Mouse Icon Distorted on Secondary Display

Question

I have a strange issue with a dual monitor, extended desktop setup where the mouse is always fine on the primary monitor, but sometimes when I move to the secondary display the icon becomes garbled and distorted (sometimes it just looks like a vertical line, instead of a pointer). If I move the mouse back and forth rapidly between primary and secondary displays the level of "garbledness" of the icon will change and sometimes go away completely. If I switch the display settings and set it to "Duplicate Monitor 1" then I end up with a garbled icon on the primary display and an accurate one on the secondary. Very annoying.

Computer is Windows 7 Ultimate with an HD5780 and the newest video drivers. Monitors are two Dell 24" displays connected via DVI cables. I have also tried VGA cables.

Answer 1

The problem is unfortunately an old bug with ATI cards under some multi-monitor setups that is being reported since at least 2009. I experienced it with an HD 4770. It was particularly recurring when I would host a virtual machine in fullscreen mode on my secondary monitor. But would also happen without it when I moved between screens. Just not so often.

There's no known fix at this time, Nathan. There's however a workaround:

If you enable mouse pointer trails, the corruption will go away.

1. In your Windows 7 go to Control Panel -> Mouse -> Pointer Options Tab
2. Enable Pointer Trails.
3. If you don't like the effect, move the slider all the way to the left. This will make the trailing effect all but disappear.

That's it. The mouse corruption will "not" happen again. The constant redrawing of the mouse trails is effectively hiding the bug from view.

Answer 2

I'll add my workaround to the mix here, since they all suck a little. I've fixed the problem each time by moving the mouse to the top-right or bottom-right corner of the screen. I think by getting the mouse completely off screen, it's forcing the problem to resolve itself.

I'm using Windows 8.1 and have an AMD 7870.

Answer 3

I had this problem, too, my mouse pointer sometimes looked very trashy, like I have serious memory or display driver problems. Windows 7, dual screen, Vmware, integrated Intel display adapter, HP desktop PC. I don't think this problem is connected to any specific hardware component. The problem is with Windows and VMware, but I believe it's only in dual screen mode. Hardware doesn't matter.

My solution: Control Panel / Change how the mouse pointer looks = Mouse Properties then go to Pointer Options tab, check Display pointer trails. This is going to make the movement of your mouse pointer crazy I know, but now slide to the trail delay to the shortest. (slide it to the left)

After setting the above options my mouse pointer started to behave normally, and the the cursor distortion has gone forever! (After two PCs and two weeks I am almost sure actually) (After applying these new settings perhaps you will need to change the pointer look once)

Answer 4

Workaround: Try to enable pointer shadow (apply settings), and then disable it (apply settings). The mouse pointer should be fixed.

Answer 5

Here is another solution that hasn't been stated and is a bit better than setting mouse trails, etc.

On the host computer, create a text file called config.ini in the "C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware Workstation" folder. If this folder does not exist, create it.

Add the following line to the file:

mks.noHostCursor= "True"

Save the file and relaunch your VM. The mouse should be back to normal.

Answer 6

I was able to immediately remove the corruption by opening my desktop -> screen resolution control panel and adjusting my side monitor's position, accepting changes, then moving it back to where it was and saving changes again. The process of recycling the display shook the garble off the cursor for me.

Answer 7

Having had the same issue with AMD FX-8350 / CLUB 3D RADEON HD 7870 ROYAL KING. The cursor will randomly become distorted on 2nd display. The only workaround I have found, apart from the mouse trail one, is:

Create Monitor Group in Catalyst (you now have ''1 monitor'' with an effective res. of 3840x1080) (if u use full HDs) and keep Vert. Sync on. Problem gone.

Answer 8

If you are using Virtual Desktop Interface (VDI) take the following step: Power-off the VDI-router box, count to five, and power it on again. The pointers on both primary and secondary monitors return to their normal arrow shape. (FYI: Restarting your VDI-session will not help; the text-select or garbled pointer will persist; you need to power-off/on the physical box; you will of course be required to log back in to the VDI).

Answer 9

I was getting this problem with a new NVIDIA GTX 1080. It went away when I turned of cursor shadow, and came back when I turned on cursor shadow.

Answer 10

I've run into this issue lately with my ATI HD6800 series on Windows 10 randomly.

💡 Here's my fix when this happens. Right-click on the desktop and select "Display settings", when the window loads scroll down to "Multiple displays" and switch this to "Duplicate these displays". Then select "Keep changes", now the mouse should reload.

Now change back the settings from "Duplicate these displays" to "Extend these displays" and once again select "Keep changes".

And it should be fixed. The only thing left to do after this is to move back the applications onto the other screen. As all applications will be moved onto one display.