How to use Codex on Windows in 2026: 7 ways compared

Disclosure: Enjoy is our product. We checked every way below against its maker’s own pages on November 9, 2026, and we say where another way is the better pick, including the free ones that don’t need Enjoy.

Ways to use Codex on Windows, compared

Codex runs on a PC without Linux. OpenAI’s Windows sandbox page says to “Use Codex on Windows with the native ChatGPT desktop app, the CLI, or the IDE extension,” and that the app “can run natively in PowerShell with a Windows sandbox instead of requiring WSL or a virtual machine.” Where Codex runs, on Windows or in a Linux distribution under WSL 2, is the first choice. How you talk to it, a window, a terminal, an editor or a browser, is the second.

Way	Best for	Price, checked November 9, 2026	Where Codex runs	You use it in
The ChatGPT desktop app	A window, from OpenAI itself	Every ChatGPT plan, from Free; Plus is $20 a month	Windows with its sandbox, or WSL 2	The app
The CLI, natively	Windows projects, in a terminal	Plus ($20 a month) and up, or an API key	Windows, in PowerShell with its sandbox	PowerShell or Windows Terminal
The CLI in WSL 2	Linux toolchains	The same plans; WSL is free	A Linux distribution on your PC	The distribution’s terminal
The IDE extension	Staying in your editor	Plus and up, or an API key	Windows, or WSL with one setting	A panel in VS Code, Cursor or Windsurf
Codex Cloud	Nothing to install, and work that keeps going	Plus and up, within your plan’s limits	OpenAI’s cloud	Your browser or the app
Enjoy	Codex beside other labs’ agents	A monthly subscription, free for 7 days (pricing)	Windows, or WSL 2 for projects inside it	Enjoy’s window
Orca	Many agents side by side, free	Free	Windows, or a machine over SSH	Orca’s window

Prices are per month as each maker lists them, before tax. OpenAI’s pricing page lists “Codex on the web, in the CLI, in the IDE extension, and on iOS” under Plus, at $20 a month, with Pro at “$100, $200, or $500 USD per month.” Free and Go, at $8, list only “GPT-6 Luna at Standard speed in the desktop app, subject to rollout.” Enjoy and Orca run Codex on the same ChatGPT plan.

First, choose: native Windows or WSL 2

OpenAI’s advice is short: “Use the native Windows sandbox by default. Choose WSL when you need Linux-native tooling, your workflow already lives in WSL2, or the available native Windows implementations don’t meet your needs.” Its WSL page adds that in WSL 2, “Codex runs inside the Linux environment instead of using the native Windows sandbox,” with Linux’s own sandbox in its place.

Keep the project where Codex runs. For the Windows-native agent, OpenAI says to “prefer storing projects on your Windows filesystem,” which “is more reliable than opening projects directly from the WSL filesystem.” For Codex in WSL, it says the opposite: “Keep your repositories under your Linux home directory (like ~/code/my-app) for faster I/O and fewer symlink and permission issues.”

Check your Windows version too. OpenAI’s version matrix calls Windows 11 “Recommended” and the “Best baseline for Codex on Windows.” A recent, fully updated Windows 10 is “Best effort”: it “Can work, but is less reliable than Windows 11,” and “In practice, Windows 10 version 1809 or newer is required.”

The ChatGPT desktop app

Best for: a window instead of a terminal, from OpenAI, at no extra cost.

Codex’s desktop home on Windows is the ChatGPT app, which “gives you one interface for working across projects, running parallel chats, and reviewing results,” OpenAI’s Windows app page says. It “supports core workflows such as worktrees, scheduled tasks, Git functionality, the built-in browser, file previews, plugins, and skills.” Download it from the Microsoft Store, or in PowerShell:

winget install --id 9PLM9XGG6VKS -s msstore

“By default, the ChatGPT desktop app uses the Windows-native Codex agent. That means the agent runs commands in PowerShell.” To run the agent in WSL 2 instead, open Settings, “switch the agent from Windows native to WSL, and restart the app.” The app picks its sandbox for you: it “automatically prefers MXC for consumer accounts when the device supports it,” a Windows 11 feature that “Uses native process isolation without administrator-approved setup.” To keep the sandbox on in either mode, OpenAI says to “select Ask for approval beneath the composer before sending messages to Codex.”

Install a few tools first, because “Codex works best when a few common developer tools are already installed.” OpenAI lists Git, which “Powers the review panel,” Node.js, Python, the .NET SDK, and GitHub CLI, each one winget install away.

Price: included in every ChatGPT plan, from Free. Plus is $20 a month, and Pro starts at $100.

Watch for: “If you don’t have Git installed natively on Windows, the app can’t use some features,” and Git may not be detected in projects opened from \\wsl$. Its Computer Use, which works your other apps, “can’t operate in the background while you keep using the same Windows session,” OpenAI’s Computer Use page says, “so expect ChatGPT to move the pointer, type, and take over the foreground while the task runs.” Free and Go get “GPT-6 Luna at Standard speed in the desktop app, subject to rollout,” where Plus adds GPT-6.1 Sol. And it runs only Codex.

The CLI, natively in PowerShell

Best for: people at home in a terminal, working on Windows projects.

The Codex CLI page gives “the standalone installer for Windows,” to start “from a new PowerShell window”:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://chatgpt.com/codex/install.ps1 | iex"

The same line updates it. npm install -g @openai/codex works too. Then “Open a project directory and run codex. The first time you run Codex, choose Sign in with ChatGPT.”

The CLI uses the same Windows sandbox as the app, in three versions. MXC is “The recommended sandbox on compatible Windows devices,” and the CLI uses it, where the device supports it, when you add prefer_mxc = true under [features] in config.toml. It depends on capabilities Microsoft is still rolling out to Windows 11, from 24H2 and 25H2 at the builds OpenAI lists. Otherwise there’s elevated, “The preferred legacy fallback,” which “Requires administrator-approved setup,” and unelevated, which “Has weaker network isolation than elevated and doesn’t support denied read paths.”

Price: OpenAI’s pricing lists the CLI from Plus, at $20 a month. With an API key instead, you “Pay for Codex usage based on API pricing,” with “No cloud-based features.”

Watch for: PowerShell’s execution policy. OpenAI’s Windows app page warns that if you’ve “never used tools such as Node.js or npm in PowerShell before,” Codex “may hit execution policy errors,” such as “npm.ps1 cannot be loaded because running scripts is disabled on this system.” OpenAI says “A common fix is to set the execution policy to RemoteSigned,” after reading Microsoft’s guide. Under MXC, “Remaining child processes stop when the foreground command exits,” so test anything that relies on a development server left running.

The CLI in WSL 2

Best for: projects that need Linux tools, or that already live in a Linux distribution.

Microsoft’s install page says to “Open PowerShell in administrator mode,” run wsl --install, “then restart your machine.” It needs “Windows 10 version 2004 and higher (Build 19041 and higher) or Windows 11,” installs Ubuntu unless you choose another distribution, and new distributions “will be set to WSL 2 by default.” Then, in the distribution’s terminal, OpenAI’s WSL page gives the Linux installer:

curl -fsSL https://chatgpt.com/codex/install.sh | sh
codex

If signing in in your browser can’t get back to the terminal, OpenAI’s authentication page suggests device code sign-in, in beta: turn it on in your ChatGPT security settings, then run codex login --device-auth and enter the one-time code in your browser.

Price: WSL is part of Windows. Codex needs the same plans.

Watch for: WSL 1. “Starting in Codex 0.115, the Linux sandbox moved to bubblewrap, so WSL1 is no longer supported.” Convert a distribution with wsl --set-version <Distro> 2. And Codex in WSL keeps its own settings: “the CLI uses the Linux home directory by default, so it doesn’t automatically share configuration, cached auth, or session history with the Windows app.” To share them, OpenAI suggests pointing WSL at the Windows folder with export CODEX_HOME=/mnt/c/Users/<windows-user>/.codex.

The IDE extension, in VS Code, Cursor or Windsurf

Best for: people who already work in an editor.

“VS Code and compatible editors use the Codex extension,” OpenAI’s IDE page says, and it installs in VS Code, Cursor and Windsurf; JetBrains IDEs have their own integration. Choose the Codex icon, or run Codex: Open Codex Sidebar from the Command Palette. On Windows it runs natively unless you turn on one setting, chatgpt.runCodexInWindowsSubsystemForLinux: “Windows only: Run Codex in WSL when WSL is available.”

Price: OpenAI’s pricing lists the IDE extension from Plus, at $20 a month, or with an API key.

Watch for: “Changing this setting reloads VS Code.” And for a project in WSL, OpenAI says to open it in a WSL window, with code . from the distribution’s terminal, and “keep your repository under /home/... (not C:\) for best performance.” It runs only Codex.

Codex Cloud, in your browser

Best for: trying Codex without installing anything, or tasks that should keep going after you shut the laptop.

Codex Cloud runs tasks on OpenAI’s computers: “Each task has its own workspace and can keep working while your computer is asleep.” Open ChatGPT on the web or in the desktop app, “choose Work in > Cloud,” and pick an environment. From the CLI, codex cloud lets you “submit work to a configured environment, and apply the result to your local repository.”

Price: listed from Plus. “Local messages and cloud chats share your plan’s usage allowance,” OpenAI says, and “Cloud tasks may use more of your allowance than local messages.”

Watch for: it starts from GitHub. To set up an environment, “Choose your GitHub repositories and select Get started. Connect GitHub if prompted.” A project that isn’t on GitHub needs another way here.

Enjoy

Best for: Codex beside other labs’ agents on a PC, in Windows projects and ones inside WSL, without a terminal.

Enjoy runs Codex, Claude Code, Grok Build, Antigravity, Muse Code, and local models through OpenCode, on Windows, Mac and Linux, on the plans you already have. It installs Codex for you from OpenAI’s official installer, “without administrator access,” and signs it in with your ChatGPT account in your browser. On Windows:

• Projects inside WSL. Open a folder in a WSL 2 distribution, and Enjoy runs everything for it there: “Git, your agents, and the programs they start.” It installs Codex there with the official Linux installer, and signs it in there.
• Your past Codex chats. Enjoy imports the Codex conversations already on your PC, including the ones in a distribution’s ~/.codex, so you pick up where you left off.
• Switch agents mid-conversation. When Codex is the wrong fit or out of usage, Claude Code or another agent picks up the same conversation.
• Keep going through limits. When Codex runs out, Enjoy switches to another of your accounts that still has usage, or waits for the limit to reset, then continues.

Price: Enjoy is one monthly subscription, and the first seven days are free, with a card to start. It includes your phone and any browser and one computer; each other computer is $9.99 a month, and each teammate you invite needs a subscription of their own. See pricing.

Watch for: Enjoy isn’t open source, and it’s a monthly subscription on top of your ChatGPT plan once the free week ends. Its install guide asks for “a Windows PC with a 64-bit (x64) processor,” and in WSL it needs WSL 2.0.0 or later and Git 2.34 or later in the distribution; distributions for Arm processors aren’t supported. Your tools don’t run in projects inside WSL yet. Scheduled workflows run only while your computer is awake with Enjoy open.

Orca

Best for: many agents side by side, free and open source.

Orca, from Stably AI, says “Run Claude Code, Codex, and any other coding agent in parallel, each in its own worktree.” It’s “Free and open source for macOS, Windows, and Linux,” under the MIT license on GitHub, and it shows “how much of your Claude, Codex, and Grok limits you’ve used and when they reset,” with account switching “without logging out.”

Price: free. Your ChatGPT plan pays for Codex.

Watch for: its ways to run page covers SSH hosts and cloud machines but doesn’t say how Orca handles projects inside WSL, so check before you point it at a Linux-side project. For more free apps on a PC, such as T3 Code and Paseo, see our Windows guide.

When to stay with OpenAI’s own app

If you only use Codex, the ChatGPT app is hard to beat on a PC: it comes with your plan, sets up its own sandbox, runs parallel chats in worktrees, and moves its agent into WSL with one setting. If codex already works in PowerShell or WSL and you like the terminal, keep it. Add another app when you want Claude Code or other labs’ agents in the same place, or want to keep working after your ChatGPT plan runs out, and pick WSL 2 over native Windows only when your project needs Linux.

How we compared

We read OpenAI’s pages on the Windows app, the Windows sandbox, WSL, the CLI, sign-in, the IDE extension and its settings, Codex Cloud, Computer Use and pricing, Microsoft’s WSL install guide, Orca’s homepage, docs and GitHub page, and Enjoy’s own help on November 9, 2026, and every one is linked below. We quote each maker’s own words for its limits and leave out what it hasn’t documented. These apps change weekly, so we recheck this guide against its sources at least once a month, and the date at the foot of the page says when we last did.