Codex on Windows: Store Links, Beta Channel, and Winget

OpenAI announced the Codex app for macOS on February 2, 2026 and updated that launch post on March 4, 2026 to say the app was available on Windows.

The Windows install story is now clearer than the early beta links made it look. There is a stable Microsoft Store listing for Codex, a separate Store listing for Codex (Beta), and an official winget command documented by OpenAI.

If you are looking for the macOS build instead, use this companion post:

How to Find the Current Codex App Build on macOS

For Linux, the desktop app path is currently unofficial:

How to Install Codex Desktop on Linux

Quick Facts

Checked on May 11, 2026:

Item	Current value
Public Windows availability	Announced by OpenAI on March 4, 2026
Stable Store product	`Codex` / `9PLM9XGG6VKS`
Beta Store product	`Codex (Beta)` / `9N8CJ4W95TBZ`
Stable package family	`OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0`
Beta package family	`OpenAI.CodexBeta_2p2nqsd0c76g0`
Current stable package	`OpenAI.Codex_26.506.3741.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0`
Current beta package	`OpenAI.CodexBeta_26.506.3741.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0`
Minimum Windows version in Store metadata	`10.0.19041.0`

For most people, the stable listing is the right default:

Download Codex for Windows

The beta listing is separate:

Codex (Beta) on Microsoft Store

Stable and Beta Are Different Store Products

The early Windows discussion often pointed straight at the beta listing. That was useful at the time, but it is no longer the clean default link.

Microsoft Store currently exposes two OpenAI products:

Codex with product ID 9PLM9XGG6VKS
Codex (Beta) with product ID 9N8CJ4W95TBZ

They are separate packages with separate package family names. Use the stable product unless you specifically need to test the beta channel.

Install from the Store

The official OpenAI Windows docs point to the Microsoft Store and give this command-line install path:

winget install Codex -s msstore

You can also install by product ID:

winget install --id 9PLM9XGG6VKS -s msstore

After installation, open Codex from Start and sign in with your ChatGPT account or OpenAI API key.

Update from the Store

OpenAI’s Windows docs say updates come through Microsoft Store:

Open Microsoft Store.
Go to Downloads.
Select Check for updates.
Let the Store install the latest Codex package.

For managed Windows environments, the same docs note that administrators can deploy the app through Microsoft Store app distribution.

What the Windows App Adds

The Windows app is not just a link to the CLI. OpenAI’s Windows docs describe a desktop surface for working across projects, running parallel agent threads, and reviewing results.

The Windows-specific part is the runtime. Codex can run natively on Windows with PowerShell and a Windows sandbox, or it can run through WSL2 if your development setup is Linux-oriented.

The app also supports core Codex workflows such as worktrees, automations, Git functionality, the in-app browser, artifact previews, plugins, and skills.

How to Verify the Listing Yourself

Use OpenAI’s official docs for the install path, then use Microsoft Store metadata to confirm what you installed.

The fields worth checking are:

product title
product ID
publisher
package family name
package full name
last modified or last update date
supported architecture
minimum Windows version

As of this update, Microsoft Store display metadata identifies the stable product as Codex from OpenAI, in the Developer tools category, with an x64 MSIX package and minimum Windows version 10.0.19041.0.

The beta product is explicitly named Codex (Beta). That naming is the important distinction.

Which Release Date Should You Use?

For a public article, use March 4, 2026 as the Windows availability date. That is the date OpenAI used in the Codex app launch update and the ChatGPT release notes.

Store package timestamps are still useful, but they answer a different question: when Microsoft last modified or served a package, not when OpenAI publicly announced Windows availability.