Microsoft Confirms Windows 11 Update KB5120998 Resets User Mouse Settings
Microsoft has officially acknowledged a technical glitch affecting Windows 11 users who installed the August 2026 non-security preview update, KB5120998. The update, which was intended to bring refinements to the Start menu, taskbar, and search functionality, has inadvertently caused widespread issues with mouse cursor customization.
According to reports from users, the installation of KB5120998 triggers an automatic reset of personalized mouse settings. Once these settings are altered, affected users are finding it impossible to revert their cursors to their preferred custom states.
Impact on User Customization
In an official update to the Windows release health dashboard, Microsoft confirmed that they are investigating reports of “mouse cursor personalization settings being changed or reverted to certain standard settings.”
The issue manifests in several ways, primarily through appearance regressions and erratic animation behavior. Users have reported that high-DPI (dots per inch) cursors are being replaced by larger, standard white pointers, while custom animated cursors are reverting to default Windows styles. Most frustratingly, users who have attempted to manually restore their previous configurations have found that the OS fails to save or apply the changes correctly.
“Microsoft has received reports indicating that mouse cursor personalization settings are being changed or reverted to certain standard settings. This occurs following the installation of Windows updates released August 27, 2026 (KB5120998) and later,” the company stated.
Managing the Update
Because KB5120998 is an optional, non-security update, it is not installed automatically unless a user has enabled the “Get the latest updates as soon as they’re available” toggle in Windows Update settings. For most users, this update would have required a manual click of the “Download and install” button.
Microsoft is currently working to identify the root cause of this regression. In the meantime, the company is encouraging affected users to document their experiences and submit logs via the Windows Feedback Hub, which assists engineers in isolating the bug.
A Pattern of Peripheral Issues
This is not the first time Windows 11 has faced scrutiny regarding peripheral stability. In recent months, Microsoft has grappled with several high-profile mouse-related bugs:
- WinRE Failures: In October, an emergency patch was required to address a bug that disabled USB mice and keyboards within the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE), effectively locking users out of repair tools.
- Outlook Pointer Disappearance: Since February, the company has been investigating a persistent bug in the classic version of Outlook where the mouse pointer disappears entirely when hovered over specific interface elements.
As Microsoft continues to investigate this latest Windows 11 KB5120998 update issue, users experiencing the cursor reset are advised to await an official hotfix rather than attempting complex registry edits, which could lead to further system instability.
