Updates on Windows are failing still - Antivirus

Support Bug Reports
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1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

Cursor IDE updates are still failing when initiated from Cursor UI (either pop-up or Help > Check for Updates), upgrading from 2.4 to 2.5.20.

I am running McAfee, have disabled Real-Time Scanning, ensured that no Cursor processes are running, but still no success.

cursor-inno-updater-.log is showing:
Feb 24 15:49:19.970 INFO Starting: C:\Users<>\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe, true, Updating Cursor…
Feb 24 15:49:19.971 INFO Checking for running Cursor.exe processes… (attempt 1)
Feb 24 15:49:19.985 INFO Cursor.exe is running, wait a bit
Feb 24 15:49:20.485 INFO Checking for running Cursor.exe processes… (attempt 2)
Feb 24 15:49:20.499 INFO Cursor.exe is running, wait a bit
Feb 24 15:49:21.000 INFO Checking for running Cursor.exe processes… (attempt 3)
Feb 24 15:49:21.023 INFO Cursor.exe is not running
Feb 24 15:49:21.023 INFO Checking for possible conflicting running processes… (attempt 1)
Feb 24 15:49:21.041 INFO Inno Updater v0.13.0
Feb 24 15:49:21.041 INFO Starting update, silent = true
Feb 24 15:49:21.072 INFO do_update: “C:\Users\<>\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe”, _
Feb 24 15:49:21.072 INFO move_update: “C:\Users\<>\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\unins000.dat”, _
Feb 24 15:49:21.072 INFO Reading directory: “C:\Users\<>\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor”
Feb 24 15:49:21.072 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\<>\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\chrome_100_percent.pak” (attempt 1)
Feb 24 15:49:21.072 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\<>\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\chrome_200_percent.pak” (attempt 1)
Feb 24 15:49:21.072 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\<>\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 1)
Feb 24 15:49:21.123 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\<>\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 2)
Feb 24 15:49:21.324 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\<>\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 3)
…
Feb 24 16:00:39.449 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\<>\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 16)
Feb 24 16:00:52.106 ERRO Failed to create file handle: The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.

Found “Setup Log 2026-02-24 #001.txt”
2026-02-24 15:49:39.714 Setup command line: /SL5=“$140A64,182171747,944640,C:\Users<>\AppData\Local\Temp\vscode-stable-user-x64-8dyw6axcquo\CodeSetup-stable-2.5.20.exe” /verysilent /log /update=“C:\Users<>\AppData\Local\Temp\vscode-stable-user-x64-8dyw6axcquo\CodeSetup-stable-2.5.20.flag” /nocloseapplications /mergetasks=!desktopicon,!quicklaunchicon

I then went and ran C:\Users<>\AppData\Local\Temp\vscode-stable-user-x64-8dyw6axcquo\CodeSetup-stable-2.5.20.exe directly which launched the setup UI. This ended up succeeding and Cursor was successfully updated.

Steps to Reproduce

Go into the UI, Help > Check for Updates, Help > Restart to Update

Expected Behavior

Cursor is updated successfully.

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Version Information

Source Version: 2.4.x
Destination Version: 2.5.20

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

3

Hey, thanks for the detailed report and the logs.

This is a known issue with the Windows updater. Inno Updater can’t handle cases where an antivirus, especially McAfee, is holding a file handle on Cursor.exe, even if Real-Time Scanning is turned off. McAfee may still scan files through other modules.

You already found a working workaround, running the setup .exe directly. Another option that has helped other users:

  • Fully close Cursor
  • Run taskkill /F /IM "Cursor.exe" /T in PowerShell
  • Wait 5 seconds
  • Start the update

I’ll pass this to the team. No exact timeline yet, but your report helps us prioritize it. Let me know if anything else comes up.