Grok Bot Can't Reach Your Computer or Shows a Black Window

The blank window is not one bug

Grok Bot can open to a black window on Windows and Mac, or a white window especially on macOS, after a short setup flash. Forum reports from 20–28 August 2026 cover Grok Bot 0.23 through 0.29. Typical strings include Can't reach your computer right now, Grok Bot couldn't finish setting up, gateway-unreachable: gateway createAgent failed, Reconnecting to your computer…, Setting up Grok Bot's computer, and Creating Grok Bot's computer. Official setup copy also uses Starting your computer and Updating your computer. The setup line can last about two seconds, then the window stays blank with nothing to click, including no Settings.

That screen is not a single root cause. Cursor staff have confirmed separate branches behind the same wording:

• DNS or filtering that cannot resolve `cursorvm.com`, while Grok Bot's main servers still respond.
• A hosted computer that never finished starting, or later stuck after hibernation. Reinstall, cache cleanup, and network changes do not help that branch.
• A related reconnect loop where a corporate proxy buffers streaming, so the app keeps showing Reconnecting to your computer….

Official Grok Bot troubleshooting, checked on 28 August 2026, documents Retry, restart, Recover, Update Agent Computer, and Reset. It does not mention the black or white window, `cursorvm.com`, or DNS, and the troubleshooting page has no last-updated date. Adjacent Cursor enterprise network docs, not Grok Bot troubleshooting, tell organizations to allow `*.cursorvm.com` and `*.*.cursorvm.com` and to exempt SSL inspection.

What "your computer" means

The cloud computer is not the Mac or Windows PC in front of you. Grok Bot FAQ and computer docs assign one persistent cloud computer per account, shared by every Bot. It is a managed Linux virtual machine. The desktop app ships for macOS and Windows, plus iOS. Linux desktop is not supported at launch.

On 21 August 2026, staff member deanrie wrote, of a first-setup failure whose network checks already succeeded:

> On that screen, "your computer" doesn't mean your Mac. It means the cloud computer that Grok Bot spins up on our side, and that machine isn't coming up for your account. The "check your connection" wording is misleading, your network is fine.

That quote is specific to a server-side createAgent failure. It does not cancel later staff diagnoses where the Mac or Windows machine could not reach a healthy computer. On 25 August 2026, deanrie added that switching DNS to `1.1.1.1` or `8.8.8.8` is a valid workaround when ISP DNS returns bad `*.cursorvm.com` records, then warned: "Not every failure like this is DNS related. Some cases are truly server-side, and switching DNS won't help."

Your Bot profiles and saved conversations are not necessarily lost when the computer is temporarily unreachable. If iPhone loads Bots and chats on the same account while desktop stays white or black, staff have treated the computer as healthy and the desktop path as the problem.

Check whether you can reach the cloud computer

Start here because it is cheap and it distinguishes a blocked path from a stuck VM.

Staff diagnostic, from mohitjain on 26 August 2026 for a black window plus Can't reach your computer right now: a reset will not help if the computer is healthy; DNS lookups for `cursorvm.com` can fail even when main servers resolve. Quick checks: open Grok Bot on a phone hotspot; allow `cursorvm.com` and all subdomains; as a test, switch DNS to `1.1.1.1` or `8.8.8.8` and relaunch.

A DNS change has been user-confirmed. On 24 August 2026, simpleshadow reported that switching Wi-Fi DNS from an Xfinity/ISP resolver to Cloudflare `1.1.1.1` let first-setup complete after createAgent / Can't reach your computer right now on Grok Bot 0.24.0. Staff called that a valid workaround, not a universal cause.

Hotspot is a test, not a proof of DNS. Joao reproduced Setting up Grok Bot's computer then a black window on a mobile hotspot as well as the usual network. On 27 August 2026, deanrie said that hosted computer never finished starting, so reinstalling, clearing caches, or switching networks would not change it. saibumoyo-alt reported the same pattern on Windows Grok Bot 0.29.0 on 28 August 2026. Others still had a blank window on 0.28 with `*.cursorvm.com` already confirmed.

If hotspot works, treat it as the network branch. If hotspot and public DNS change nothing, stop retrying DNS and do not Reset just because the window is black.

Use Recover and Update, not Reset first

When controls are visible, follow the official ladder. Keep the app open while Starting your computer or Updating your computer is still changing. If it fails or stops:

1. Retry from the error state. 2. Restart Grok Bot. 3. Check for a Grok Bot app update. That is not a computer update. 4. Choose Recover computer or Recover Agent Computer when offered. 5. If recovery is not available, open Settings → Beta and choose Update Agent Computer. 6. Use Reset Agent Computer only if recovery and update fail and you accept losing recent unsynced work.

Recover Agent Computer and Update Agent Computer preserve durable files and logins. Reset Agent Computer restores the last saved snapshot and can lose recent or unsynced work. Skip Reset when staff have already said the computer is healthy, including mohitjain's 26 August note: "A reset won't help here, and you won't lose any work."

Members can reset from the desktop app. Mobile cannot reset. Organization admins can Kill a member VM from the dashboard; durable storage is kept.

The official ladder can still fail. Lip_H reported Can't reach your computer right now for more than 48 hours after Recover, Reset, reinstall, and tests on Windows and iOS. On 26 August 2026, mohitjain said that was a stuck state on their side, which is why Reset/Recover and reinstalls could not clear it, and rebuilt it for that account.

If Settings never appears

A black or white window can hide Settings → Beta, so you cannot Update or Reset yourself. Do not treat reinstall, deleting app support folders, GPU flags, or killing `local-exec-daemon` as fixes. Staff have said reinstall and cache cleanup do not help the DNS branch or the stuck-VM branch.

If iPhone works or at least shows setup, wait on that screen. Mason reported on 24 August 2026 that after about 30 minutes a blue Recover control appeared on iOS and recovered the computer; Mac had no equivalent button. That wait is community-confirmed, not an official timeout.

Staff have rebuilt computers for named accounts when the UI was black and the hosted VM was stuck, including Matthew_Brown1, Ravi_V, and Josh2 on 24 August 2026. John_Biddle already had browser auth at "All set! Feel free to return to Grok Bot" and still had a white Mac window. A staff rebuild is verified for those named accounts. It is not a user-reproducible step, and later posts in the same threads through 28 August 2026 show other people still blank. You cannot assume every account can self-serve.

Sign-in is a different problem

Use the sign-in steps only if Grok Bot is still waiting on browser auth. Official troubleshooting: keep Grok Bot open while authentication runs in the browser, confirm the Cursor sign-in succeeded, return to the app, and complete organization SSO if that is how the account signs in. Get started (last updated 20 August 2026) uses Sign In with Cursor in the browser, then return to the app. Computer setup runs in the background.

Do not treat a completed sign-in as the cause of a post-setup black or white window.

Verify that you are actually in

Success is not a quieter blank window. After a hotspot, DNS, Recover, Update, or staff rebuild:

• Bots and chats load and you can open a conversation.
• The window is no longer black or white after Setting up Grok Bot's computer or Creating Grok Bot's computer.
• If iPhone already worked, desktop should show the same Bots rather than repeating onboarding.

iPhone working plus a white or black desktop is evidence for the network branch, not for lost data. Staff told kevininbkkth on 27 August 2026: bots and chats were safe, the computer looked fine, and the Mac could not reach it, which is why onboarding and the white screen appeared.

If Recover and Reset both fail, or Settings never appear, you have not verified a local fix. Contact support instead of repeating unverified cleanup.

Related reconnect loops

Reconnecting to your computer… can share the `cursorvm.com` path with the black window, or it can be proxy buffering. On 18 August 2026, staff member kevinn wrote that a proxy buffering streaming responses makes Grok Bot see a silent connection, assume it dropped, and reconnect. Hotspot worked; office Wi-Fi did not. There is no HTTP/1.1 setting to switch in Grok Bot for that case. Ask IT to pass SSE through unbuffered and to exempt SSL inspection, using the adjacent Cursor enterprise domain list. That is not the main first-setup black path.

ian reported Recover completing through Starting, then Reconnecting stuck at 75%. mohitjain said `cursorvm.com` was dropped at the network, the computer was healthy, and further Resets would not help. ian later said hotspot and home still failed, and only the work network worked. Treat that as a path problem, not proof that Reset is next.

Staff also noted a brief 27 August 2026 disruption that showed reconnect screens to many users and said it had been resolved. That is a separate, time-bounded reconnect report, not a current outage claim and not an explanation for every black window.

When to contact support

Contact support or reply in an existing staff thread when hotspot and DNS tests change nothing, Recover and Update fail, or the window stays black or white with no Settings.

Include:

• Grok Bot version
• Operating system and version
• The exact message, such as Can't reach your computer right now, Grok Bot couldn't finish setting up, gateway-unreachable: gateway createAgent failed, or Reconnecting to your computer…
• Approximate time and time zone
• The full request ID or conversation ID if one is shown
• Whether Retry, restart, Recover, Update Agent Computer, Reset, hotspot, or DNS changed the result
• Whether iPhone on the same account works

Do not include passwords, one-time codes, private keys, or secret values.