On Windows, installing an update emptied %APPDATA%\Cursor\Workspaces. Open Recent then reported “Path does not exist” for those untitled workspaces, even though the project folders were still on disk. Saved .code-workspace files were unaffected.
This happened while updating to 3.27.14 (a fresh install from the website, which then offered 3.27.22). Current install:
On Windows, open untitled workspaces lived under %APPDATA%\Cursor\Workspaces. Installing the update that landed on 3.27.14 removed those files. Open Recent then reported “Path does not exist”, although the project folders were still on disk. Saved .code-workspace files were not affected.
Hi @Lance_Davis, installing an update doesn’t clear that folder by itself. The installer only removes %APPDATA%\Cursor during an uninstall where you choose to delete user data, so something else removed these files during the upgrade.
You can likely get each one back by recreating the file:
Click the broken item in File > Open Recent and note the full path in the error (...\Workspaces\<number>\workspace.json).
Create that folder and a workspace.json file inside it that lists the original folders, for example:
I installed over the existing copy while Cursor was still open. Several project windows were open. I downloaded the installer from the website and ran it; that landed on 3.27.14, which then offered 3.27.22. I don’t remember an uninstall step or a prompt to delete user data.
Settings and chat history under %APPDATA%\Cursor were still there afterwards. Only the untitled workspace files under %APPDATA%\Cursor\Workspaces were gone. Open Recent then reported “Path does not exist” for those entries. Saved .code-workspace files were not affected.
Those three workspace.json files are already recreated with the original folder lists, and Open Recent opens them again. I have not used Save Workspace As, because chat history is tied to the untitled workspace file. Saving as a .code-workspace would be a different workspace, so the older chats would stay on the untitled one.
Later that morning, Restart to Update moved 3.27.14 to 3.27.22. That in-app update reopened the project windows and did not remove the recreated files.
Hi @Lance_Davis, that sequence most likely explains it. Restart to Update quits the whole app, which leaves untitled workspaces alone. The website installer asks you to close Cursor first, and closing the windows one at a time can discard each untitled workspace’s workspace.json, usually after a “Do you want to save your workspace configuration as a file?” prompt.
You’re right about Save Workspace As: the chats stay on the untitled workspace, so it won’t carry them over for now.
To avoid a repeat:
Update with Restart to Update when it’s offered.
If you run the installer, quit first with File > Exit instead of closing the windows.
If that save prompt appears on a window you want to keep, choose Cancel.
Keep a copy of %APPDATA%\Cursor\Workspaces so you can restore the files the way you just did.
Do you remember whether that save prompt came up when you closed the windows?