Changing Windows 10 cursor icon with Powershell without reseting-CodePudding

I'm making a startup script for Windows and have been wanting to change my cursor icons. However, I want to do it without a computer reset and through powershell.

Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Control Panel\Cursors\Arrow" -Value "F:\nutty-squirrels\callmezippy_squirrelUnavailble.cur"

I know that it's possible to change the cursor icon without reset using the GUI, but I can't seem to get it to work using scripts, as regedit does not update the cursor (or, at least, it hasn't through my testing.)

I'm thinking that reseting some process would allow the cursor changes to occur, but I have no idea what that process is. If anyone has any idea, it would be a great help!

CodePudding user response：

The Set-ItemProperty call is missing the -Name argument and you need to call the WinAPI function SystemParametersInfo to notify the system about the settings change:

# Define a C# class for calling WinAPI.
Add-Type -TypeDefinition @'
public class SysParamsInfo {
    [System.Runtime.InteropServices.DllImport("user32.dll", EntryPoint = "SystemParametersInfo")]
    public static extern bool SystemParametersInfo(uint uiAction, uint uiParam, uint pvParam, uint fWinIni);
    
    const int SPI_SETCURSORS = 0x0057;
    const int SPIF_UPDATEINIFILE = 0x01;
    const int SPIF_SENDCHANGE = 0x02;

    public static void CursorHasChanged() {
        SystemParametersInfo(SPI_SETCURSORS, 0, 0, SPIF_UPDATEINIFILE | SPIF_SENDCHANGE);
    }
}
'@

# Change the cursor
Set-ItemProperty -Path 'HKCU:\Control Panel\Cursors' -Name 'Arrow' -Value '%SystemRoot%\cursors\aero_arrow_xl.cur'

# Notify the system about settings change by calling the C# code
[SysParamsInfo]::CursorHasChanged()