Hi @cgriede Thanks for the forum post and sorry for the repeated hassle on updates.
It looks like a leftover rg.exe (ripgrep, the search helper Cursor bundles) process from your previous session is still holding a lock on its file inside the install folder. When the updater tries to replace that file, Windows refuses because it’s in use, which produces the DeleteFile failed; code 5. Access is denied error. Once rg.exe is in this stuck state, Task Manager and taskkill can’t end it, which is why you’re seeing the access denied and “no running instance” responses.
The most reliable way through it:
Fully close Cursor (File menu > Exit, not just closing the window).
Open Task Manager and confirm there are no Cursor.exe or rg.exe entries still listed. End any that remain.
If rg.exe is stuck and won’t close, restart Windows. A reboot clears the locked process without you having to delete anything by hand.
After the reboot, run the latest installer from cursor.com over your existing install. It should now replace the files cleanly.
Your manual folder deletion works for the same underlying reason (it removes the locked file), so a reboot is just a less destructive way to reach the same result.
To lower the chance of it recurring on future updates: before installing an update, fully quit Cursor, give it a few seconds, then check Task Manager to make sure no rg.exe is lingering before you let the update run.
I’ve also logged this with our team so we can improve how that process is cleaned up on exit, so updates aren’t blocked like this. We’ll let you know any updates on this front.
