwp.exe process hosting a full virtual machine. This VM appears as \"Vmmem\" in Task Manager at approximately 1,796–1,846 MB.\n\nThe Hyper-V Compute Admin event log shows repeated errors:\n\n\"The specified property query is invalid: The virtual machine or container JSON document is invalid. (0xC037010D, 'Invalid JSON document '$'')\"\n\nThese errors have been occurring since at least 2/19/2026, triggered on every boot and app launch.\n\nRoot Cause Investigation\n\nThrough extensive PowerShell diagnostics, we confirmed:\n\nWSL is not installed — wsl --shutdown returns \"not installed\"\n\nHyper-V management tools are not installed — Get-VM fails\n\nDocker is not installed — no Docker processes found\n\nWindows Sandbox is disabled\n\nCore Isolation / Memory Integrity is off (and was off before this issue started)\n\nVirtualizationBasedSecurityStatus shows 2 (running), likely due to LSA Protection being enabled — but this alone doesn't explain the 1.8 GB VM\n\nThe only enabled virtualization feature is VirtualMachinePlatform\n\nThe vmcompute service is set to Manual start but is triggered at boot by an RPC interface event (GUID: bc90d167-9470-4139-a9ba-be0bbbf5b74d). The parent process is services.exe (PID 1400), confirming it's a service trigger, not a user-initiated launch.\n\nWe found 2,689 stale session files in %APPDATA%\\Claude\\local-agent-mode-sessions\\ — all from previous Cowork sessions that were never cleaned up. Session names follow Docker-style naming (e.g., \"nifty-dreamy-volta\", \"tender-vigilant-goodall\", \"admiring-elegant-johnson\"). Even after deleting all 2,689 files and killing vmcompute/vmwp, simply reopening the Claude Desktop app immediately respawned the VM and the 1.8 GB Vmmem process.\n\nImpact\n\nOn a 16 GB system, this bug causes memory usage to jump from ~50% to ~62% at idle before the user does anything. Combined with normal application load, this pushes total usage to 70–75%, causing system sluggishness and forcing the user to manually kill VM processes after every launch.\n\nExpected Behavior\n\nThe Claude Desktop app should not spawn a VM for chat-only sessions\n\nIf Cowork infrastructure is needed, it should initialize on demand — only when the user actually starts a Cowork/agent session\n\nStale session files from previous Cowork sessions should be cleaned up automatically, not accumulate indefinitely (2,689 files in our case)\n\nThe app should fall back to chat-only mode if VM initialization fails or is unnecessary, rather than unconditionally starting VM infrastructure\n\nCurrent Workaround\n\nThe only reliable workaround is to disable VirtualMachinePlatform entirely:\n\npowershellDisable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName \"VirtualMachinePlatform\" -NoRestart\n\nThis prevents the VM from launching but also disables Cowork functionality. Alternatively, the user can kill the VM processes after every launch:\n\npowershellStop-Process -Name vmwp -Force\n\nStop-Process -Name vmcompute -Force\n\nChat functionality continues to work normally after killing these processes.\n\nRequest\n\nPlease modify the Claude Desktop app so that:\n\nVM/container infrastructure only initializes when Cowork or agent mode is actively requested\n\nOld session data is cleaned up automatically after sessions end\n\nThe app gracefully handles the absence of VM infrastructure without degraded chat performance\n\n### What Should Happen?\n\nThe Claude Desktop app should not spawn a Hyper-V VM (Vmmem, ~1.8 GB RAM) when launching for chat-only use. VM/container infrastructure should only initialize when the user actively starts a Cowork or agent session. Stale session files should be cleaned up automatically after sessions end.\n\n### Error Messages/Logs\n\n```\nHyper-V Compute Admin log shows repeated errors on every boot:\n\"The specified property query is invalid: The virtual machine or container JSON document is invalid. (0xC037010D, 'Invalid JSON document '$'')\"\n```\n\n### Steps to Reproduce\n\n- Install Claude Desktop on Windows 11 with VirtualMachinePlatform enabled\n- Use Cowork at least once\n- Close and reopen Claude Desktop (or reboot)\n- Observe Vmmem in Task Manager consuming ~1,800 MB at 0% CPU\n\n### Claude Model\n\nNot sure / Multiple models\n\n### Is this a regression?\n\nI don't know\n\n### Last Working Version\n\n*No response*\n\n### Claude Code Version\n\nClaude Desktop (Windows) latest as of 2/26/2026\n\n### Platform\n\nAnthropic API\n\n### Operating System\n\nWindows\n\n### Terminal/Shell\n\nPowerShell\n\n### Additional Information\n\nSee detailed bug report in description above.\n\n## Metadata\n\n## Metadata\n\n### Assignees\n\n### Labels\n\n[invalidIssue doesn't seem to be related to Claude Code](https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues?q=state%3Aopen%20label%3A%22invalid%22)Issue doesn't seem to be related to Claude Code\n\n### Type\n\n### Fields\n\n[Give feedback](https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/189141)", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/claude-desktop-spawns-1-8-gb-hyper-v-vm-on-every-launch-even-for-chat-only-use", "canonical_source": "https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/29045", "published_at": "2026-06-10 17:11:56+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-11 17:19:18.946955+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-products", "ai-tools", "ai-infrastructure", "large-language-models", "artificial-intelligence"], "entities": ["Claude Desktop", "Anthropic", "Hyper-V", "Windows 11", "Razer Blade 15", "WSL", "Docker", "Windows Sandbox"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/claude-desktop-spawns-1-8-gb-hyper-v-vm-on-every-launch-even-for-chat-only-use", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/claude-desktop-spawns-1-8-gb-hyper-v-vm-on-every-launch-even-for-chat-only-use.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/claude-desktop-spawns-1-8-gb-hyper-v-vm-on-every-launch-even-for-chat-only-use.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/claude-desktop-spawns-1-8-gb-hyper-v-vm-on-every-launch-even-for-chat-only-use.jsonld"}}