MacBook Pro cursor freezes in OS Tahoe 26.2

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MacBook Pro cursor freezes in OS Tahoe 26.2

I'm experiencing cursor freezing in OS Tahoe 26.2. It happens with my Apple Mouse and the trackpad on my MacBook Pro. It happens if I switch user accounts between my husband's and mine (or if he's logged in and we switch to my side), and if I let the Mac sleep/close it up while still on. The cursor looks a little larger on the screen than I'm used to also. When moving the cursor, you can see a "ghost" cursor that looks like you are hovering over things to click, but clicking doesn't work. I can use the keyboard's arrows to move around but this doesn't help me if I closed the Mac while working in Photoshop or iMovie, took it from my office to the living room and opened it back up and the cursor is frozen. The only thing I can do is hold the power/touch button to reboot -- but again that doesn't help me if I have stuff open and lose it (don't say save it - it happens to everyone).

MacBook Pro (Nov 2023) Apple M3 Pro, Tahoe 26.2

Posted on Jan 2, 2026 8:52 AM

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Answer 1

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Tesserax

Level 10

158,094 points

Jan 2, 2026 9:21 AM in response to shilohspider

The cursor freezing you’re experiencing, I believe, is a software-level issue related to how the system restores the graphical interface and input services when switching users or waking from sleep. Because the problem affects both the built-in trackpad and an external Apple mouse, this rules out a hardware fault and points to the operating system losing synchronization between the visible cursor, click handling, and the WindowServer process.

The enlarged cursor and “ghost” pointer you see are strong indicators that cursor rendering and click registration are no longer aligned after a user switch or lid-close event. In Tahoe 26.2, Apple removed the persistent “Reopen windows when logging back in” option from System Settings. That behavior still exists, but it’s now controlled at logout time and implicitly during sleep. When macOS attempts to preserve or restore an active session — especially with GPU-intensive apps like Photoshop or iMovie open — the cursor service can fail to reattach correctly, leaving the system responsive to the keyboard but not to pointer clicks.

To reduce or avoid this issue, I recommend the following:

Avoid Fast User Switching. Instead, fully log out of one account before logging into the other.
When logging out or restarting, uncheck “Reopen windows when logging back in” in the logout confirmation dialog.
Avoid closing the lid while another user is logged in, particularly if pro apps are open.
Verify that Accessibility pointer settings (i.e., cursor size, hover text, display zoom) are set to defaults, as these services are involved in cursor rendering.

Lastly, if the cursor does freeze and you need to recover without a full reboot, there is one workaround worth trying: use ⌘ + Space, type Activity Monitor, navigate with the arrow keys, select WindowServer, and force quit it. This restarts the user interface without shutting down the system, and often restores normal cursor behavior, though apps may briefly redraw.

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