diff --git a/codex-rs/windows-sandbox-rs/src/setup_orchestrator.rs b/codex-rs/windows-sandbox-rs/src/setup_orchestrator.rs
index 317a4d467c..db0b973403 100644
--- a/codex-rs/windows-sandbox-rs/src/setup_orchestrator.rs
+++ b/codex-rs/windows-sandbox-rs/src/setup_orchestrator.rs
@@ -288,16 +288,13 @@ fn profile_read_roots(user_profile: &Path) -> Vec<PathBuf> {
 }
 
 fn gather_helper_read_roots(codex_home: &Path) -> Vec<PathBuf> {
-    let mut roots = Vec::new();
-    if let Ok(exe) = std::env::current_exe() {
-        if let Some(dir) = exe.parent() {
-            roots.push(dir.to_path_buf());
-        }
-    }
     let helper_dir = helper_bin_dir(codex_home);
     let _ = std::fs::create_dir_all(&helper_dir);
-    roots.push(helper_dir);
-    roots
+    // Sandbox users only need to read helpers from the copied `.sandbox-bin` location.
+    // Granting ACLs on the original install directory can fail for packaged app paths
+    // such as `C:\\Program Files\\WindowsApps\\...` and is unnecessary once helpers are
+    // materialized into CODEX_HOME.
+    vec![helper_dir]
 }
 
 fn gather_legacy_full_read_roots(
@@ -738,6 +735,25 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(roots.contains(&expected));
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn gather_read_roots_excludes_current_executable_directory() {
+        let tmp = TempDir::new().expect("tempdir");
+        let codex_home = tmp.path().join("codex-home");
+        let command_cwd = tmp.path().join("workspace");
+        fs::create_dir_all(&command_cwd).expect("create workspace");
+        let policy = SandboxPolicy::new_read_only_policy();
+
+        let roots = gather_read_roots(&command_cwd, &policy, &codex_home);
+        let exe_dir = std::env::current_exe()
+            .expect("current exe")
+            .parent()
+            .expect("current exe parent")
+            .to_path_buf();
+        let canonical_exe_dir = dunce::canonicalize(&exe_dir).unwrap_or_else(|_| exe_dir.clone());
+
+        assert!(!roots.contains(&canonical_exe_dir));
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn restricted_read_roots_skip_platform_defaults_when_disabled() {
         let tmp = TempDir::new().expect("tempdir");