The problem

GitHub Desktop 3.5.11 crashes during GitHub OAuth authentication on Windows 11 Build 26200.8524.

After clicking "Sign in to GitHub.com", browser authentication succeeds, but GitHub Desktop fails to complete the login process and crashes with:

• Failed to initialize with RO_INIT_MULTITHREADED
• GPU process exited unexpectedly
• GPU process isn't usable. Goodbye

Event Viewer reports:

• Faulting application: GitHubDesktop.exe
• Faulting module: GitHubDesktop.exe
• Exception code: 0x80000003

System configuration:

• Windows 11 Build 26200.8524
• Intel UHD Graphics
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop GPU
• NVIDIA Driver 592.27

Troubleshooting performed:

• Reinstalled GitHub Desktop
• Verified Windows integrity using SFC
• Tested OAuth protocol registration
• Disabled hardware acceleration
• Tried --disable-gpu, --disable-software-rasterizer and --disable-gpu-compositing
• Reproduced the issue in a brand-new Windows user account

Workaround:

Adding --disable-gpu-sandbox to the GitHub Desktop shortcut completely resolves the issue. Authentication succeeds and GitHub Desktop functions normally afterward.

This appears to be related to the GPU sandbox / Electron crash described in Issue #22182.

Release version

3.5.11

Operating system

Windows 11 Pro 24H2 (Build 26200.8524)

Steps to reproduce the behavior

1. Install GitHub Desktop 3.5.11
2. Launch GitHub Desktop
3. Click "Sign in to GitHub.com"
4. Complete browser authentication
5. GitHub Desktop crashes or authentication fails

Log files

No response

Screenshots

No response

Additional context

No response