Fix Cursor Won't Move on your Laptop [Quick Guide

A cursor is the projector of the mouse that appears on the screen. Whenever you write something on Notepad, Word, Excel and others, it blinks and allows you to enter texts, numbers, symbols and special characters. The situation can get critical when the cursor won’t move. It’s obvious that the mouse pointer will not move as well and hence you will not be able to do anything on your computer.

Troubleshoot the issue as soon as possible. A few people have suggested that the restart with the help of the keyboard will work. You have to press the ESC key a couple of times. After that, press Alt+f4 and select Restart from the drop-down menu. If the issue is still there, you have to opt for expert solutions.

The Symptoms

The mouse pointer freezes permanently, the cursor freezes after an interval of 2 to 3 seconds, the cursor freezes while typing any texts. Suddenly, the cursor can disappear, jump around and not show at all.

The Cursor won’t move – Why?

Of course, there are some reasons behind it. The presence of malware on your computer can be a prominent reason. Some other reasons are – mouse sensor issues, outdated system software, faulty hardware, and many more. So, let’s head to the solutions to fix the issue.

The Effective Solutions

Before heading on to the solutions, ensure that all the USB ports are working properly. Most people use an additional USB mouse for convenience.

Solution 1: Find out the Cursor Switch

Lenovo laptops have a cursor switch dedicated to the keyboard. This switch can help when the cursor won’t move. It looks like a touchpad icon with a vertical line in the middle. When you find the key, instantly press the key and check whether the cursor is moving or not. If it moves, then you are good to go. But, if not, then you have to move forward to the next solutions as mentioned below.

Solution 2: Try the Two Finger Scroll

The touchpad’s two-finger scrolling is a special feature, and every laptop has it. So, Lenovo is not an exception. At the edge of the touchpad, place your two fingers and drag downwards. Now, check whether the mouse pointer is showing a circle or not. If the circle doesn’t show up on the first attempt, try it a couple of times. Hopefully, this will work.

Solution 3: Changes in Mouse System Settings

If you are using Windows 10 and the cursor won’t move, certain mouse settings changes will help. Navigate to the Settings and choose Devices and Printers. You will find the Mouse option. At first, you will witness several tabs. Click on Pointer Options and untick the “hide pointer while typing” option. Click on Apply, and then on OK.

Solution 4: Get all the New Version of Drivers

It seems that the mouse driver is outdated or corrupted due to obvious reasons; thus, the cursor won’t move. Go to the Lenovo support page. If you are using any other PC of a different manufacturer, visit the desired support page. Download all the driver setup files and store them in a folder for future preferences.

Install all the setup files one by one to re-write the previous drivers. Restart the computer to save the changes. You can navigate to the Device Manager and find all the driver adapters. Right-click on each adapter and update them; this is the manual process.

Solution 5: Troubleshoot the System

The built-in troubleshooter can resolve any issue regarding hardware and software. So, the “cursor won’t move” error is not an exception. Navigate to the Settings or Control Panel, and you will find the option “Troubleshooting”. Run the System Troubleshooter and wait. Hopefully, it will fix the error. After the process is complete, you will see the results at the end of the window.

Format and Restore your System

If all the above solutions fail, the last attempt is to format and then restore the system. This process will delete all the settings and the OS files in the system drive. Always be ready with a bootable storage device. Insert it into your system and restart. The BIOS will load all the necessary files. After that, follow all the instructions on the screen. Select the system drive and format. Click on the Proceed button and wait for the installation to begin.

Depending on the configuration of your laptop, the elapsed time for installation will depend. Hopefully, you have saved the drivers in a separate folder. Install those drivers and hover your finger over the touchpad when the system is ready. If the error doesn’t occur, the external mouse will also work well.