Paste the mouse cursor into the dark editor of Visual Studio

Question

I use a color theme with a very dark background, which works fine, except that VS2010 uses the mouse cursor for the default entry point when the mouse is over the editor area, and this cursor is black - which is almost impossible to see (literally impossible if the background is really black, not very dark).

Is there an easy way to tell VS2010 to use the light version of the insert mouse cursor?

Things I've tried so far:

• I installed Visual Studio Color Theme Editor (which allows you to customize the rest of the user interface, not just the editor) in the hope that he would do it automatically if he used one of the dark themes, but did not have such luck.

• I tried to use different mouse pointers in the control panel, but even if in some cases the cursor changed (for example, if I selected one of the "very large" schemes), it was still black and almost invisible.

Answer 1

My temporary solution is that I use a custom “text select” cursor in the system as a whole, which I did by finding one that was not too outrageous, and then:

Windows 7 and earlier:

• Open control panel

• Open the mouse applet.

• Select the Pointers tab

• Select "Select Text" from the list.

• Click the browse button and select the cursor file

Windows 8:

• Click the start button

• Enter "click" and wait

• Select “Modify Mouse Settings” - this gives you the old Mouse Properties dialog box.

• Select the Pointers tab

• Select "Select Text" from the list.

• Click the browse button and select the cursor file

Of course, this changes the cursor globally, and not just in VS2010, and therefore I have to use one that works on both light and dark background (in my case, at the moment, one of the DeepSky Set on deviantart - only the text selects one, not a complete set).

Answer 2

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

I found a slightly better solution:

Basically, you can globally change the cursor layout:

• Open control panel
• Open look and personalization
• Open personalization
• Finally - click Change mouse pointers.
• Select a scheme - Windows Black (system diagram)

Makes your cursor clearly visible on a dark background, and also works great on light backgrounds. Hope this helps!

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

Answer 3

It seems like this is still a problem with Visual Studio and Windows 10 in 2019 (I keep updating this every year ...). Having worked out the solution of Szalsky and T.J. Crowder , it can be changed in Windows 10 :

1. Start button
2. Type of mouse
3. Select "Mouse Settings" from the results
4. In the mouse settings window, click "Advanced mouse settings" in the "Related Settings" section.
5. Select the Pointers tab in the new window that opens
6. Select "Select Text" from the list.
7. Press the "Browse" button and select the desired cursor

As Brad Bamford noted, “beam_r” is a good choice as it is 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 as not to spoil the theme you want in Windows.

I made two I beams, which I made in the github project:

Darkthemebeam

Use those if you want.

I hope this is easier and less invasive for your eyes than changing a larger desired topic in which you want to work.