If your custom mouse cursor keeps reverting to the plain white Windows pointer, or your cursor animations suddenly stop working after installing a Windows update, you’re not imagining it. Microsoft has received a wave of reports about mouse personalization settings being lost or reset, and the timing lines up with a specific update: KB5120998, released August 27, 2026.
What’s Actually Happening
According to Microsoft’s own release-health advisory, KB5120998 (which moves affected devices to OS Build 26100.9278) is linked to reports of high-DPI mouse cursors being replaced with larger, plain white cursors, and custom cursor animations reverting to the Windows default. People who’ve tried to manually restore their previous cursor scheme say the fix doesn’t stick — the settings revert again, sometimes within the same session.
The issue affects both Windows 11, version 25H2 and version 24H2. As of this writing, Microsoft has classified it as “Reported,” not confirmed — meaning the company is still investigating whether the bug originates from the update itself, and hasn’t said what’s actually causing it or when a fix is coming.
Why This Happens (and Why It’s Different From a Normal Settings Glitch)
Cursor personalization in Windows is stored per user profile, tied to a scheme file and a set of registry values under Control PanelCursors. A normal, one-off glitch usually means one of those values got corrupted, and reapplying the scheme fixes it for good. What’s being reported here is different: users who reapply their cursor scheme find it reverts again on its own, which points to something in the update itself repeatedly overwriting those values — not a one-time corruption you can permanently patch around on your end.
What You Can Try Right Now
There’s no confirmed fix yet, but these steps have worked temporarily for some people:
- Go to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Mouse > Additional mouse settings, open the Pointers tab, and reselect your cursor scheme (or switch to “Windows Default” and then back to your custom one).
- If you use a custom cursor pack from Settings > Personalization > Themes > Mouse cursor, try removing it and reapplying it after a restart.
- Check for a newer cumulative update under Settings > Windows Update — if Microsoft ships a fix, it will most likely arrive this way rather than as a standalone patch.
Treat these as temporary workarounds, not fixes. Several users report the problem returning after a reboot or the next time Windows applies a background update.
What Not to Do
Don’t reinstall your mouse drivers or run a full system reset expecting this to help — this isn’t a driver problem, and the affected component is Windows’ own cursor personalization system, not the hardware or its drivers. Uninstalling KB5120998 will likely resolve it, but that also removes whatever security and stability fixes shipped in the same update, so it’s worth weighing against just living with the visual annoyance until Microsoft patches it properly.
If You Use Third-Party Cursor Software
If you’re running third-party cursor customization tools rather than Windows’ native theme cursors, reports suggest the symptoms can look slightly different — sometimes only the animation resets while the cursor shape itself stays intact, or vice versa. If that’s your setup, check whether the third-party tool has its own re-apply or “restore” option before assuming it’s the same bug; a few cases turned out to be the third-party app failing to restart correctly after the update, not the Windows bug itself.
What to Expect Next
Microsoft is asking affected users to file a report through the Feedback Hub (press Windows key + F) to help with the investigation. Given the “Reported” status is only a day or two old as of this writing, a real fix is more likely to land in a future cumulative update than as something you can trigger yourself. If you’ve also run into game crashes or black screens after a recent Windows update, or your Windows Hello PIN stopped working after an update, those are separate, unrelated bugs — this Windows update season has produced more than one issue at once.
FAQ
What’s causing the Windows 11 mouse cursor reset bug?
Microsoft has tied it to KB5120998, released August 27, 2026 (OS Build 26100.9278), which is causing custom cursors and cursor animations to intermittently revert to the Windows default. The exact root cause hasn’t been confirmed yet.
Is there a permanent fix?
Not yet. Microsoft lists the issue as “Reported” and is still investigating. Reapplying your cursor scheme through Settings works temporarily for some users, but the problem has been known to return.
Which Windows versions are affected?
Windows 11, version 25H2 and version 24H2, on devices that installed KB5120998 or later.
Should I uninstall KB5120998 to fix it?
You can, and it will likely resolve the cursor issue, but doing so also removes any security and stability fixes bundled in that update. Consider it only if the visual bug is genuinely disruptive to your workflow.