[Fixed] BSOD 0x3b (SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION) on Cursor 3.0 - Dual Monitor GPU Handoff

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Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

System crashes with BSOD 0x0000003b (SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION) when moving or resizing the Cursor window between a laptop display and an external monitor (Dual GPU setup: Intel iGPU + NVIDIA dGPU). The crash specifically happens during the display handoff.

Steps to Reproduce

Connect an external monitor via HDMI (Monitor A: 144Hz, Monitor B: 60Hz).

Open Cursor 3.0 on the laptop screen.

Drag the Cursor window to the external monitor.

System freezes and triggers a Blue/Black screen during the transition.

Expected Behavior

The window should transition smoothly between displays without causing a kernel-level exception in dxgkrnl.sys

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Version Information

Cursor Version: 3.0.x (April 2026 Update)

OS: Windows 11 (Kernel 10.0.26100.8115)

Additional Information

I have performed a technical analysis using WinDbg and found a temporary fix.

Technical Root Cause:
The crash is a Null Pointer Dereference in dxgkrnl!CheckMultiPlaneOverlayInternal3. It triggers a 0x3b BSOD when the window is moved between different GPUs (Intel/NVIDIA) on a dual-monitor setup.

Successful Workaround:

Step 1: Disabled MPO (Multi-Plane Overlay) via Windows Registry.

Step 2: Disabled Terminal GPU Acceleration in Cursor Settings (Terminal > Integrated: Gpu Acceleration → set to “off”).
Note: Only disabling the main Hardware Acceleration was not enough; the Terminal specific setting was the key to stopping the crashes.

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

5

Hey, thanks for the detailed WinDbg analysis. It’s really helpful for other users.

This is a known issue with the Windows DirectX kernel driver dxgkrnl!CheckMultiPlaneOverlayInternal3. It’s not a Cursor bug directly, it’s a bug in the MPO code path when switching between GPUs. Cursor via Electron and Chromium just triggers that path.

Your workaround to disable MPO plus Terminal GPU Acceleration is correct. A couple more things to try:

  1. Update the Intel iGPU driver to the latest version from https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download-center/home.html. Another user with the exact same crash said this fully fixed it without needing to disable MPO.

  2. As an alternative, in Windows Settings > System > Display > Graphics set Cursor to High performance NVIDIA so it won’t use the Intel iGPU at all.

  3. Instead of fully disabling the GPU, try cursor --disable-gpu-compositing. This disables only the overlay while keeping some hardware acceleration.

Related thread for reference: Cursor crashes Windows11

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