Claude Desktop spins up a VM without no way of stopping it
Users have reported a bug in the Claude Desktop app for Windows where it launches a resource-heavy Hyper-V virtual machine even when the user is only performing basic chat tasks. This issue consumes significant system memory, impacting performance on machines with limited RAM.
Why it matters
This highlights potential software optimization issues in AI desktop applications that may negatively affect user experience and hardware efficiency.
anthropics / claude-code Public Notifications You must be signed in to change notification settings Fork 21.3k Star 132k Code Issues 5k+ Pull requests 617 Actions Security and quality 27 Insights Additional navigation options Code Issues Pull requests Actions Security and quality Insights [BUG] Claude Desktop spawns 1.8 GB Hyper-V VM on every launch, even for chat-only use #29045 New issue Copy link New issue Copy link Open Open [BUG] Claude Desktop spawns 1.8 GB Hyper-V VM on every launch, even for chat-only use #29045 Copy link Labels invalid Issue doesn t seem to be related to Claude Code Issue doesn t seem to be related to Claude Code Description davidellett opened on Feb 26, 2026 Issue body actions Preflight Checklist I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs) I am using the latest version of Claude Code What's Wrong? [BUG] Claude Desktop spawns 1.8 GB Hyper-V VM on every launch, even for chat-only use Environment
The content is a technical bug report documenting a specific software behavior without political or social bias.
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