Windows Terminal version

1.23.13503.0

Windows build number

10.0.26200.0

Other Software

Claude Code, latest version (possibly)

Steps to reproduce

The crash occurs almost every night at exactly 04:41:02 local time (03:41:02 UTC) without any user interaction. The machine is idle overnight with Terminal left running.

1. Open Windows Terminal with one or more tabs
2. Leave Terminal running overnight
3. Terminal crashes at 04:41:02 local time

This has occurred on consecutive nights with identical crash signatures.

Expected Behavior

Windows Terminal should remain running and stable when idle, regardless of background system activity.

Actual Behavior

Terminal crashes with an access violation at a precise, repeatable time every night. All tabs and session state are lost.

Crash details

The crash signature is identical across all occurrences:

Faulting application name: WindowsTerminal.exe, version: 1.23.2512.16003
Faulting module name: TerminalApp.dll, version: 1.23.2512.16003
Exception code: 0xc0000005 (Access Violation)
Fault offset: 0x000000000008d0bc
Faulting package: Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_1.23.13503.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe

Event log evidence

Application Error events (Event ID 1000):

Date: 2026-01-15T03:41:02.867Z
Faulting application name: WindowsTerminal.exe, version: 1.23.2512.16003
Faulting module name: TerminalApp.dll, version: 1.23.2512.16003
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x000000000008d0bc
Report Id: 2290504d-ece9-46fc-9afc-ceaed0dc59db

Date: 2026-01-14T03:41:02.638Z
Faulting application name: WindowsTerminal.exe, version: 1.23.2512.16003
Faulting module name: TerminalApp.dll, version: 1.23.2512.16003
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x000000000008d0bc
Report Id: f6093847-a1a4-49e6-9388-c31eb6acadf1

Key observations

1. Exact timing precision: The crash occurs at the same second (04:41:02) on consecutive days. This is not random - something deterministic is triggering it.
2. Identical fault offset: The crash always occurs at offset 0x000000000008d0bc in TerminalApp.dll, suggesting the same code path is failing.
3. Correlated system events: System event logs show the following activity within seconds of the crash:

• IsolatedUserMode/Secure Trustlet events (NgcIso.exe - Windows Hello credential operations) (slightly after the crash)
• Virtual Disk Service start/stop events (slightly before the crash)

4. No user interaction: The crash occurs while the machine is idle overnight.

Possible contributing factors

• Terminal sessions had been running for extended periods (8+ hours)
• Acrylic transparency effects are enabled in settings
• Usage includes CLI applications that generate substantial terminal output
• Corporate domain-joined machine with security policies

I've uploaded the crash dump via feedback hub: https://aka.ms/AAz9rc3

(Problem investigated and summarized by claude, approved by me, a human).