How to change your mouse cursor in Windows

The next few sections will cover how to change your mouse cursor away from the default in Windows 10.

Step 1: Click on the Search box located in the taskbar.

Step 2: Type in “mouse.”

Step 3: Select Change your mouse settings from the resulting list of options to open the primary mouse settings menu.

Step 4: Select Additional mouse options.

Step 5: You’ll then be able to look through cursor schemes. These are collections of static and animated images that completely replace the default “arrow” cursor and its associated tools. Most of them are boring but functional, and they take on the regular Windows look.

Step 6: In the Mouse properties window that appears, select the Pointers tab. The first option there is Scheme, and it’s all that most users will need.

Step 7: Click the Scheme drop-down menu, and you’ll see roughly a dozen different cursor schemes.

Once you found a scheme following the steps above, you can change it. Here’s how.

Step 1: Click on any of the schemes to see a preview of the applicable cursors. You can move back and forth between them to compare the color and size. The inverted schemes are especially useful for those who have a hard time seeing the standard white cursor.

Step 2: When you’ve found one that looks good to you, click Apply.

Step 3: Click OK to implement the changes.

Step 4: Return to the Mouse properties menu for any additional changes in the future.

Step 5: The Enable pointer shadow option adds a cosmetic shadow to the cursor — it’s interesting, but not all that useful.

You can also browse a full list of extra cursors for more choices if you really want to customize your options.

Step 1: Navigate to the Mouse properties window as we did earlier.

Step 2: Select the Pointers tab.

Step 3: To select a custom cursor for the highlighted individual icon, click Browse.

Step 4: That will open the default cursors folder, where hundreds of different cursor options are available.

Step 5: Click one that matches the function (not the scheme) of the current cursor.

Step 6: Click Open to apply it to the current scheme.

Step 7: You can repeat step 2 as many times as it takes to get the desired result or click Use default to return to the standard cursor for the scheme in question. (Just be aware that “default” may not always mean the original cursor for that scheme, and it may be better to just hit Cancel instead if what you want is to return to the original cursor for a given scheme.)

Step 8: Repeat the process with any other individual cursors you’d like to change.

Step 9: Click Apply.

Step 10: Click OK to activate them.

If you are more interested in changing your cursor for accessibility reasons, you can quickly adjust the size or color without needing to mess around with different schemes or designs.

Step 1: In the Windows search box, search for “ease of access” and select Ease of access mouse settings from the resulting list.

Step 2: In the left-side menu, select Mouse pointer.

Step 3: Under Change pointer size, you can adjust the bar to a size that works best for you. Under Change pointer color, you can select from several basic color options to make the cursor more visible: White, black, inverted, or custom. With custom, you can choose from either a set of seven suggested colors or pick a custom color of your own.

Step 4: You can also adjust the appearance of your text cursor. Select Text cursor from the left side of the Ease of access section of the Settings app.

Step 5: Here, you can change the color of your text cursor and even the thickness of it.

If you’re on the newer version of Windows, which is Windows 11, then we have some good news. Microsoft hasn’t changed the way of tweaking your mouse cursor. It is exactly the same as it is in Windows 10. You just need to follow these steps to get to the settings for it.

Step 1: Open the Start menu and type “mouse.”

Step 2: Click Mouse settings.

Step 3: Scroll down in the settings app and click on Additional mouse settings.

Step 4: Visit the Pointers Pointer options, Browser, and Scheme settings as we described above, and tweak as you see fit. You also can get to the mouse pointer options by clicking Mouse pointer.

The next few sections will cover how to change your mouse cursor away from the default in Windows 10.

Step 1: Click on the Search box located in the taskbar.

Step 2: Type in “mouse.”

Step 3: Select Change your mouse settings from the resulting list of options to open the primary mouse settings menu.

Step 4: Select Additional mouse options.

Step 5: You’ll then be able to look through cursor schemes. These are collections of static and animated images that completely replace the default “arrow” cursor and its associated tools. Most of them are boring but functional, and they take on the regular Windows look.

Step 6: In the Mouse properties window that appears, select the Pointers tab. The first option there is Scheme, and it’s all that most users will need.

Step 7: Click the Scheme drop-down menu, and you’ll see roughly a dozen different cursor schemes.

Once you found a scheme following the steps above, you can change it. Here’s how.

Step 1: Click on any of the schemes to see a preview of the applicable cursors. You can move back and forth between them to compare the color and size. The inverted schemes are especially useful for those who have a hard time seeing the standard white cursor.

Step 2: When you’ve found one that looks good to you, click Apply.

Step 3: Click OK to implement the changes.

Step 4: Return to the Mouse properties menu for any additional changes in the future.

Step 5: The Enable pointer shadow option adds a cosmetic shadow to the cursor — it’s interesting, but not all that useful.

You can also browse a full list of extra cursors for more choices if you really want to customize your options.

Step 1: Navigate to the Mouse properties window as we did earlier.

Step 2: Select the Pointers tab.

Step 3: To select a custom cursor for the highlighted individual icon, click Browse.

Step 4: That will open the default cursors folder, where hundreds of different cursor options are available.

Step 5: Click one that matches the function (not the scheme) of the current cursor.

Step 6: Click Open to apply it to the current scheme.

Step 7: You can repeat step 2 as many times as it takes to get the desired result or click Use default to return to the standard cursor for the scheme in question. (Just be aware that “default” may not always mean the original cursor for that scheme, and it may be better to just hit Cancel instead if what you want is to return to the original cursor for a given scheme.)

Step 8: Repeat the process with any other individual cursors you’d like to change.

Step 9: Click Apply.

Step 10: Click OK to activate them.

If you are more interested in changing your cursor for accessibility reasons, you can quickly adjust the size or color without needing to mess around with different schemes or designs.

Step 1: In the Windows search box, search for “ease of access” and select Ease of access mouse settings from the resulting list.

Step 2: In the left-side menu, select Mouse pointer.

Step 3: Under Change pointer size, you can adjust the bar to a size that works best for you. Under Change pointer color, you can select from several basic color options to make the cursor more visible: White, black, inverted, or custom. With custom, you can choose from either a set of seven suggested colors or pick a custom color of your own.

Step 4: You can also adjust the appearance of your text cursor. Select Text cursor from the left side of the Ease of access section of the Settings app.

Step 5: Here, you can change the color of your text cursor and even the thickness of it.

If you’re on the newer version of Windows, which is Windows 11, then we have some good news. Microsoft hasn’t changed the way of tweaking your mouse cursor. It is exactly the same as it is in Windows 10. You just need to follow these steps to get to the settings for it.

Step 1: Open the Start menu and type “mouse.”

Step 2: Click Mouse settings.

Step 3: Scroll down in the settings app and click on Additional mouse settings.

Step 4: Visit the Pointers Pointer options, Browser, and Scheme settings as we described above, and tweak as you see fit. You also can get to the mouse pointer options by clicking Mouse pointer.