Mouse cursor (pointer) is missing during desktop zoom in gnome-shell

[Daniel van Vugt]

Mouse cursor (pointer) is missing during desktop zoom in gnome-shell

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 17.10
Package: gnome-shell 3.24.2-0ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.10.0-20.22-generic 4.10.8
Uname: Linux 4.10.0-20-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.5-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
Date: Thu May 18 15:24:20 2017
DisplayManager: lightdm
GsettingsChanges:
 b'org.gnome.shell' b'app-picker-view' b'uint32 1'
 b'org.gnome.shell' b'favorite-apps' b"['firefox.desktop', 'org.gnome.Terminal.desktop', 'rhythmbox.desktop', 'org.gnome.Nautilus.desktop', 'org.gnome.Software.desktop', 'yelp.desktop']"
 b'org.gnome.desktop.interface' b'gtk-im-module' b"'gtk-im-context-simple'"
 b'org.gnome.desktop.interface' b'scaling-factor' b'uint32 1'
InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-05-03 (15 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 17.10 "Artful Aardvark" - Alpha amd64 (20170502)
SourcePackage: gnome-shell
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Right, I can confirm that under wayland, it has been reported upstream on https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=754806

[Steven Kuck (skuck71)]

Adding this story so maybe it will be easier for others to find.

When I upgraded to Ubuntu Artful Aardvark 17.10 the screen booted up in zoom mode and it scrolled whenever I moved the mouse. I figured out how to get the zoom to normal size, but the mouse cursor disappeared or was invisible. If I pressed any key (e.g. SHIFT), the cursor would flash and I could repeatedly press the key to navigate.
I didn't realize the Universal Access Zoom was still on because the zoom was 1:1. Turning the zoom feature off entirely made the mouse appear as normal.

Perhaps the Universal Access Zoom should be off by default on updates.

[Colin Law (colin-law)]

@skuck71 presumably you had zoom on before the upgrade.

[XeroSanyam (xerosanyam)]

@skuck71 How did you manage it to zoom to normal size ?

[Seth Painter (thefoxarmy)]

Greetings friends, I've come up with a simple solution that will work in the short term. I updated last night and was immediately pissed that the one thing I require in any OS, the magnifier, no longer worked on Ubuntu Gnome after updating to Artful, but Today I came up with a simple workaround.
All you must do is
1. Go into universal access -> zoom -> crosshairs
2. Turn it on.
3. Enable overlap mouse
4. change the length to be as short as possible, or as long as you want
5. Turn the thickness down very low, or what's comfortable for you
6. Change the color to solid black with no alpha
This will create a connected cross in the middle of the screen where the pointer would be. The only thing really missing or left to be desired here is the white border, but nothing I can do about that. ;/