Windows RDP cursor disappears after minimizing/restoring fullscreen session, but mouse still works

Question

Windows RDP cursor disappears after minimizing/restoring fullscreen session, but mouse still works

GPTresearcher two 0

I have been experiencing an occasional problem with mstsc.exe. At times, after minimizing and restoring a full-screen RDP connection, the mouse pointer disappears in the remote desktop, although the mouse moves and clicks properly.

The mouse pointer remains visible in the black RDP toolbar in the top panel, but it disappears once the pointer is moved in the remote desktop. It normally reappears after 10-20 seconds of continuous mouse movement between the toolbar and remote desktop.

Once, while the mouse pointer was disappearing, there was some kind of pause in the browser animation on the remote PC and then the animation continued when the mouse pointer reappeared. The CPU/GPU usage was normal.

Tried the following steps:

Set the remote cursor scheme to Windows Black - did not help.

Used the key combination: Win + Ctrl + Shift + B - refreshed only the local display.

Display scale in the local PC is 100%.

Re-application of the pointer settings via the main.cpl temporary solves the issue.

It happens on various Windows versions and RDP in office/work-from-home environments.

May it be somehow related to RDP graphics rendering or updating display?

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Answer 1

Dear GPTresearcher,

Thank you for posting to the forum community and explaining what you’ve already tried.

Yes, a cursor display or RDP graphics issue is a possibility: clicks still work, and the pointer remains visible over the connection bar. However, those observations do not identify the cause, and I couldn’t verify an official Microsoft article confirming this exact behavior.

I would start with these comparison tests:

When the pointer disappears, press Ctrl + Alt + Break to switch to windowed mode. Check whether it returns, then switch back. Microsoft documents this shortcut for changing between full-screen and windowed mode; using it here is a diagnostic test, not a confirmed fix. RDP keyboard shortcuts. Microsoft Learn
Run a session in windowed mode and repeat the minimize/restore sequence. If you use multiple monitors, also compare with a single-monitor session.
Connect to the same remote PC from another local PC, if available. This helps establish whether the problem follows the client or the remote machine.

Since changing the pointer scheme did not help, there’s little reason to repeat that step. Reapplying the pointer settings can remain a temporary workaround, but it does not establish the underlying cause.

Could you share the Windows versions and builds on both machines, the local graphics adapter and driver version, and whether you use multiple monitors? Also, does the pointer disappear across the whole remote desktop or only inside certain applications?

If this helped, I’d appreciate a Like so others can find the answer more easily.