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GROK BOT / fix-windows-grok-bot-instant-launch-crash

Grok Bot

Fix Windows Grok Bot crashing instantly on launch

fix-windows-grok-bot-instant-launch-crash

Fix Windows Grok Bot crashing instantly on launch

On some Windows installs, Grok Bot opens for about a second (Task Manager shows a few processes), then exits with no window and no error dialog. Staff on Grok Bot 0.28.0 / 0.43.0 Windows instant launch crash describe the usual cause: the GPU helper process fails to start inside the Chromium sandbox because of install-folder permissions, then the app quits after a few quick retries.

What this looks like

  • Processes flash and vanish in under ~1 second.
  • --disable-gpu and --js-flags=--jitless do not help. On Windows, Grok Bot already runs with hardware acceleration off, so those flags do not change this path.
  • The same crash offset can appear on 0.28.0 and 0.43.0 because both ship the same bundled runtime.
  • A related white-screen-then-close pattern is on Grok Bot 0.24.0 Windows.

Diagnose: run with the sandbox flag

  1. Press Win+R.
  2. Paste and run (diagnostics only, not a permanent setting):
"%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Grok Bot\Grok Bot.exe" --disable-gpu-sandbox
  1. Watch whether the app stays open and reaches sign-in or setup.

If that keeps the process alive, staff treat it as confirmation that the GPU helper / sandbox startup path is involved.

Fix install-folder ACLs

In Command Prompt, compare permissions:

icacls "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Grok Bot"
icacls "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\cursor"

(If Cursor is installed under C:\Program Files\cursor, use that path instead — per-user vs machine-wide installs differ.)

Staff look for ALL APPLICATION PACKAGES / ALL RESTRICTED APPLICATION PACKAGES with read/execute, or the SIDs S-1-15-2-1 and S-1-15-2-2. If those are missing on the Grok Bot folder, grant them, then start Grok Bot normally (no flags):

icacls "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Grok Bot" /grant *S-1-15-2-1:(OI)(CI)(RX) /t
icacls "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Grok Bot" /grant *S-1-15-2-2:(OI)(CI)(RX) /t

If the crash stops but the window stays blank

On the crash thread, --disable-gpu-sandbox stopped the exit, but the window stayed blank with secret-store / box-migration errors in %APPDATA%\Grok Bot\desktop-structured-log-spill.v1.json. That is a separate stall after the crash is bypassed. Collect redacted logs and Event Viewer Application faulting-module names before filing a follow-up — do not paste tokens.

Pitfalls