How to Prevent Users From Changing Mouse Pointers in Windows 10

The use of touch devices has increased significantly in the past, but pointers have not lost their importance. They help in performing a variety of functions, and most operating systems including Windows allow users to customize the pointer to their own preferences.

If your computer is used by many users, it may be a good idea to restrict their access to features you don't want them to disturb.

Chances are, if you're reading this article, you're an administrator who wants to prevent users from changing mouse pointers in Windows 10 and luckily for you, you've come to the right place.

A. Use the Group Policy Editor.

Group Policy Editor is an administrative-level feature that allows advanced users to customize operating system functions according to their requirements.

Information in the Group Policy Editor about Windows programs is stored as policies, and by modifying the relevant policies, administrators can customize their operating system's working environment. In this method, we will modify the mouse pointer policy to make the desired changes.

However, this method will not work for users using Windows 10 Home Edition on their computers. If this is the case, move on to the next method below.

1. Press Windows key + R simultaneously to open the Run dialog box.

2. Type ‘gpedit.msc‘ in the text field of the dialog box and press Enter. Doing so will launch the Group Policy Editor.

3. In the newly launched window, navigate to the location mentioned below.

User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Control Panel\Personalization\

4. In the right pane, locate the Mouse Cursor Change Pane and double-click it.

5. Select Enabled and click OK to save the changes.

6. Now check if the required changes have been made. If not, then continue with 7th step.

7. Type cmd in the search bar and click Run as administrator. This will launch the Command Prompt on your desktop.

8. Inside the Command Prompt window, type the command mentioned below and press Enter to execute it.

gpupdate / force

This will help you prevent users from changing the mouse pointer on your PC.

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B. Use the Windows Registry

Another easy way to prevent users from changing the mouse pointer in Windows 10 is to modify the Windows Registry.

Windows Registry provides advanced users with better operating system management just like the Group Policy Editor. However, this method is a bit complicated, so we advise you to be very careful while performing the steps as even a small mistake can cause serious problems in your operating system.

1. Open the Run dialog box by pressing the Windows + R keys simultaneously.

2. Type 'regedit' in the text field of the dialog box and press Enter.

3. Inside Registry Editor, navigate to the location mentioned below.

 HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Personalization

4. If you can't find the Personalization key, right-click the Windows key and select the New > Key option.

5. Rename this newly created key to Personalization and double-click it.

6. Now right click anywhere in the right pane and select the option New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.

7. Rename this value to NoChangedMousePointers and double-click it.

8. In Value data, enter 1 and click OK.

That's it.