Mouse cursor appearance problem when recording through Quicktime a remote desktop session

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goldeng2017 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mouse cursor appearance problem when recording through Quicktime a remote desktop session

Hi everyone,

I've found an annoying bug when recording my screen with Quicktime.

My daily routine with my Macbook is doing remote desktop sessions to my Windows PC for working on Windows stuff. I recently found that when I start recording my screen through the build-in Quicktime app, the Mac OS mouse cursor is showing instead of the Microsoft Windows one. This causes a problem when the Microsoft Windows cursor should change to different appearance modes, such as when you hover on the edges of columns and windows for changing their size, making it impossible to know if you're hovering on the right spot before you can start dragging - the dragging function does work, it's just you have to "guess" that you're hovering on the right spot since the mouse cursor appearance doesn't change and statically remains Mac OS black arrow cursor. Once Quicktime recorder is stopped however, the Microsoft Windows cursor returns to show and behaves as it normally does.

Did anyone else encounter this problem? And if so, did you manage to somehow solve this?

Thanks

MacBook Air 13″

Posted on Dec 7, 2024 10:26 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 9, 2024 1:17 AM in response to goldeng2017

goldeng2017 wrote:

just for the test, I just tried Parallels Client, however I weren't able to make it work on any of the connection modes, while my PC is reachable and I can access it without any problem with the Windows App.

FWIW AFAIR Parallels client defaulted to some other protocol so I set it to use Standard RDP when connecting to Windows RDP:

Parallels Client > File > New Connection... > Standard RDP:

Server: ##.##.##.## [IP number]

Friendly name: nn

Do the Screenshot.app prefs make any difference?

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Answer 2

Dec 8, 2024 11:07 PM in response to goldeng2017

Have you tried a different Remote Desktop app? A few years ago I evaluated some and settled for Parallels Client mainly because it had "Override computer name" option unlike the Microsoft's RDP app. I did not pay much attention to the cursor appearance, though.

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Answer 3

goldeng2017 Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 9, 2024 12:03 AM in response to Matti Haveri

Thanks for the reply, Matti.

I actually prefer what's simpler and that works for me, which is the Microsoft Remote Desktop app (aka Windows App now). I'm less into changing working apps just because other programs break their behaviors. But just for the test, I just tried Parallels Client, however I weren't able to make it work on any of the connection modes, while my PC is reachable and I can access it without any problem with the Windows App.

Anyway, this is not the Windows App problem as it works fine. The issue occurs only when Quicktime records the screen, which suddenly makes the Mac OS cursor to be permanently visible, even when you're on the Windows desktop. It seems like when Quicktime records the screen that it prevents the Mac OS cursor from disappearing when needed, which is when you move to a non-Mac OS desktop area.

It's clearly a bug, since I did manage to sometimes see the Windows cursor while recording the screen, but it's not stable. On one recording attempt it shows the Windows cursor while on 10 other recording attempts it does not. Once you stop the Quicktime recording the Windows cursor shows when on Windows in all times and reverts to Mac OS cursor when on Mac OS as it normally should.

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Answer 4

goldeng2017 Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 9, 2024 11:09 AM in response to Matti Haveri

Matti Haveri wrote:

FWIW AFAIR Parallels client defaulted to some other protocol so I set it to use Standard RDP when connecting to Windows RDP:

Parallels Client > File > New Connection... > Standard RDP:

Server: ##.##.##.## [IP number]

Friendly name: nn

Do the Screenshot.app prefs make any difference?

Thanks for the the tip. I managed to make a standard RDP connection as you mentioned and can say that when recording the screen with Quicktime, the Windows mouse cursor shows correctly. Though, the entire remote session feels slow and laggy, and I'm sitting on my couch and connected to my router's WiFi which is just in front of me (my PC is connected with Ethernet cable directly to the router). Changing back to the Windows App and the connection is smooth and much better, as if I'm working directly on my PC. So although the mouse cursor issue does not occur with the Parallel's Client app, I'm going to keep using the Windows App since it works much better.

As for taking a screenshot with Quicktime while Show Mouse Pointer is ticked, it shows the Mac OS cursor instead of the Windows one the same as it does when recording the screen.

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Answer 5

Dec 9, 2024 12:09 PM in response to goldeng2017

goldeng2017 wrote:

So although the mouse cursor issue does not occur with the Parallel's Client app, I'm going to keep using the Windows App since it works much better.

At least when I tried it, I set Parallels preferences like "Graphics Acceleration: RemoteFX Adaptive", "Detect connection quality automatically", "Enable compression" ON to make it faster. At that time the Microsoft alternative was slower to update the screen. I also asked the IT staff to adjust available color depth larger because otherwise there was banding in with some window settings in 12-bit DICOM images if RDP was used instead a proper DICOM viewer.

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