Extension host (retrieval-always-local) crashes repeatedly on Windows

[Code_Master]

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

The local extension host crashes repeatedly (3 times within 5 minutes) with exit code 18446744072635810000. The affected extensions are anysphere.cursor-always-local, anysphere.cursor-resolver, and anysphere.cursor-retrieval.

Steps to Reproduce

Open Cursor on Windows
Open any project folder
Extension host (role: retrieval-always-local) crashes automatically within minutes
Repeats continuously

Expected Behavior

Extension host stays running normally.

Actual behavior: Extension host terminates unexpectedly with code 18446744072635810000. AI features (chat, completions) stop working. Cursor shows “Extension host terminated unexpectedly 3 times within the last 5 minutes.”

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Version Information

2.6.21
fea2f546c979a0a4ad1deab23552a43568807590
x64

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

[deanrie]

Hey, this is a known Windows issue. retrieval-always-local crashes with 0xC0000005 because of a regression in cursor-socket.

Two workarounds:

1. Fix cursor-socket

Open Command Prompt as admin:

cd "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\cursor\resources\app\extensions\cursor-socket"
xcopy dist out\ /E /I

If Cursor is installed in C:\Program Files\cursor:

cd "C:\Program Files\cursor\resources\app\extensions\cursor-socket"
xcopy dist out\ /E /I

Restart Cursor.

2. If it still crashes, disable Instant Grep

• Cursor Settings (not VS Code settings) > Indexing & Docs
• Turn off “Index Repositories for Instant Grep (BETA)”
• Restart Cursor

For a few users, doing both steps fixed it on 2.6.21. More details here: The problem “Extension host terminated unexpectedly 3 times within the last 5 minutes” remain in 2.6.21 - #3 by deanrie

Note that you’ll need to run xcopy again after every Cursor update until the fix ships in a build. The team is aware of this regression.

Let me know if it helped.