Windows 10 Mouse lock to one application

Hi Daniel Drury，

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

May I ask whether the size and resolution of your two displays are the same? Based on the situation you described, I would suggest that you compare the two screens in terms of their resolution and display refresh rate. Then, in order to find out if third-party applications or services are interfering with the problem, you can try a clean boot, running the game or other previously problematic programs with only the system services in the state, and test whether the problem still exists.

Disclaimer: A “clean boot” starts Windows with a minimal set of drivers and startup programs. It helps to determine whether a background program is interfering with your game or program and to isolate the cause of a problem. 

These steps of "clean boot" might look complicated at first glance. However, to avoid any trouble for you, please follow them in order and step-by step so that it will help you get you back on track.

If there is anything not clear, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Best Regards,

Manson - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Hi,

So one of the screens is a 21" screen whereas the other is a 24" one. They do have different resolutions and the refresh rate should be the same (I need to check tonight). The odd thing is this setup has been in play for years and only very recently has it started playing up in this manner.

Can give it a go with the clean boot as well. It doesn't always happen and sometimes it can last hours without it happening, then other times happening basically instantly.

Thanks for the reply. I noticed that you said this situation happened recently. May I ask whether the computer has been updated recently? In addition to a clean launch, you can Select the Start button, then select Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update ; If you have recently installed a patch such as a display driver (Intel or AMD) or a patch with a KB number, click "Uninstall Update" to uninstall the latest installed update and restart your computer to see if there is any change.

I did some playing around with the clean boot and found the problematic application. It was "Steam". Uninstall + Reinstall (with the sacrifice of some of my games temporarily 😢) which brought the computer back to the way it was. What I noticed is on re-installing of steam a lot of the games had the error "Cloud out of date", so wondering if the issues were related to a Steam cloud authentication problem. I need to poke and prod a bit more tonight but the Clean Boot suggestion definitely was helpful so cheers again on that.

Even if Steam was marked as "don't start on startup", it still had effect. I had done a repair on the application before so maybe there was something very underlining causing the problems like a setting. Either way, not going to mark this as solved yet as it's only been a night and sometimes the problem is nonexistent one night, then in full swing the next.

Daniel

Good thing I didn't mark this as solved, came back in full swing last night. Was doing some extra research yesterday over this, apparently, it's something to do with Steams web helper service. (not very helpful it seems),

So some extra playing around is needed,

Daniel

Thank you for your reply. Steams Web Helper Service is Steam's service for synchronizing cloud archives and displaying pictures. May I ask if the problem is temporarily solved after you uninstall Steam? I think if Steam is the problem, since it's not a Microsoft app, maybe you can visit the Steam community or contact Steam support.

On uninstalling/disabling the steam client within the MSCONFIG, it did allow the mouse to function off the back. It seems that even if steam is disabled in task manager startup, the service starting forces something to plague the mouse focus. I will need to speak with their support but the question is within Windows, is there any particular settings that can be enabled to potentially stop the mouse from being stolen?

Daniel

Have you ever tried to change the display mode when you open a game in Steam? For example, "Full screen mode", "Window mode", "no border mode", see if there is a change in different display modes.

Windows in fact more display mode will not lock the mouse on a screen (and not set can make it to do so), if the problem are not locked on Steam, it may lead to the lock screen is only one, that is more display arrangement, each display no post on the edge of, This prevents the mouse from being dragged to another display.

Hi,

Been off for the last week and not looking at this, so the display mode changes nothing over the focus,

The mouse can be dragged to other displays it's just that some applications like edge have control over both screens (Shown by right clicking on my other screen and having control over the edge window)

Daniel

HELLO SIR DID U FIND A SOLUTION FOR IT BECAUSE IM ALSO SUFFERING FROM THE MOUSE BEING STOLEN ANY ADVICE ON HOW TO FIX THE PROBLEM