# Reported issues for io.github.CursorTouch/Windows-MCP

Pod holds 24 of 124 problems reported by people outside the maintainer team. Issues filed by the project's own owners, members and collaborators are excluded entirely — a maintainer's release checklist is not a warning to a prospective user.

Back to [io.github.CursorTouch/Windows-MCP](/mcp/io-github-cursortouch-windows-mcp).

## Most discussed

### Add optional service mode to see and handle UAC prompts (Streamline and empower autonomous agent workflows on Windows)

# Feature Request: Optional Service Mode for UAC / Secure Desktop Support

## Summary

Add an optional installation/run mode where Windows-MCP is hosted by a privileged Windows service running under `LocalSystem`, with a small user-mode broker, so the MCP can see and interact with the **Secure Desktop** (UAC consent prompts) and other elevated UI surfaces. Today, because the server runs as a regular user-mode process, the moment a UAC dialog fires the screenshot tools capture the dimmed wallpape

[Read the thread](https://github.com/CursorTouch/Windows-MCP/issues/236) · 2026-05-12 · open · external user · 10 comments

### Server process dies silently after Windows idle/standby (v3.0.1)

## Description

The Windows-MCP server process (v3.0.1) dies silently after a period of Windows inactivity (Connected Standby / Modern Standby). No error is logged on stderr, no traceback — the process simply exits, causing Claude Desktop to show the extension as "failed".

## Environment

- Windows 11 Enterprise 10.0.26200
- Python 3.13.2
- FastMCP 3.x (latest)
- Claude Desktop (latest)
- Display: 3840x2160
- GPU: AMD RX 580

## Reproduction

1. Start Claude Desktop with Windows-MCP extension i

[Read the thread](https://github.com/CursorTouch/Windows-MCP/issues/163) · 2026-04-01 · closed · external user · 7 comments

### Remote mode fails on Windows ARM64 (win_arm64) — cryptography/cffi build error

Running Windows 11 on ARM64 (Snapdragon). Remote mode is configured correctly 
(Sandbox ID + API Key filled in), but the extension keeps trying to build 
`cryptography` and `cffi` locally, which fails with:

  Unsupported platform: win_arm64

The extension should NOT need local Python builds when running in remote mode. 
Please add ARM64 support or skip local builds entirely when mode is set to "remote".

[Read the thread](https://github.com/CursorTouch/Windows-MCP/issues/122) · 2026-03-24 · closed · external user · 8 comments

### Incorrect click location

Whenever I ask it to click on a particular point, it misses - it clicks below and to the right. Below is a screenshot: I visited excalidraw, drew the black dot, changed the color to red, told it to click the black dot. Then I changed it to blue and told it to try it again. As you can see, red and blue are shifted a little to the right and down significantly.

<img width="1522" height="953" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/ce867cac-15b4-497b-b16f-180368e17ebc" />

[Read the thread](https://github.com/CursorTouch/Windows-MCP/issues/82) · 2026-02-14 · closed · external user · 11 comments

### [Feature Request] Support specify screen when there are multiple screens

It can improves accuracy and reduces token consumption

[Read the thread](https://github.com/CursorTouch/Windows-MCP/issues/77) · 2026-02-13 · closed · outside contributor · 10 comments

### Can't recognize element in sheet.

AI cannot use this tool to correctly identify the content in the sheet, resulting in the inability to correctly click on the elements therein.. Here's an image of the recognition results and a link to the sheet. Is there any way to improve the recognition accuracy? Perhaps Yolo.
sheet link：https://dpflfhyw2a.feishu.cn/wiki/Ry3TwonS7ir6v5kaTaRcvCOCnWG

<img width="1300" height="928" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/dd97e265-f62c-4d56-8cc8-8091a65e542f" />

[Read the thread](https://github.com/CursorTouch/Windows-MCP/issues/29) · 2025-08-17 · open · outside contributor · 7 comments

### Windows 11: State-Tool not working - where can I find logs?

Hi, I was just playing a bit with Claude and Windows-MCP.

I'm using Windows 11, german, nothing special.

State-Tool is constantly not working.
Where can I find logs?

Claude told me to send you this:

"Was Sie melden sollten:
Kritische Bugs in Version 0.1.0:

❌ State-Tool: Persistent 'Taskbar' Error
❌ Launch-Tool: Startet falsche Programme (calculator → autoruns)
❌ MCP-Server Instabilität: Tools verschwinden regelmäßig
❌ Memory Leaks: Windows Event Log Fehler

Ihre Konfiguration:

Windows 11 2

[Read the thread](https://github.com/CursorTouch/Windows-MCP/issues/24) · 2025-08-08 · closed · external user · 21 comments

### Tool use_vision doesn't work

Hi,
I tried using the MCP to test what Claude could do. I wrote a prompt telling Claude to open the browser and download Node.js from the official website, but I encountered an error when he made this request: the MCP returned `Error calling tool "State-Tool": "Taskbar"` when he used the parameter `{use_vision: true}`.

[Read the thread](https://github.com/CursorTouch/Windows-MCP/issues/7) · 2025-07-15 · closed · external user · 22 comments

## Most recent

### Claude Desktop extension directory still ships 0.7.2 - is 0.8.x submitted?

The extension installed through Claude Desktop's directory is version 0.7.2 (manifest `ant.dir.cursortouch.windows-mcp`, downloaded late July 2026), while the latest release here is v0.8.5.

Among other things this means directory users still have the pre-refactor `PowerShellExecutor`, which prepends the registry PATH to the inherited PATH on every shell spawn without deduplication — doubling PATH in spawned shells (~5.4k chars on my machine) and pushing nested npm builds toward the 8,191-char c

[Read the thread](https://github.com/CursorTouch/Windows-MCP/issues/395) · 2026-08-25 · open · external user · 1 comment

### Snapshot tree traversal retries stale UIA elements after UIA_E_ELEMENTNOTAVAILABLE

## Summary

`Snapshot` can fail or time out when a UI Automation element disappears during recursive traversal. In `CachedControlHelper.get_cached_children()`, a `BuildUpdatedCache()` failure falls back immediately to `node.GetChildren()` on the same element. If the element is stale, the fallback raises the same `UIA_E_ELEMENTNOTAVAILABLE` COM error and `tree_traversal()` promotes it into a window-level retry.

Observed HRESULT: `-2147220991` (`0x80040201`, `UIA_E_ELEMENTNOTAVAILABLE`).

Current

[Read the thread](https://github.com/CursorTouch/Windows-MCP/issues/393) · 2026-08-25 · closed · outside contributor · 0 comments

### Server pins a full CPU core after the screen wakes on Windows (asyncio self-pipe dies and the event loop busy-loops)

## Symptom

After the machine has been locked with the display off, moving the mouse to wake the screen makes every `windows-mcp` worker process immediately pin a full CPU core, permanently. Fans spin up and stay up. The process never recovers on its own; killing it is the only remedy (it then respawns clean).

Nothing is written to any log and no exception is raised.

**This is easy to misread as harmless.** Windows Task Manager normalizes per-process CPU across all logical cores, so a process 

[Read the thread](https://github.com/CursorTouch/Windows-MCP/issues/392) · 2026-08-24 · closed · external user · 1 comment

### UIA returns an empty desktop when running as an MCP server (stdio and HTTP), while the identical code sees the desktop when called in-process — native x64, not #301

## Summary

On a native x64 machine, `Snapshot` consistently reports

```
Focused Window:
    No active window found

Opened Windows:
    No windows found

UI Tree:
No elements
```

while, **at the same moment, on the same machine, from the same uv cache archive**, constructing `Desktop()` directly in a normal Python process enumerates the desktop correctly (5 windows, 55–177 interactive nodes).

So the UIA layer itself works. It goes blind specifically when the code runs as an MCP server.

This

[Read the thread](https://github.com/CursorTouch/Windows-MCP/issues/385) · 2026-08-19 · open · external user · 2 comments

### Snapshot/WaitFor tree walk deadlocks Electron host apps (VS Code) → Windows kills the MCP host; need process exclusion + per-window UIA budget

## Summary
`Desktop.get_state()` → `TreeService.get_state()` walks the UI-Automation tree of the active window **and every other top-level window** (`other_windows_handles`). When one of those windows belongs to an Electron app whose main process is also hosting the MCP client (VS Code running Claude Code), the UIA traffic deadlocks that Electron main process. Windows then terminates it as hung (Event Log: `Application Hang` 1002 / WER `AppHangB1` on `Code.exe`), which kills every session in the

[Read the thread](https://github.com/CursorTouch/Windows-MCP/issues/383) · 2026-08-17 · open · external user · 0 comments

### [Bug] Snapshot crashes with UnicodeEncodeError when UI tree contains emoji (surrogate pairs)

## Description
The Snapshot tool (and any tool that serializes the UI Automation tree) crashes with a UnicodeEncodeError when any UI element name/value contains an emoji character. Emoji arrive from Win32 UIA as UTF-16 surrogate pairs (e.g. U+1F437 = \ud83e\udd37), and the JSON serializer chokes on them.

This makes Snapshot completely unusable on any screen with emoji in element names — very common in practice (messaging apps with emoji nicknames, window titles with emoji, etc.).

## Steps to r

[Read the thread](https://github.com/CursorTouch/Windows-MCP/issues/382) · 2026-08-16 · closed · external user · 3 comments

### Startup race on the shared comtypes gen cache kills the server: AttributeError: module 'comtypes.gen.UIAutomationClient' has no attribute 'IUIAutomation'

### Summary

On startup the server can die with:

```
AttributeError: module 'comtypes.gen.UIAutomationClient' has no attribute 'IUIAutomation'
```

The generated comtypes wrapper on disk is **not** corrupt, and nothing needs to be deleted to recover. The failing process imported `comtypes/gen/UIAutomationClient.py` while it was being regenerated by another interpreter running the same entry point. It is a startup race, which is why it is intermittent: the same install ran fine for two days befo

[Read the thread](https://github.com/CursorTouch/Windows-MCP/issues/374) · 2026-08-11 · closed · external user · 0 comments

### App tool cannot launch applications by localized Chinese Start Menu names

## Summary

The `App` tool cannot launch applications by their localized (Chinese) Start Menu names on a Chinese-language Windows system.

## Reproduction

- Windows 11 with display language zh-CN, windows-mcp 0.8.5.
- `App` with name `记事本` (Notepad) -> not found.
- `App` with name `Notepad` -> launches successfully.

Other apps with localized display names behave the same way.

## Expected behavior

`App` should resolve localized Start Menu names, or at least return close matches in the error m

[Read the thread](https://github.com/CursorTouch/Windows-MCP/issues/372) · 2026-08-09 · open · external user · 1 comment

### Screenshot returns undecodable image on VM/RDP desktops after the first capture

## Summary

`Screenshot` becomes unreliable on VM/RDP-hosted interactive desktops after the first successful capture: subsequent calls return an image the MCP client reports as "undecodable image" (empty/invalid bytes), while `Snapshot` and window listing keep working.

## Environment

- Windows 11 VM guest (VMware/VirtualBox) driven through an RDP-hosted interactive session
- Codex Desktop 26.803.5235.0 with windows-mcp 0.8.5 via `uvx windows-mcp serve`
- Python 3.14, screenshot backend `auto` 

[Read the thread](https://github.com/CursorTouch/Windows-MCP/issues/371) · 2026-08-09 · open · external user · 2 comments

### Claude Desktop MSIX launches Windows-MCP from nonexistent non-virtualized path

## Summary

Installing Windows-MCP from Claude Desktop’s Extensions directory on the Microsoft Store/MSIX version results in **“MCP Server Disconnected.”**

The managed extension is installed inside Claude’s MSIX-virtualized application-data directory, but Claude attempts to launch it from a nonexistent conventional `%APPDATA%` path.

## Environment

- Windows
- Claude Desktop MSIX package: `Claude 1.26832.0.0`
- Claude executable: `C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Claude_1.26832.0.0_x64__pzs8sxrjxf

[Read the thread](https://github.com/CursorTouch/Windows-MCP/issues/370) · 2026-08-09 · open · external user · 1 comment

### PowerShell tool spawns a visible console window that steals focus (missing CREATE_NO_WINDOW)

### Description

Every invocation of the `PowerShell` tool briefly opens a visible console window on the host
machine. The window takes keyboard focus, which interrupts whatever the user is typing at that
moment. With an agent session running many shell calls in a row, this makes the machine
effectively unusable for anything else.

### Steps to Reproduce

1. Install Windows-MCP as an extension in Claude Desktop on Windows and let it connect.
2. Start any session that uses the `PowerShell` tool, 

[Read the thread](https://github.com/CursorTouch/Windows-MCP/issues/369) · 2026-08-08 · closed · external user · 2 comments

### manifest.json's `uv run <entrypoint>` launch pattern is hard-blocked by Windows Smart App Control -- no override, no signed alternative shipped

## Preflight Checklist
- [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported.
- [x] This is a single bug report.
- [x] I am using the latest version of the extension (0.7.2, previously reproduced on 0.7.1).

## Environment

- **Platform:** Windows 11 24H2 (x64), Smart App Control **On** (`Get-MpComputerStatus` -> `SmartAppControlState: On`)
- **Host:** Claude Desktop (current at time of each occurrence)
- **Extension:** Windows-MCP, manifest.json `type: python`, `entry_point: src/w

[Read the thread](https://github.com/CursorTouch/Windows-MCP/issues/367) · 2026-08-05 · closed · external user · 1 comment

### Server crashes at startup: corrupted comtypes.gen cache from concurrent generation (race condition)

**Environment**
- Windows 11 Pro (26200), Windows-MCP 3.2.0 as Claude Desktop DXT extension
- CPython 3.13.12 via uv

**Symptom**
Server exits at startup, Claude shows "Server disconnected". Errors vary per run:

```
ImportError: cannot import name 'UIA_AnnotationObjectsPropertyId' from 'comtypes.gen._944DE083_...'
ImportError: cannot import name 'StyleId_Heading7' from 'comtypes.gen._944DE083_...'
AttributeError: module 'comtypes.gen.UIAutomationClient' has no attribute 'IUIAutomation'
```

All

[Read the thread](https://github.com/CursorTouch/Windows-MCP/issues/357) · 2026-07-31 · closed · outside contributor · 1 comment

### Editable build fails with WinError 17 (cross-device move) under MSIX Claude Desktop — recurrence of #225 with a different error signature

## Environment
- OS: Windows 10 Pro (build 19045)
- Claude Desktop: MSIX/Store-packaged build (`Claude_pzs8sxrjxfjjc`), app version 1.24012.9.0
- Windows-MCP extension: 0.7.2
- uv: local install at `~/.local/bin/uv.exe` (not on PATH by default — separate minor issue, see note below)
- Python: 3.13.12 (uv-downloaded interpreter, fresh venv)

## Symptom
Fresh extension activation. First launch fails to resolve `uv` (`spawn uv ENOENT`) because `uv`'s install directory isn't on the PATH Claude Deskt

[Read the thread](https://github.com/CursorTouch/Windows-MCP/issues/356) · 2026-07-31 · open · external user · 1 comment

### PYTHONHOME from uv's own venv leaks into child PowerShell sessions spawned via the PowerShell tool

Environment:

Windows 11
Claude Desktop, Windows-MCP extension (ant.dir.cursortouch.windows-mcp)
Launched via uv --directory ... run windows-mcp

Problem:
The uv-managed Python venv that runs the windows-mcp server itself sets PYTHONHOME to its own interpreter (e.g. %APPDATA%\uv\python\cpython-3.13-windows-x86_64-none). Because Windows child processes inherit their parent's environment by default, this PYTHONHOME leaks into every pwsh.exe session spawned by the PowerShell tool for the end user.

[Read the thread](https://github.com/CursorTouch/Windows-MCP/issues/350) · 2026-07-25 · closed · external user · 2 comments

### Venv breaks on Microsoft Store Python patch updates; pin a uv-managed interpreter instead

# Windows-MCP log excerpts — venv broken by Store Python patch update

Extension: `ant.dir.cursortouch.windows-mcp` (windows-mcp 3.2.0)
Host: Claude Desktop, Windows 11
Interpreter: Microsoft Store Python (PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.13)

All excerpts are verbatim from `mcp-server-Windows-MCP.log`. Ellipses (`[...]`)
mark omitted repetitive lines only.

---

## 1. Baseline: earlier healthy venv rebuilds install the full dependency set

2026-04-14 (interpreter: CPython 3.13.12):

```
Using 

[Read the thread](https://github.com/CursorTouch/Windows-MCP/issues/345) · 2026-07-22 · open · external user · 2 comments

The remaining reports are on [the project's issue tracker](https://github.com/CursorTouch/Windows-MCP/issues).