Cursor shortcut on Windows broken

Support Bug Reports
, ,
1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

I found the shortcut not working anymore on my PC, so I check the shortcut pointed program, here it is:

C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe

However, I found there is no Cursor.exe anymore, instead there is a folder name with dash, the whole folder content was like this:

- _
- resources
- unins000.dat
- unins000.exe
- unins000.msg

and everything else was inside the dash folder, including the Cursor.exe,

Is this a bug or something?

Steps to Reproduce

N/A

Screenshots / Screen Recordings

Screenshot_2.png
Screenshot_2.png693×175 9.02 KB

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Version Information

Version: 3.7.36 (user setup)
VS Code Extension API: 1.105.1
Commit: 776d1f9d76df50a4e0aeca61819a88e7c1b861e0
Date: 2026-06-13T00:31:56.287Z
Layout: editor
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Default
Electron: 39.8.1
Chromium: 142.0.7444.265
Node.js: 22.22.1
V8: 14.2.231.22-electron.0
xterm.js: 6.1.0-beta.256
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.19045

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

5

Hey, thanks for the report and the screenshot. It’s clear what happened: in the cursor root folder there’s no Cursor.exe. There are only _, resources, tools, and the unins000.* files. The working build is currently inside the _ folder, so the shortcut can’t launch it.

This is a known Windows updater bug. The _ folder is a temporary directory where the new version gets unpacked, and its contents should be moved to the root after Cursor is closed. If that step gets interrupted (reboot, antivirus, or endpoint protection holding files), the files stay in _, and the shortcut still points to the now-missing Cursor.exe.

Your data isn’t lost. How to fix it:

  1. Download the latest installer from Cursor · Download and install it over the top. It will remove the extra _ folder and restore the correct structure. Your settings and extensions will stay, they’re stored separately in %APPDATA%.
  2. If you need to open Cursor right now before reinstalling, run ...\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\_\Cursor.exe.

We’re tracking this bug, but I can’t share an ETA for the fix yet. Let me know if reinstalling doesn’t help.