Quite often, in all kinds of forums devoted to operating systems of the Windows family, one can encounter complaints from users that the mouse cursor disappeared in Windows 10, and quite unexpectedly and for no apparent reason. Let's try to figure out why this happens and discuss what actions can be taken to restore the device and display the pointer on the monitor screen.
Missing mouse cursor in Windows 10 on laptop: what to do first?
Let's start with the most commonplace situations and the simplest methods to get out of this situation. We presume that up to a certain point everything was fine, but then the mouse cursor in Windows 10 disappeared. What could happen? In most cases, oddly enough this sounds, users completely ignore the presence of possible mechanical damage to the pointing device, connector or USB port to which it is connected. Despite the fact that the cursor on the laptop should be displayed even without a connected mouse, sometimes you can come across situations where, for example, a wireless mouse module that works via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth is connected, but the cursor turns out to be hidden just because the port is inoperative or even if you disconnect the mouse itself.
You can check for a pointer on the screen by moving your finger across the touchpad. If movement is present, it is the pointing device itself.
It often happens that the mouse cursor in Windows 10 disappeared at the moment when the projection of the screen on the laptop, for example, on a television panel or on a second monitor, is turned on.
In the case of mice equipped with a scroll wheel, this can indeed be observed, and to activate the pointer on this wheel you just need to click (sometimes it’s enough to just move the mouse over the surface on which it is located).
Sometimes a similar phenomenon can be observed in case of overheating of the graphic adapter, therefore it is advisable to immediately check the video card for increased temperature using specially developed applications for this, such as AIDA64 or GPU-Z.
Actually, penetration of viruses into the system cannot be ruled out either, since some of their varieties may cause the cursor to disappear from the screen, twitch it, or even spontaneously move around the workspace. Accordingly, it is necessary to check the system for viruses, but portable scanners are best used for such purposes.
Turn on the keyboard pointer
Another completely banal reason that the mouse cursor disappeared in Windows 10 is that the user himself could unintentionally disable its display on the screen. Some laptop models have this feature. To re-enable the pointer, it may be necessary to use a combination of the Fn key with another button that has an image of a mouse or cursor (most often it is a key with the English letter “T”).
Change pointer options
Incorrectly set pointer display settings, which could be changed by the user himself, can also lead to the appearance of such situations.
For troubleshooting it is best to use the appropriate section for setting mouse parameters in the Control Panel, go to the pointer settings tab and completely disable the display of the pointer trace when moving the manipulator. Often, it is this action that allows you to restore the visibility of the cursor on the screen.
Missing mouse cursor in Windows 10: what to do with updates and drivers?
However, one can also encounter situations where the cursor disappears after installing system updates. most likely, the packages installed automatically do not contain updates for the drivers of the mouse itself or for USB controllers, which are responsible for the full functionality of the ports. Most often, this can be observed in cases when some specific gaming mouse is connected to a computer or laptop, for which the system driver cannot really update or install automatically. In this case, the best solution would be to download the necessary updated software from the manufacturer’s resource with its subsequent installation.
To find the most appropriate driver, you can use the information on the hardware ID, which are located in the “Device Manager”. To simplify the search and installation of drivers, it is also advisable to use automated programs like Driver Booster or similar utilities.
If the matter is in the installed update packages, which could also be incomplete and provoke a hardware conflict, they should be removed one by one. Having identified a failed package, it should be included in the list of exceptions for mandatory installation when specifying a repeated search for updates in manual mode.
If necessary, you can use the update hiding utility developed by Microsoft, which greatly simplifies the matter.
Checking system files and restoring system health
Finally, let's assume that the mouse cursor disappeared in Windows 10, but none of the proposed methods could fix the situation. In this case, the best solution would be to check the system files and components with the sfc / scannow command through a command line run as administrator.
If the system reports that no problems were found (or could not be fixed), it makes sense to use the system recovery tool using the combination shown above, which is also entered on the command line.
Finally, if this does not lead to anything, use the registry key located on the path indicated in the image above, reset its value, and then perform a full restart of the system.