Top 7 Ways to Fix Mouse Pointer Disappearing in Google Chrome

Google Chrome is by far the most popular web browser with over 2.65 billion users worldwide. And this is mainly due to the variety of extensions, unique features and constant updates that it offers. But on the other hand, such rapid development can sometimes leave behind some mistakes and problems. One of those issues that many have complained about is the lack of the mouse pointer in Chrome.

If your mouse pointer keeps disappearing every time you switch to a Google Chrome window, you’ve landed on the right page. We will share some troubleshooting methods that should help resolve the issue. So let’s check them out.

1. Restart Chrome

If the mouse cursor has mysteriously disappeared, you can try relaunching Google Chrome to see if that helps. Here’s how.

Step 1: Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to launch the task manager.

2nd step: Under Applications, select Google Chrome and click the End task button.

Alternatively, you can also restart Chrome using the address bar. To do this, press Ctrl + L to go to the address bar at the top, type chrome: // restart, and press Enter.

This should close all the tabs and extensions running on Chrome and give them a fresh start.

2. Disable hardware acceleration

Enabling hardware acceleration on Chrome assigns graphics-intensive tasks to your GPU instead of the CPU to improve visual output and browser performance. You can try turning it off momentarily to see if that brings the mouse pointer back.

Step 1: Launch Google Chrome on your PC. Press Ctrl + L to access the address bar, type chrome: // settings / system and press Enter.

2nd step: Now use the Tab key on your keyboard to navigate to the switch next to “Use hardware acceleration when available” and press Enter to turn it off.

Now restart Chrome and check if the mouse cursor now appears.

3. Check for malware

Another reason that the mouse pointer can keep going missing is malware. PCs infected with viruses usually affect Chrome and cause performance issues. For such occasions, Chrome has its own built-in malware scanner which can detect harmful software, programs, and processes running on your PC.

Open Chrome and press Ctrl + L to go to the address bar at the top. Now type chrome: // settings / cleaning and press Enter. Use the Tab key on your keyboard to access the Search button and press Enter.

Wait for the process to complete and Chrome will let you know if it finds any harmful apps or programs on your PC.

4. Disable tablet mode

If you are using Windows 10, the mouse cursor may also be missing if you accidentally turned on tablet mode. To turn it off, open the Action Center on your PC and turn off the Tablet Mode option.

5. Update the mouse driver

If the mouse pointer is missing entirely from Windows or not working as expected, it could be due to outdated or corrupt mouse drivers on your PC. Follow the steps below on how to update them.

Step 1: Click the Search icon in the taskbar, type Device Manager and click on the first result that appears.

2nd step: Find and expand “Mice and other pointing devices.” Right click on your mouse driver or press Shift + F10 after selecting it to choose Update Driver option.

From there, follow the onscreen instructions to update the WiFi driver for Windows 11.

6. Update Chrome

If you haven’t updated Chrome in a while, the version you are using may be out of date or have bugs that are causing the mouse pointer to be missing. So, you can try to update Chrome to the latest version to get rid of these errors.

To update Google Chrome, press Alt + E to open the three dot menu. Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate to Help> About Google Chrome and press Enter.

Chrome should automatically check for and download new updates, if available. Once updated, relaunch Google Chrome to see if the mouse pointer now appears.

7. Reset or reinstall Chrome

If all else fails, you might consider resetting Chrome to its default settings to resolve the issue. This will purge all extensions, cache, and history on Chrome. Here’s how to do it.

Step 1: Press Ctrl + L to access the address bar in Chrome, type chrome: // settings / reset and press Enter. Use the Tab key to highlight the arrow next to “Restore settings to their original defaults” and press Enter.

2nd step: In the confirmation pop-up window, navigate to Reset Settings and press Enter to confirm.

If you want to do everything, instead of resetting, you can choose to uninstall and reinstall Chrome. This will give you a fresh start and also update Chrome in the process.

The missing piece

So these are some of the best solutions that you could use to fix the mouse pointer issue in Chrome. Whatever the problem, consider familiarizing yourself with these handy keyboard shortcuts for Google Chrome to increase productivity.