Cursor disappears over document area in Office apps when using Windows 365 via Windows App (Windows 11 24H2)

Dobhal, Kanishka 30 Reputation points
2026-03-03T10:57:00.24+00:00

We are experiencing a cursor rendering issue when connecting to Windows 365 Cloud PCs using the Windows App.

Environment:

  • Client Device: 10ZiG 7111q thin client

Client OS: Windows 11 Version 24H2 (OS Build 26100.7840)

Windows App Version: 2.0.964.0

Cloud PC: Windows 365

Microsoft 365 Apps: Monthly Enterprise Channel 2512 (Build 19530.20226, Click-to-Run)

When connected to the Cloud PC:

The mouse cursor disappears over document canvas areas in:

Excel worksheet grid

Word document body

Outlook message body

The cursor remains visible over ribbon, toolbars, and window chrome.

The issue occurs across multiple identical thin clients.

Troubleshooting so far:

Disabled hardware graphics acceleration in Office (including registry enforcement).

Set DPI scaling to 100%.

Disabled mouse shadow and pointer enhancements.

Applied the following registry setting on the client:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Terminal Server Client UseHardwareCursor = 0

Rebooted client devices.

Issue persists.

The behavior appears limited to DirectX-rendered document surfaces within the Windows 365 session and does not affect UI chrome, suggesting a potential interaction between Windows App 2.x, Windows 11 24H2, and hardware video decoding.

Are there any known rendering or cursor overlay issues with Windows App 2.x on Windows 11 24H2?

Is there a supported way to disable hardware video decoding in Windows App?

Are there known compatibility issues between Windows 365 sessions and specific GPU/driver stacks on Windows 11 24H2?

Windows for business | Windows 365 Enterprise
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Answer accepted by question author
VPHAN 43,660 Reputation points Independent Advisor
2026-03-03T14:28:23.7566667+00:00

Dobhal, Kanishka

If modifying the internal pointer scheme did not force the protocol to render the cursor correctly, this probably means the drop is happening entirely at the local hardware compositor level on the 10ZiG client rather than within the remote encoding stream. Windows 11 24H2 heavily relies on a feature called Multi-Plane Overlay to offload distinct visual layers, like video overlays and custom cursors, directly to the GPU. When local display drivers struggle with multi-monitor handoffs in this state, the dedicated cursor plane is frequently dropped over hardware-accelerated windows on secondary screens.

we need to completely disable Multi-Plane Overlay on your local thin clients to force the Windows Desktop Window Manager to composite all visual layers natively. You can accomplish this by navigating to the registry path HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Dwm on the local client device. You will need to create a new DWORD value named OverlayTestMode and set its value data to 5. After applying this key, a full reboot of the thin client is required to rebuild the local display stack without MPO enabled.

If the cursor still drops after disabling MPO, the next diagnostic step is to temporarily connect using the classic Remote Desktop application, previously known as MSRDC, instead of the new Windows App. Testing the older native client architecture will definitively isolate whether we are dealing with a broader WDDM driver incompatibility on the 10ZiG hardware or a specific rendering regression isolated entirely to the newer Windows App 2.x pipeline.

VP

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  1. AI answer

    2026-03-03T10:57:56.3033333+00:00

    The context only documents one cursor-related Windows 365 issue and some general Windows App limitations; none match the described symptom of the cursor disappearing over Office document canvases in a Windows 365 session via Windows App on Windows 11 24H2.

    From the available information:

    • The only documented cursor issue for Windows 365 is an offset between the visible cursor and the actual focus position in a remote desktop session, caused by high DPI scaling on both the server and the Cloud PC browser. The supported mitigation is to turn off high DPI mode. This issue affects cursor position, not cursor visibility, and therefore does not align with the disappearing-cursor behavior described.
    • Known issues and limitations for Windows App (including Android/Chrome OS and web browser scenarios) do not list any cursor rendering or overlay problems, nor any options to control or disable hardware video decoding.
    • The Windows 11 24H2 resolved-issues documentation mentions connection and authentication failures for Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365 when using Windows App after a specific security update, but does not mention cursor, rendering, or GPU/driver-related problems.
    • AI-enabled Cloud PC known issues cover AI feature readiness, search behavior, and cursor lag when using the "Click to Do" feature, but not cursor disappearance over document surfaces.

    Based on this context, there is no documented:

    • Known rendering or cursor overlay issue with Windows App 2.x on Windows 11 24H2 matching this scenario.
    • Supported method to disable hardware video decoding in Windows App.
    • Specific compatibility issue between Windows 365 sessions and particular GPU/driver stacks on Windows 11 24H2.

    The only cursor-related mitigation explicitly documented for Windows 365 remains disabling high DPI mode to address cursor offset, not disappearance.

    References:

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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