No Cursor movement, Mouse Cursor moves erratically or slowly on Windows 11/10

Problems in mouse cursor movement on your Windows 11/10/8/7 computer can be a big nuisance. If the cursor on your device is moving erratically, very slowly or not at all, it may mean that your touchpad isn’t working as it should, and you need to fix the faulty touchpad or troubleshoot and resolve the issue that’s causing the problem.

Sometimes the problem may require only general fixes. This happens when you forget to take certain necessary steps or precautions. For example, if the cursor isn’t working, you might want to check whether the Touchpad has actually been turned on for your device. Similarly, ensuring that the touchpad or your fingers are free from dirt, grease, and liquids is equally important.

However, quite often, issues with your touchpad require further interventions. The same has been listed in this post according to the specific problems faced.

No cursor movement on Windows 11/10

If your mouse cursor or pointer does not move at all, after checking if you need to update its Driver, check if you have inadvertently turned off the Touchpad. Next, follow these suggestions.

1] Close all programs on your device and save data before turning your system off. To turn off your computer, press the power button and hold it for at least 15 seconds. Remove all the external devices including keyboards, speakers, mouse, printers and USB devices.

2] Turn on the computer and test the cursor. If it starts working properly, start attaching the external devices one at a time and see if the cursor is still working fine. This will help you establish which device caused the problem. Further, make sure that you have the latest version of BIOS.

3] It is worth noting that the added gesture features that some devices with keyboards come with can also be the reason behind the issue. These features are usually turned on by default. You might have to disable or modify their settings in the touchpad driver properties. To do so, follow the steps given below for Windows 10/8.1.

Press Win+Q, type main.cpl in the search box and the click main.cpl in the search results.

Select the Touchpad tab. The name of the tab is different for different brands, but it is usually the last tab. In the image, it shows Device Settings with the Synaptics logo, but some of you may see a Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Center tab.

Click open the pointing device settings and check if you need to change any settings here. Reset settings & defaults if you see that option and Save the changes.

Close the pointing device setting box and click OK on the Mouse Properties window to close it.

In Windows 11/10 now, you can also open Settings > Devices > Touchpad and click on the Reset button under Reset your Touchpad.

Read: Cursor is not responding in a specific area of the screen

Mouse cursor or pointer moving slow

If your mouse cursor is moving slowly, ensure that the latest driver is installed. You may then want to change the touchpad settings and adjust the speed of the pointer. To do so follow the first four steps in Step number 3 given for Situation 1.

Click on Sensitivity and move the slider under Pointer Speed to adjust the same. Make sure to Save it, close the touchpad utility and click OK on the Mouse Properties window.

Finally, turn off your computer and unplug all external devices. Turn it on and test the cursor movement. If it starts working properly, start attaching the external devices one-by-one, testing the cursor movement alongside.

Windows 11/10 users may use this method to change the mouse scroll speed.

Erratic movement of the cursor while typing

If the Mouse Cursor moves erratically follow the first four steps to open Mouse Properties. Click on

Here, click on Sensitivity and ensure that there is a checkmark in the Turn On box to the right of Touch Guard.

Next, shift the circle under Touch Guard to the extreme right and click on Save.

Finally, close the touchpad utility and click OK on the Mouse Properties window.

Disabling the Touchpad has been known to resolve the mouse jumping issue for some. See if this helps you.

This post offers further tips if your Cursor jumps or moves randomly while typing.

If nothing helps, you may have to start the start computer in Clean Boot State and see if the problem persists. If it does, then maybe some program is interfering with the normal functioning of the mouse. You will have to try and identify the probable cause.

Read: How to perform Mouse Latency Test in Windows.

Hope something helps!