Make insertion mouse cursor visible in dark Visual Studio editor

Question

I use a color theme with a very dark background, which works great except that VS2010 uses the default insertion point mouse cursor when the mouse is over the editor pane, and that cursor is black — making it nearly impossible to see (literally impossible if the background is actually black as opposed to just very dark).

Is there a straightforward way to tell VS2010 to use a light version of the insertion point mouse cursor instead?

Things I've tried so far:

1. I installed the Visual Studio Color Theme Editor (which enables theming of the rest of the UI, as opposed to just the editor) in hopes that it would do this automatically if I used one of its dark themes, but no such luck.

2. I tried using different mouse pointers in Control Panel, but even though the cursor changed in some cases (for instance, if I picked one of the "very large" schemes), it was still black and so nearly invisible.

Answer 1

Edit: In Windows 10 this setting is in a different place:

1. Open settings
2. Click Personalization
3. Click Themes in the right sidebar
4. Click Mouse Cursor
5. Select the Scheme called – Windows Black (system scheme)
6. Click Apply

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Original Answer:

I have the same problem in Visual Studio 2012 (Dark Theme) on a Windows 7 guest system running inside VirtualBox.

I have found a slightly better solution:

Basically, you can globally change the cursor scheme:

1. Open Control panel
2. Open Appearance and Personalization
3. Open Personalization
4. Finally – click Change mouse pointers.
5. Select the Scheme called – Windows Black (system scheme)

Makes your cursor nicely visible against the dark background while also working great on light backgrounds. Hope that helps!

Credit: http://www.marcusoft.net/2011/08/my-mouse-pointer-disappeared-in-visual.html

Answer 2

My temporary solution is that I'm using a custom "text select" cursor on the system as a whole, which I did by finding one that wasn't too outrageous, and then:

Windows 7 and earlier:

1. Open Control Panel

2. Open the Mouse applet

3. Choose the Pointers tab

4. Select "Text Select" in the list

5. Click the Browse button and choose the cursor file

Windows 8:

1. Click the Start button

2. Type "mouse click" and wait

3. Choose "Change mouse click settings" -- this gets you the old Mouse Properties dialog box

4. Choose the Pointers tab

5. Select "Text Select" in the list

6. Click the Browse button and choose the cursor file

Of course, this changes the cursor globally, not just in VS2010, and so I have to use one that works against both light and dark backgrounds (in my case, for now, the one from the DeepSky set on deviantart — only the text select one, not the full set).

Answer 3

It appears this is still a problem with Visual Studio and Windows 10 in 2021 (I keep updating this every year...). Working off of szalski's and T. J. Crowder's solution, it can be changed in Windows 10:

1. Start button
2. Type "mouse"
3. Choose "Mouse settings" from the results
4. In the Mouse settings window, click on "Additional mouse options" under "Related settings"
5. Choose the Pointers tab in the new window that opens up
6. Select "Text Select" in the list
7. Click the Browse button and choose the cursor you want

As pointed out by Brad Bamford, "beam_r" is a good choice since it looks very similar to the standard pointer, but also has a white outline. I can finally see the cursor in Visual Studio.

Answer 4

You can change the cursor, so you don't mess up the theme you want in Windows.

I made two I Beams that I made available in a github project:

DarkThemeBeam

Use those, if you want.

I hope that's easier and less invasive on your eyes than changing the larger desired theme you want to work in.

Answer 5

1. Press the Windows button or click Start Menu
2. Type : mouse
3. Select: Mouse settings
4. From the Mouse settings window select: Additional mouse options, from the window, right top.
5. Select: Pointers tab from Mouse Properties new window.
6. Now select: Text Select, under customize level.
7. Click the Browse button and choose your desire cursor.

It's working!