Recently, I encountered a frustrating issue while using VSCode: the mouse cursor became almost invisible on a light background, especially when switching between the terminal and the editor. This problem was particularly noticeable on Windows systems with AMD graphics cards.

After some searching, I finally found a solution. By referring to the VSCode GitHub Issue, I discovered that this issue is caused by the Chromium-based rendering mechanism of VSCode. In certain cases, the hardware acceleration or direct composition rendering of VSCode can cause the mouse cursor color to behave abnormally, especially on light backgrounds.

Solution

Method 1: Disable Hardware Acceleration (disable-hardware-acceleration)

  1. Via Settings File:
    • Open VSCode and press Ctrl + Shift + P, then type Preferences: Configure Runtime Arguments and select it.
    • In the opened argv.json file, add the following configuration: 
      "disable-hardware-acceleration": true
    • Save the file and restart VSCode.
  2. Via Command Line:
    • When launching VSCode from the command line, add the following parameter: 
      code --disable-hardware-acceleration

Method 2: Disable Direct Composition (disable-direct-composition)

  1. Via Shortcut:
    • Find the VSCode shortcut, right-click it, and select "Properties."
    • Add the following parameter at the end of the "Target" field: 
      --disable-direct-composition
    • Save and use this shortcut to launch VSCode.
  2. Via Command Line:
    • When launching VSCode from the command line, add the following parameter: 
      code --disable-direct-composition

Notes

  • Disabling hardware acceleration may affect the performance of VSCode, especially when working with large projects.
  • If the issue persists, try using both --disable-hardware-acceleration and --disable-direct-composition parameters simultaneously.

By following these methods, I successfully resolved the issue of the mouse cursor being hard to see in VSCode. I hope this article helps you if you encounter the same problem! You can copy and paste this Markdown code directly into your Markdown editor.