App keeps deleting/disapearing in windows

Support Bug Reports
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1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

Windows 11. Cursor (User) install under %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\cursor (currently 3.13.25).

After shutdown / reboot, the desktop shortcut and Start search often no longer find Cursor. I have to reinstall. This has happened repeatedly and is very disruptive. After reinstall I also lose easy access to previous agent chats and have to recover from handoff files.

This matches the known Windows auto-updater issue: old binary removed before new install finishes; shutdown interrupts the install phase so Cursor vanishes while settings under %APPDATA%\Cursor and %USERPROFILE%.cursor usually survive.

Workaround applied: update.mode set to manual.

Please prioritise a durable Windows update that does not remove the running binary until the new version is confirmed installed, and reliable chat restore after reinstall.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Install Cursor with the Windows user installer (Cursor (User) under %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\cursor).
  2. Use Cursor normally; leave auto-update enabled (or allow an update to become pending).
  3. Shut down or restart Windows while Cursor is open, or after an update was offered / started (including if “Later” was chosen).
  4. After reboot, try to open Cursor from the desktop shortcut and/or Windows search.
  5. Observe: shortcut fails / Search finds nothing / Cursor.exe is missing; only a full reinstall from cursor.com restores the app.
  6. Repeat over multiple shutdown cycles — this happens repeatedly on this machine.

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Version Information

Version: 3.6.31
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: 81fcf2931d7687b4ff3f3017858d0c6dee7e2a60
OS: Windows 11 (win32 10.0.26200)
Install: Cursor (User) — %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\cursor\

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

7

Hey Luke! Thanks for the detailed report. This is an issue we’re tracking, and I’ll post here when there’s an update.

Good news on the chats: they aren’t lost. Chat history lives in %APPDATA%\Cursor\User\workspaceStorage and reinstalling doesn’t touch it. As long as you reopen the same project folder, the chats should still be there.

Beyond update.mode: manual, a few extra things that have helped others:

  • Fully close Cursor before shutting down, including the tray icon.
  • Add %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\cursor to your Windows Defender exclusions.
  • Try the system installer (CursorSetup-x64 from cursor.com/download) instead of the user installer.

One small thing - the version block you pasted shows 3.6.31, not 3.13.25. Worth grabbing the latest installer from cursor.com/download once you’re set up again.

There’s an ongoing megathread here if you want to follow along.

10

I can confirm that this still remains a major problem.

I’ve had to reinstall Cursor 15+ times in the last 3 weeks because the shortcut disappears from windows desktop.

It’s become such a headache I’ve now switched most working to Codex. Cursor is constantly wanting to update itself and even pressing “later” to refrain it from killing the app is not a solution and working across multiple PC’s for dev on the same account also has problems.

You will lose a lot of users if it continues to uninstall itself. How is this not a major bug and why is not addressed yet?