Windows update system broken in multiple ways

[Chris_Drake]

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

Windows does not update, and keeps popping open update error messages that are wrong (says things are running, when they are not) - the updater itself also complains about itself running too…

Steps to Reproduce

Every time I open cursor, this happens

Expected Behavior

no error popups.
any popups that do show, should not say things which are not true.

Screenshots / Screen Recordings

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)

Version: 1.6.23 (user setup)
VSCode Version: 1.99.3
Commit: 9b5f3f4f2368631e3455d37672ca61b6dce85430
Date: 2025-09-15T21:49:07.231Z
Electron: 34.5.8
Chromium: 132.0.6834.210
Node.js: 20.19.1
V8: 13.2.152.41-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.17763

Additional Information

I installed the cursor CLI in the past - not sure if this is related.

This bug report system does not allow >1 screenshot - I’ve got 5 I need to send you!!!

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

[sanjeed5 (Sanjeed)]

Thanks for reporting this, @Chris_Drake.

Workarounds to try:

1. Task Manager check: Open Task Manager and ensure all cursor.exe and Cursor.exe processes are closed (including background processes). Then retry the update.

2. Add to antivirus exclusions: Add cursor.exe to your antivirus software’s exclusion list, as this has helped some users.

Let me know if any of these workarounds help!

Team is aware of this issue and looking into this.

[sanjeed5 (Sanjeed)]

Can you please share the logs mentioned in the screenshot? @Chris_Drake

[Chris_Drake]

I can’t work this out myself!

Sep 30 22:50:15.658 INFO Starting: C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe, true, Updating Cursor…
Sep 30 22:50:15.658 INFO Checking for running Cursor.exe processes… (attempt 1)
Sep 30 22:50:15.664 INFO Cursor.exe is not running
Sep 30 22:50:15.664 INFO Checking for possible conflicting running processes… (attempt 1)
Sep 30 22:50:15.671 INFO Inno Updater v0.12.1
Sep 30 22:50:15.671 INFO Starting update, silent = true
Sep 30 22:50:15.679 INFO do_update: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe”, _
Sep 30 22:50:15.679 INFO move_update: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\unins000.dat”, _
Sep 30 22:50:15.679 INFO Reading directory: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor”
Sep 30 22:50:15.679 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\chrome_100_percent.pak” (attempt 1)
Sep 30 22:50:15.679 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\chrome_200_percent.pak” (attempt 1)
Sep 30 22:50:15.679 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 1)
Sep 30 22:50:15.730 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 2)
Sep 30 22:50:15.931 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 3)
Sep 30 22:50:16.381 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 4)
Sep 30 22:50:17.182 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 5)
Sep 30 22:50:18.433 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 6)
Sep 30 22:50:20.233 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 7)
Sep 30 22:50:22.684 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 8)
Sep 30 22:50:25.884 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 9)
Sep 30 22:50:29.935 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 10)
Sep 30 22:50:34.935 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 11)
Sep 30 22:50:40.986 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 12)
Sep 30 22:50:48.186 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 13)
Sep 30 22:50:56.637 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 14)
Sep 30 22:51:06.438 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 15)
Sep 30 22:51:17.688 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 16)
Sep 30 22:51:32.133 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 1)
Sep 30 22:51:32.184 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 2)
Sep 30 22:51:32.384 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 3)
Sep 30 22:51:32.835 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 4)
Sep 30 22:51:33.635 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 5)
Sep 30 22:51:34.886 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 6)
Sep 30 22:51:36.686 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 7)
Sep 30 22:51:39.138 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 8)
Sep 30 22:51:42.338 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 9)
Sep 30 22:51:46.389 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 10)
Sep 30 22:51:51.389 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 11)
Sep 30 22:51:57.439 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 12)
Sep 30 22:52:04.640 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 13)
Sep 30 22:52:13.090 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 14)
Sep 30 22:52:22.890 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 15)
Sep 30 22:52:34.141 INFO Get file handle: “C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe” (attempt 16)
Sep 30 22:52:39.356 ERRO Failed to create file handle: The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.

The file does seem to be locked, but not because it’s running - something else seems to have a hold? I’ve tried disabling, and exiting my A/V - doesn’t make a difference.

I’ve also re-installed form the installer download, which didn’t fix it either.

screen copy/paste below from things I tried:-

C:\Users\cnd\Downloads\cursor\python_mcp>notepad C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\temp\cursor-inno-updater-1759272615.log

C:\Users\cnd\Downloads\cursor\python_mcp>dir C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe
Volume in drive C is RoG
Volume Serial Number is 9681-8754

Directory of C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor

15/09/2025 10:03 PM 190,879,200 Cursor.exe
1 File(s) 190,879,200 bytes
0 Dir(s) 2,674,567,430,144 bytes free

C:\Users\cnd\Downloads\cursor\python_mcp>copy C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor-backup.exe
1 file(s) copied.

C:\Users\cnd\Downloads\cursor\python_mcp>copy test_python_build.py C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe
Overwrite C:\Users\cnd\AppData\Local\Programs\cursor\Cursor.exe? (Yes/No/All): y
The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.
0 file(s) copied.

C:\Users\cnd\Downloads\cursor\python_mcp>tasklist | grep -i cursor

C:\Users\cnd\Downloads\cursor\python_mcp>taskkill /f /im Cursor.exe
ERROR: The process “Cursor.exe” not found.

C:\Users\cnd\Downloads\cursor\python_mcp>

[Chris_Drake]

This is the message which shows up prior to the one I mentioned at the start:

[Chris_Drake]

This also shows up from time-to-time:

[Chris_Drake]

Another dead end:

C:\Windows\system32>handle Cursor.exe

Nthandle v5.0 - Handle viewer
Copyright (C) 1997-2022 Mark Russinovich
Sysinternals - www.sysinternals.com

No matching handles found.

C:\Windows\system32>

[ARajgor (ayush rajgor)]

@sanjeed5 facing the same issue.

This is a major problem for our Windows users. It’s been over a month. attaching the existing discussion thread.

Can't Update Cursor IDE from Help menu

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)? Cursor IDE Describe the Bug I can’t update Cursor from the Check for Updates option in the Help menu. It says ‘New Update Available - Install Now’ but when I click ‘Install Now’ Cursor closes, the system hangs for a while and finally says: "There was an error while Opening file handle: Failed to create file handle: The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process. Please verify there are no Cursor processes still exec…

[Chris_Drake]

Two totally different windows machines of mine (A windows 11 pro laptop, and a windows 10 vmware guest) also reliably issue update failures as well.

The latter was when going from this

Version: 1.7.17 (system setup)
VSCode Version: 1.99.3
Commit: 34881053400013f38e2354f1479c88c9067039a0
Date: 2025-09-29T03:10:26.099Z
Electron: 34.5.8
Chromium: 132.0.6834.210
Node.js: 20.19.1
V8: 13.2.152.41-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.19045

to this:

Version: 1.7.28 (system setup)
VSCode Version: 1.99.3
Commit: adb0f9e3e4f184bba7f3fa6dbfd72ad0ebb8cfd0
Date: 2025-10-01T02:45:21.769Z
Electron: 34.5.8
Chromium: 132.0.6834.210
Node.js: 20.19.1
V8: 13.2.152.41-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.19045

so despite the crash, it sorta kinda seems to have updated?

[sanjeed5 (Sanjeed)]

Thanks for the detailed logs, @Chris_Drake (and @ARajgor) - really helpful for the team.

The team is aware of this Windows update issue and is actively working on improvements to the update system.

Workaround to try:

Please try a per-user install instead of a system install while the team works on fixes.

[ARajgor (ayush rajgor)]

I installed it for a single user, not system-wide.

[sanjeed5 (Sanjeed)]

Thanks, I’ve informed the team.

Does the update work if you force quit any Setups and Cursor running and then try a new install from Download · Cursor ?

Meanwhile, the team is working on improving this experience. Really appreciate the details you’ve shared.

[runbco]

you can download a new version, it works for 1 or 2 updates and you face the same issue again.
forcing to end a task via the task manger wont do anything.

There is evidence that it has to do with certain antivirus providers (MacAffee for example).
See other topics e.g. : Can't Update Cursor IDE from Help menu - #38 by runbco

Surly the cursor team should be able to come up with a fix that hinders many of us to properly use a paid software for many months ? (p.s. this is not a go at you Sanjeed it,s a go at the cursor team that is unable, not capable or not willing to support it’s paying customer base)

[Chris_Drake]

windows cannot update files that are in use.
when windows update fails, and I restart windows, the restart screen says “waiting for…” and some cursor stuff - so no - I do not think this is an A/V issue - its more like a “cursor does not exit properly” issue.