How to Download and Set Up Claude Cowork

A 2025 survey of 525 U.S. executives by Zapier and Centiment found that 41% of enterprises already use AI agents for document analysis and summarization. Nearly all of those agents run inside cloud sandboxes with no access to the analyst's actual desktop. Claude Cowork takes the opposite approach: it downloads as a desktop application and operates directly on your local files, folders, and installed apps.

Anthropic released Claude Cowork to general availability on April 9, 2026, after public betas on macOS in January and Windows in February. It ships as a mode inside the Claude Desktop app. Unlike browser-based Claude, which processes one prompt at a time, Cowork handles multi-step tasks autonomously. You describe an outcome, Claude proposes a plan, and then executes it across your local machine while you do other work.

Cowork runs inside a sandboxed virtual machine on your computer. This architecture keeps it from modifying system files or accessing anything outside its sandbox without your permission. It also means the download process involves more than clicking a link. Your machine needs to support hardware virtualization, and on Windows, you need a specific OS edition.

You need a paid Claude plan to use Cowork. The Pro plan costs $20 per month, Max plans run $100 to $200 per month depending on usage tier, and the Team plan is $25 per seat per month. The free Claude tier does not include Cowork access. All paid tiers get identical Cowork features. The price difference only affects how many tasks you can run before hitting rate limits.

Claude Cowork runs on macOS and Windows only. It is not available through the web interface, mobile apps, or Linux.

macOS

You need macOS 11 (Big Sur) or later. Both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs are supported. Anthropic recommends at least 8 GB of RAM and a multi-core processor for handling multiple tasks. Reserve about 10 GB of free disk space for the application and its virtual machine sandbox.

The Cowork sandbox uses Apple's Virtualization framework, which ships with every supported macOS version. No additional configuration is needed on Mac. If your machine runs Big Sur or later, you almost meet the requirements.

Windows Windows requirements are stricter. You need Windows 10 version 1909 or later, or Windows 11, running on an x64 processor.

The critical requirement is Hyper-V. Cowork's virtual machine sandbox depends on the full Hyper-V stack, which only ships with Windows Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions. Windows Home does not include Hyper-V, and there is currently no workaround. If you are running Windows Home, you need to upgrade to Pro before installing Cowork.

This catches more people than you might expect. Most consumer laptops ship with Windows Home preinstalled. Before buying a Claude subscription for Cowork, open PowerShell as administrator and run:

Get-Service vmms

If the command returns a running service, your system supports Hyper-V. If it returns an error or the service does not exist, you are either on Home edition or Hyper-V is not enabled.

To enable Hyper-V on a supported edition, open Settings, navigate to Apps, then Optional Features, then More Windows Features. Check the Hyper-V box and restart your computer.

Both Platforms Cowork requires an active internet connection throughout every session. The Claude Desktop app must stay open while a task runs. If the app closes, the computer sleeps, or you lose your connection, the task stops immediately.

The full process in four steps:

1. Visit claude.com/download for the latest Claude Desktop installer
2. Download and run the platform-specific readiness check
3. Install the app and verify the VM service on Windows
4. Open the Cowork tab and dispatch your first task

Step 1: Download the Installer Go to claude.com/download to get the latest Claude Desktop installer. On macOS, this downloads a DMG file. On Windows, you get an MSIX package. If you already have Claude Desktop installed, check for updates before proceeding. Cowork requires the latest version of the desktop app.

Step 2: Run the Readiness Check Anthropic provides a standalone readiness check tool that verifies your system can run Cowork's virtual machine sandbox. Download the correct version for your platform from the Claude Cowork support article:

• macOS Universal: one download that covers both Apple Silicon and Intel
• Windows x64: for most Windows PCs
• Windows ARM64: for ARM-based Windows devices like Surface Pro X

Run the tool after downloading. It scans your operating system version, virtualization capabilities, and hardware configuration. If everything passes, you see the message: "This computer is ready for Cowork."

If the check fails, it typically means virtualization is not enabled in your BIOS settings or you are running an unsupported OS edition. On Windows, be aware that the readiness checker has been reported to incorrectly pass on some Windows Home systems by misidentifying the OS version. Verify manually with the PowerShell command from the previous section.

Step 3: Install Claude Desktop On macOS, open the DMG and drag Claude to your Applications folder. On Windows, double-click the MSIX package and follow the prompts. Administrator privileges are required for the full installation on Windows.

After installation on Windows, verify that the "Claude VM Service" is running. Open services.msc or run the following in PowerShell:

Get-Service "Claude VM Service"

If the service is not running, reinstall from claude.com/download or start it manually through services.msc.

Persist your Claude Cowork output across sessions

Fastio gives your Cowork files a permanent home with generous storage, semantic search, and team sharing. No credit card, no trial expiration.

Start 14-Day Trial

Open Claude Desktop and look for the mode selector at the top of the interface. You will see two tabs: Chat and Cowork. Click Cowork to switch to task mode.

Writing a Good Task Description Cowork works best when you describe the end result rather than listing individual steps. Instead of telling Claude to open a folder, read each file, and compile a summary, write something like: "Summarize all the PDF invoices in my Downloads folder into a spreadsheet with columns for vendor, amount, and date."

Give Claude access to specific folders or files when prompted. The sandbox restricts access by default, so you will need to approve file access requests during your first task.

Reviewing the Plan

Before executing, Claude shows you its proposed approach. Review this step carefully. You can adjust the plan, add constraints, or redirect the approach before Claude starts working. This review step exists because Cowork handles real file operations, and Anthropic designed it so that consequential decisions stay with the user.

Good First Tasks

Start with something low-stakes to get a feel for the workflow:

• Organize and rename files in a messy folder by date or type
• Extract key data points from a batch of PDF documents
• Compile research notes from multiple sources into a structured summary
• Convert a set of images to a different format with consistent naming

Keeping Sessions Alive

Cowork tasks stop if the app closes or your computer sleeps. For longer tasks, adjust your power settings to prevent sleep. On macOS, open System Settings and set the display sleep timer to a longer interval while running a task. On Windows, adjust the timeout in Power & Sleep settings.

Memory from a Cowork session persists within a Claude Project but not across standalone conversations. If you need context to carry over between sessions, save your output to a persistent location outside the app.

Cowork saves its output to your local file system by default. For individual use, that works fine. But if you need to share results with a team, hand off deliverables to a client, or access files from another device, local storage creates friction.

Generic cloud storage platforms like Google Drive or Dropbox solve the access problem, but they treat files as static blobs. They store the document without understanding what it contains.

Fastio takes a different approach for teams working with AI agents. When you store Cowork output in a Fastio workspace, the files are automatically indexed for semantic search and AI-powered querying through Intelligence Mode. Upload a batch of Cowork-generated reports, and your team can ask natural language questions across all of them without opening individual files.

The Business Trial includes 50 GB of storage, included credits per month, and 5 workspaces with no credit card required. That gives you room to store months of Cowork output and share it with collaborators through branded Send, Receive, and Exchange links.

For developers building automated workflows around Cowork, Fastio exposes a Model Context Protocol server with Streamable HTTP at /mcp. Agents can read, write, search, and organize files in a shared workspace programmatically. Combined with webhooks and file locks, this creates a durable layer where Cowork output is stored, queried, and handed off to human reviewers.

If you want to keep things simple, create a dedicated workspace for your Cowork output and drag files there after each session. If you want to automate it, connect the MCP server and let your workflow write directly to the workspace.