Ubuntu 18.04 invisible mouse

18.04 mouse mouse-pointer pointers

9,864

Solution 1

On my system it was due to a broken upgrade,

Open the terminal with crtl-alt-t and run sudo dpkg --configure -a let it run until it stops; and then update with sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade and reboot (sudo reboot if you can't use the gui to do that).

My cursor was back again.

dpkg with the --configure -a flags set will tell dkpg to configure any packages that have been unpacked but not configured.

apt update checks available repositories for any available upgrades, and apt upgrade tells apt to upgrade any packages that need it.

Solution 2

This worked for me (apparently default mode is "touchscreen mode"):

gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.cursor active false

9,864

tinlyx

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

tinlyx over 1 year

I had Ubuntu 16.04 and suddenly I couldn't log in anymore. Each time I would try to log in, the screen went black and ask again for my password. I was stuck in a login loop. I updated to Ubuntu 18.04 and it fixed my problem, but now the mouse cursor is invisible. I can still click things, except I can't see the cursor.

I use Ubuntu with Parallels in my MacOs High Sierra.
- Admin about 5 years
  
  I found this worked for me if someone wants to convert it to a full answer: forum.antergos.com/topic/4375/…
- Admin over 4 years
  
  The above comment's solution works for me too. Thanks.
matanster almost 4 years

Care to elaborate what version upgrade, and why this command came to the rescue?
Henry over 3 years

This works for me but my situation is a little different: the cursor disappears after I install a new desktop environment (still 16.04).
Amanda over 3 years

This also worked for me. I upgraded my Thinkpad X1 from 18.04 (mouse was fine) to 20.04 and my trackpad/mouse disappeared but the touchscreen was still working. I did have to restart to see this change however.
Amanda over 3 years

Added an explanation of what each command does. In general, we probably shouldn't encourage readers to run arbitrary sudo commands. I always try to expand on the function of each command, so that people don't get used to the idea that it's safe or reasonable to "just run this" without understanding it.