This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable the mouse pointer shadow for your account in Windows 10 and Window 11.
The mouse pointer, which is sometimes referred to as the cursor, is a bitmap that specifies a focus point on the screen for user input with the mouse.
You can enable to show shadows under the mouse pointer to help make it stand out better.
The mouse pointer shadow setting is saved to the UserPreferencesMask REG_BINARY value in the key below in Registry Editor.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Contents
- Option One: Turn On or Off Mouse Pointer Shadow in Settings
- Option Two: Enable or Disable Mouse Pointer Shadow in Visual Effects Performance Options
- Option Three: Enable or Disable Mouse Pointer Shadow in Mouse Properties
This option is only available starting with Windows 11 build 26100.4202 (24H2).
1 Open Settings (Win+I).
2 Click/tap on Accessibility on the left side, and click/tap on Mouse pointer and touch on the right side. (see screenshot below)
3 Turn on or off (default) Enable Mouse pointer shadow for what you want. (see screenshot below)
4 You can now close Settings if you like.
1 Open Visual Effects Performance Options (SystemPropertiesPerformance.exe).
2 Check (enable) or uncheck (disable - default) Show shadows under mouse pointer for what you want. (see screenshot below)
3 Click/tap on OK.
1 Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click/tap on the Mouse icon.
2 Click/tap on the Pointers tab. (see screenshot below)
3 Check (enable) or uncheck (disable - default) Enable pointer shadow for what you want. (see screenshot below)
4 Click/tap on OK.
5 You can now close the Control Panel if you like.
That's it,
Shawn Brink
Last edited:
