Cursor reinstalls itself on every update

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

Cursor reinstalls itself on every update. I use WSL/Ubuntu and the IDE does not restart itself, it reinstalls and even when I open it using the ubuntu terminal, it reinstalls there as well.

Steps to Reproduce

On every update you will see how it reinstalls itself

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Version Information

Version: 3.18.9 (user setup)
VS Code Extension API: 1.128.0
Commit: 2ba48ff3f7514cc4643c52ca9f7b3173d9b66130
Date: 2026-08-27T01:42:22.092Z
Layout: IDE
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Default
Electron: 40.10.3
Chromium: 144.0.7559.236
Node.js: 24.15.0
V8: 14.4.258.32-electron.0
xterm.js: 6.1.0-beta.291
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26200

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

Hey, thanks for the report. What you’re seeing on Windows is due to a recent change in how updates are applied. The update now runs the full installer instead of a quick background update, and it doesn’t reopen Cursor automatically, so it looks like a fresh reinstall. Your files and settings aren’t touched.

You can switch back to the old behavior right now: open Settings Ctrl+,, search for Enable Background Updates on Windows, turn it on, then restart Cursor.

We’re tracking this, and we’re adjusting the default for this setting in an upcoming release. I can’t share an exact timeline yet.

About WSL: what you see in the Ubuntu terminal is separate and expected. After each update, Cursor downloads the matching server component inside WSL once. It only happens on the first connection after an update, not every time you launch.

Let me know if the behavior doesn’t change after you enable the setting.

Thank you so much Dean

Hey @vusal5555 small update on this thread: the change that made Windows updates go through the full installer and not restart Cursor has been reverted in the latest version, so background updates are enabled by default again.

One note: the update that moves you to the latest version might still run through the installer one more time, but after that, future updates should apply quietly in the background and restart Cursor like before. If you already turned on Enable Background Updates on Windows based on my last suggestion, you’re all set either way.

About WSL: like I mentioned before, downloading the server component in the Ubuntu terminal after each update is expected, it happens once per update.

Let me know if the reinstall behavior shows up again on the next update.

It was fixed thank you for your attention