Claude Desktop spawns 1.8 GB Hyper-V VM on every launch, even for chat-only use
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Claude Desktop allocates 1.8 GB Hyper-V VM at launch even when user only needs chat.
A Windows 11 user reported that Claude Desktop spawns a persistent 1.8 GB Hyper-V virtual machine on every launch, consuming over 11% of 16 GB RAM even when only using chat functionality. The VM runs in the background regardless of whether Cowork or agent mode is enabled. The user found 2,689 stale session files from previous Cowork sessions accumulating in the app data directory, never cleaned up. Hyper-V logs show repeated "Invalid JSON document" errors (0xC037010D) since February 19. The user confirmed WSL, Hyper-V management, Docker, and Windows Sandbox were all disabled; only VirtualMachinePlatform was enabled.
The workaround requires either disabling VirtualMachinePlatform entirely (blocking Cowork) or manually killing vmwp and vmcompute processes after each launch. The user requested on-demand VM initialization, automatic session cleanup, and graceful degradation when VM infrastructure is unavailable.
What commenters are saying
Most commenters view this as a design failure rather than a technical limitation. The dominant complaint: Cowork should be opt-in, not force-install a 10 GB VM bundle with no removal path. One user confirmed a 12 GB footprint on their system. Commenters cite engineering negligence and rapid iteration culture as root causes. One dissenting voice argued the VM may be a performance optimization (prewarming for faster response), while another noted agent harnesses typically spin VMs on-demand with automatic cooldown. A few defended Anthropic's velocity and underfunded talent pool; others countered that native UI toolkits exist and could avoid these resource issues. No consensus emerged on whether the sandbox justifies the always-on overhead.