How to change your cursor on Windows 11

1. Size and color: Windows Settings

1. Open Settings > Accessibility > Mouse pointer and touch.
2. Under Mouse pointer style, pick white, black, inverted or Custom, then choose any color.
3. Drag the Size slider to make the pointer bigger.

It's quick and built in, but every cursor keeps the standard Windows shapes, and nothing animates.

2. Custom cursor files: Mouse Properties

Cursor sets come as .cur (still) and .ani (animated) files.

1. Open Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Mouse > Additional mouse settings, then the Pointers tab.
2. Pick an item, such as Normal Select or Busy, click Browse… and choose a .cur or .ani file. Repeat for each item you want to change (Windows has 17).
3. Click Save As… to keep the set as a scheme. Use Default puts a single item back.

If a pack includes an Install.inf file, right-click it in File Explorer (on Windows 11, choose Show more options) and select Install, then pick the new scheme in the Pointers tab.

Stay safe: a cursor set should only contain .cur, .ani and maybe an .inf file. Be wary of cursor downloads that ask you to run an .exe from a site you don't know. Note your current scheme first, so you can switch back.

3. Animated packs in one click: Solace Cursors

Disclosure: Solace Cursors is our product. SolaceSoftware makes and sells it.

Solace Cursors changes the whole set at once and puts yours back just as fast. Per its product page:

• 6 original packs: Solace Glow, Neon Arcade, Pixel Pop, Kawaii Paw, Midnight and Spooky. Spooky has bone-cream cursors, a broom pen and a jack-o'-lantern busy cursor that wobbles while two bats circle it.
• All 17 Windows cursors change together: arrow, text beam, link hand, resize arrows and more. The busy and working cursors are animated.
• A size slider from 32 to 128 px, handy on big or high-resolution screens.
• Optional click sparkles and a cursor trail that step aside when a full-screen game or video is in front.
• One-click undo: your own cursors are saved before the first change. Restore my cursors, or uninstalling, brings them back.
• No admin rights, no account, no telemetry and no update check. It changes only your Windows user; the Re-download from your receipt button opens our purchase terms in your browser.

Limits, stated plainly: some games draw their own cursor, and those aren't changed. Applied cursors stay after you close the app, but the sparkles and trail only run while the app is open or in the tray.

Before you buy: you need Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit, with Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime (built into Windows 11 and current Windows 10). It's a per-user installer of about 6 MB. The download is unsigned, so on first launch click More info > Run anyway, then check the ZIP against the SHA-256 on the product page.

Price: $2.75 once, with 12 months of best-effort email support. No subscription. Free 14-day trial: every feature works for 14 days, then the app asks you to buy.

Which route?

• Bigger or a different color is enough: use Settings.
• You have a cursor set you trust: install it through Mouse Properties.
• You want animated packs you can undo in one click: try Solace Cursors free for 14 days.
• Want the desktop itself to move too? See how to get a moving desktop background on Windows 11.

Try Solace Cursors free for 14 days, then $2.75 once. Questions before you buy: solacesoftware@smilingface.cloud.