MCP Servers on Windows: Empty PowerShell Windows and "Client Closed" Issues

Bug Reports
1

I’m encountering significant issues with MCP servers in Cursor on my Windows 11 system. I’ve tried multiple approaches but can’t get them to work properly:

  1. When using direct Node.js path in my configuration, nothing happens and I receive a “Client Closed” status message
  2. When adding the “cmd /c” prefix, Cursor only opens empty PowerShell windows instead of starting the actual servers

My Configuration

I’m trying to set up three MCP servers with the following configuration in my mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "filesystem": {
      "command": "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe",
      "args": [
        "C:\\Users\\user\\AppData\\Roaming\\npm\\node_modules\\@modelcontextprotocol\\server-filesystem\\dist\\index.js",
        "C:\\Users\\user\\Desktop\\projects"
      ]
    },
    
    "mcp-server-firecrawl": {
      "command": "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe",
      "args": [
        "C:\\Users\\user\\AppData\\Roaming\\npm\\node_modules\\firecrawl-mcp\\dist\\index.js"
      ],
      "env": {
        "APPDATA": "C:\\Users\\user\\AppData\\Roaming",
        "FIRECRAWL_API_URL": "http://localhost:3002",
        "FIRECRAWL_RETRY_MAX_ATTEMPTS": "5",
        "FIRECRAWL_RETRY_INITIAL_DELAY": "2000",
        "FIRECRAWL_RETRY_MAX_DELAY": "30000",
        "FIRECRAWL_RETRY_BACKOFF_FACTOR": "3"
      }
    },
    "sequential-thinking": {
      "command": "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe",
      "args": [
        "C:\\Users\\user\\AppData\\Roaming\\npm\\node_modules\\@modelcontextprotocol\\server-sequential-thinking\\dist\\index.js"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Cursor
Version: 0.47.8 (user setup)
VSCode Version: 1.86.2
Date: 2025-03-18T05:39:50.993Z (19 hrs ago)
Electron: 32.2.6
Chromium: 128.0.6613.186
Node.js: 20.8.1
V8: 12.8.374.38-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26100

What I’ve Tried

  • Running with direct node.exe paths as shown above (results in “Client Closed”)
  • Adding “cmd /c” prefix (results in empty PowerShell windows)
  • Verifying the paths are correct
  • Running the commands directly in terminal (they work fine)
  • Restarting Cursor multiple times

Questions

  1. Is there a proper way to configure MCP servers on Windows that avoids these issues?
  2. Are there any specific parameters or environment variables I should add to prevent the empty PowerShell windows?
  3. Is there a solution for the “Client Closed” status when using direct Node.js execution?

Based on forum posts, this seems to be a known issue affecting Windows users. Any help or official workarounds would be greatly appreciated!

2

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