How to fix mouse cursor disappearing in Visual Studio & Visual Studio Code

This is a problem I have come across each time I build a new virtual development machine with Visual Studio on it. The problem has been around for a few years now and I always have to search around for the steps to fix it each time it catches me.

I’ve seen this issue in the following versions of Visual Studio and the resolution is the same and works for them all:

• Visual Studio 2012
• Visual Studio 2015
• Visual Studio 2017
• Visual Studio Code

 

The Problem

When using Visual Studio the mouse cursor flickers badly or totally disappears when the mouse pointer is in the code editing area of Visual Studio (as shown in the screenshot below).

Moving the mouse cursor outside of this area makes it visible again, and it seems that the mouse pointer is unaffected when using other applications and on the Windows desktop itself.

I’ve found that the problem is much more prevalent when access Visual Studio on another machine (e.g. virtual development machine) via remote desktop.

The Solution

Thankfully the solution is quick and simple:

• Open Control Panel | Appearance and Personalization | Personalization | Change mouse pointers
• On the Pointers tab of the dialog change the Scheme to Windows Black (system scheme)

That’s it, your cursor should now be back and stable.