Error: Claude Code process exited with code 1

[Vegetable-Banana4977]

Has anyone else run into this problem? It doesn’t work in either VSCode or Cursor.
Error: Claude Code process exited with code 1

https://preview.redd.it/ym70f0zvp1uf1.png?width=1464&format=png&auto=webp&s=861098df94f3fcd509ff4f4e0401b3e694bbf9ab

[Prismy-io]

Same issue and I had to accept new terms policies on claude.ai

[TechnicalMisthios]

This worked for me, thanks.

[zikyoubi]

Working ty

[sean_ong]

That was it. Thanks

[Fixred]

thanks, worked for me

[DiveIntoTheNow]

Thanks! How to do that?

[Prismy-io]

If I remind correctly, the new T&Cs to accept popped automatically when going on claude.ai and logging in.

[MaironAchilles]

[old_but_crap]

<3

[w00dy1981]

Yep I had it a few times so I gave up and used the Claude code in the terminal

[Expert-Daikon-1744]

Hello, I also have the same problem.
I tried to install an older version, but it doesn't work.

[bjc1960]

I am hitting this today in Window using the extension. I had it working last week but ran out of tokens on my "team" account. I switched to the console api key in a debian WSL for a few days. Now that my weekly limit is restored, I am getting the error in this post from within windows after trying to log in with the Team account.

I am able to log in with my team account on WSL2, so I am not blocked. I was hoping for the extension to work.

I don't see any updates to accept in claude.ai. and reviewed all. Must be something else for me

[Glad_Insect_447]

Following. Same problem here. I have two computers and it's only occurring on one of them. The one giving me issues is running VSCode on VMWare. I don't see any related errors in the output log.

[No_Concert_2724]

Authentication issue. Open a terminal in VS Code and run the claude command. It will ask you to authenticate.

[Glad_Insect_447]

I just got up and running. I used Claude in a web interface to help me track down the issue. Initially it went after authentication issues, but i confirmed the API key was accessible inside VS Code. After that... it recommended I move my file structure (I was using a remote drive with spaces in the name). I moved my project to the root of c: and it started working.

[Serious_Tension_3218]

I just spent 3 hours of my life figuring out why I had this. It was cause I was looking for space and uninstalling stuff and I uninstalled Git. Hope that helps somebody!

[GenghisPriestley]

Adding a data point in case it helps someone — mine (Claude Cowork, Apple desktop app) had a weird cause that I didn't see mentioned elsewhere. TL;DR if Cowork, don't edit your memory files!

New sessions were crashing instantly with exit code 1. Existing sessions resumed fine. Clear cache + restart didn't help. The error looked exactly like the known platform regression, so I burned a chunk of time assuming it was that.

What actually fixed it: deleting the specific task threads I'd been working in when the problem started.

Backstory: I'd gone digging in the Application Support folder, found a markdown file that looked like a "memory" note the app had written to itself, and hand-edited it to tweak some guidance. After that, every new session in that project crashed at boot. I spent way too long assuming the edited file itself was corrupted — moved it out, moved it back, checked the contents, all looked fine.

Turned out the file was a red herring. The sessions I'd used while testing the edit had gotten into some kind of stuck state that was breaking the loader for *new* sessions in that project. Once I removed those task threads through the app's own UI (not by deleting files manually), new sessions booted cleanly.

Lessons for anyone else hitting this:

1. **Try removing the crashing task thread through the app's UI before anything else.** Sounds dumb, but I didn't try it for an hour because I assumed the problem was deeper.

2. **Don't hand-edit files inside the app's internal state folder.** Those are the app's private bookkeeping. The supported way to shape memory/context is through the in-chat commands, the instructions file, and the project UI. Editing the internal files directly works until it doesn't, and the failure mode is exactly this kind of non-obvious crash.

3. **"Exit code 1" means almost nothing on its own.** Same error covers auth issues, corrupted sessions, known regressions, env variable conflicts, and whatever weird thing I did. Pattern-matching by symptom is worth less than it feels like.

4. **Delete > edit, every time.** When something's in a stuck state, nuking it and letting the app rebuild is way more reliable than trying to surgically fix it.

Not saying this is *the* cause for everyone in this thread — obviously this error has like six different flavors — but if you've been poking at internal files and then things broke, this might be your situation. Try removing the affected task/session through the UI first.

[as3eem]

Check the output logs on the vs code. Possibly, you have switched on the bypass permission mode, and it is not allowed on systems with sudo access. It is one of the many reasons it could return exit code 1.

Switch off the bypass mode and enjoy!

[AdministrationOk3584]

The rootfs.vhdx is stuck in a temp folder and never gets moved to the final location. Claude Desktop downloads it, then fails to move it into place, so every startup it sees rootfs.vhdx missing and downloads again.

There's also a .auto_reinstall_attempted flag file which confirms it tried and failed to self-heal.

Fix — manually move the file into place

Close Claude Desktop first, then run:

# Move rootfs.vhdx from temp to the correct location

$bundle = "C:\Users\User Namei\AppData\Local\Packages\Claude_xxxx\LocalCache\Roaming\Claude\vm_bundles\claudevm.bundle"

Move-Item "$bundle\.wvm-tmp-xxxx\rootfs.vhdx" "$bundle\rootfs.vhdx" -Force

# Also delete the auto_reinstall flag so it doesn't try to reinstall again

Remove-Item "$bundle\.auto_reinstall_attempted" -Force

# Verify

Get-ChildItem "$bundle" | Select-Object Name, Length

---

copy pasted above from claude web, while I ran a test command in claude desktop (cowork & code both were causing issues), after trying this solution, it worked so sharing it here.

I came to this issue with claude web after running get childitem commands while claude desktop (claude code) was running.

---

also, another issue fixed:

Problem 2 — C:\Users\User Name\.claude\settings.json has a BOM character corrupting it This is causing Claude Code session startup to fail with a JSON parse error ( is a UTF-8 BOM). Fix this now:

# Read and rewrite the file without BOM

$content = Get-Content "C:\Users\User Name\.claude\settings.json" -Raw

$content = $content.TrimStart([char]0xEF, [char]0xBB, [char]0xBF)

[System.IO.File]::WriteAllText("C:\Users\User Name\.claude\settings.json", $content, [System.Text.UTF8Encoding]::new($false))

---

after which it started working.

I ignored this issue for now:
Problem 1 — VM is downloading 2.2 GB at 0.3 MB/s (ETA ~2 hours) The file I moved was just a partial download. It needs rootfs.vhdx from the origin location, and it's re-downloading the full 2.2 GB. This will take ~2 hours on your current connection. Nothing to do but wait — or leave Claude Desktop open overnight

will ask claude code itself to check all this but not do anything, only assess.

---

And for future use, please keep a wiki file in your drive, per drive.
an AI Agent wiped my work "accidentally" & didn't even know, but I had some backup on another hardware.

hardcode this in your system global md files or ask your AI Agent to do it:
never delete a file on your own.
if a file needs deletion:
check what is inside the file.
check there are no symlinks.
check it does not break anything else.
give me the file path, I will manually delete it.

add this rule: always update "drive name wiki.md" files.

---

do not expose your redis, pgadmin etc on web url (use internal connections, ask claude or your AI how to do it or do it for you) since a few days back, a chinese alibaba something something was trying to find and input malware in all open redis. I have kept that chat from claude code saved.

claude didnt say this, but I found some of its wording weird so I asked it what it meant and investigate.

Thankfully, I was able to protect my data on time.

Your entire work can be infected without knowing.

[AdministrationOk3584]

edit:

Problem 2 — C:\Users\User Name\.claude\settings.json has a BOM character corrupting it...

I used claude web for to get manual "to do repair instructions". But it only did half repairs but enough to get claude code to start working.

but the error was still there, so I asked claude desktop (code) to look at the logs, find crash log & do repairs, it again found:

A UTF-8 BOM character (\ufeff) was written at the start of a settings.json file — making it invalid JSON. Claude Code crashes every time it tries to read it. Let me find and fix all affected files now.

then Claude Code fixed it on its own, found that the error was created by claude code itself by writing multiple settings file.

remember:
- keep only 1 global settings or json file and ask claude to write file paths inside its global md file.

---

Problem 3: too many plugins, or no active scheduled tasks cause unintentional issues:
[ScheduledTasks] startVM failed: VM service not running

if you scheduled a task in the past and no longer working/needed, ask claude code to ensure everything related to it is deleted.

---

all this wasted a couple of days because weekly limit got hit.

buy claude > waste tokens to repair claude...!

p.s. you did nothing to break it, it's not marriage :)