Cursor IDE not opening and logo missing after laptop restart (Windows)

[Veeravignesh_KR]

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

I’ve been using Cursor IDE without any issues until last night. Today when I turned on my laptop and tried to open it, the cursor wouldn’t launch. - Application not found.

What’s strange is that the Cursor icon/logo is also missing in multiple places:

Desktop shortcut

Start menu

Control Panel / installed programs list

It sometimes appears as a blank icon instead of the normal logo.

This exact issue has actually happened once before in the past, but I never figured out what caused it.

Things I noticed:

Cursor fails to launch when I click it

The icon/logo is missing or replaced with a blank icon

System: Windows laptop

Steps to Reproduce

Not sure how to reproduce. This has happened to me in the past as well.

Expected Behavior

The cursor is unusable. Crashed. The expectation is that the cursor should always be usable.

Screenshots / Screen Recordings

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Version Information

Version: 2.6.19 (user setup)
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: 224838f96445be37e3db643a163a817c15b36060
Date: 2026-03-12T04:07:27.435Z
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Default
Electron: 39.4.0
Chromium: 142.0.7444.265
Node.js: 22.22.0
V8: 14.2.231.22-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26200

Does this stop you from using Cursor

Yes - Cursor is unusable

[deanrie]

Hey, thanks for the report. This is a known issue with the auto-updater on Windows. Sometimes it removes the current install but doesn’t finish the update, especially if the PC restarts during the process.

For now, the workaround is to reinstall from Cursor · Download. Your settings and chat history should stay since only the app files get removed.

A couple questions to help us diagnose:

1. Do you remember if Cursor showed an update notification before the restart?
2. Are you using any antivirus or endpoint protection like CrowdStrike, Zscaler, etc.?
3. Can you check if the folder %LocalAppData%\Programs\Cursor exists, and what’s inside it?

Let me know if everything works after reinstalling.