how to fix the window is not responding error in Cursor AI (Windows)

 

Recently, Cursor AI started acting up on my machine.
Whenever I launched the app, it kept showing "Chat History Loading..." — endlessly.
No matter what I did — restarting the app, reinstalling, opening a new project — nothing worked. Cursor just froze on startup.

So I’m documenting what worked for me, in case anyone else runs into this.

---

Symptoms

• App shows "Chat History Loading..." forever
• Can't open any project or use the chat
• Restarting or reinstalling doesn't help

---

Cause

Unlike browser-based tools, Cursor is a standalone Electron app.
That means it stores all user data — settings, cache, chat history — locally on your PC.

If the local data gets corrupted, the app can stop working correctly.
To fix it, you'll need to reset Cursor's local storage.

---

How to Fix It

1. Quit Cursor Completely

Make sure Cursor is fully closed.
Check the Task Manager and end any remaining Cursor.exe processes.

---

2. Open the AppData Folder

Press Windows + R and enter:

%APPDATA%

This will open:

C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Roaming

Inside, look for a folder named cursor.

If you can't see it, go to the top menu in Explorer:
View > Show > Hidden items — and make sure it's enabled.

---

3. Delete the Cursor Folder

You can either:

• Delete the entire cursor folder (complete reset)
• or*
• Try deleting only this path first:

AppData\Roaming\Cursor\User\workspaceStorage

🔍 According to this Cursor forum post, removing just that subfolder may fix the issue.

⚠️ Important: Deleting the whole cursor folder will wipe out your settings and chat history.
There’s no way to recover previous chats unless you backed them up.

---

4. Restart Cursor

After cleanup, reopen Cursor.
It should start fresh and behave like a brand new install.

---

Caution: You Will Lose Chat History

• Deleting AppData\Roaming\cursor permanently erases all your local chats
• If you want to keep them, back up the folder before deletion
• You can copy it somewhere safe and restore it later if needed

---

Tips to Avoid Future Issues

• Periodically back up the AppData\Roaming\cursor folder
• Use Git to track code changes
• Save important chats or notes to a separate markdown tool like Obsidian or Notion

---

Final Thoughts

It turns out I wasn’t alone — many users have reported similar issues.
Hopefully Cursor's dev team can patch this soon, especially since it affects startup flow directly.

Until then, if you’re stuck on a loading screen, try the steps above.
And remember: always back up before wiping anything.

Hope this helps!