How to change the mouse pointer theme [duplicate]

Solution 1:

You can also select different mouse pointer color scheme with following command:

sudo update-alternatives --config x-cursor-theme

You should log out and log in again for the change to take effect.

Solution 2:

You can install additional mouse themes from the Ubuntu Software Center. Additionally, you can manually install new themes such as those from gnome-look.org by extracting the theme folders into /usr/share/icons/ or ~/.icons. (Source for manual installation)

Then, to actually use these themes, you'll need the GNOME Tweak Tool (click this link to install: GNOME Tweak Tool , or use sudo apt-get install gnome-tweak-tool in a terminal).

Next, you'll want to open the GNOME Tweak Tool (you can search for it in both Unity and GNOME Shell as "Advanced Settings"), then go to Theme > Cursor theme. Use the drop-down menu to select the cursor you want.

If you're running Unity, you may then have to run compiz --replace in a terminal or Alt+F2 prompt to make the changes take effect.

(Source)

Solution 3:

It is possible to change the cursor to one that has been downloaded outside of the Software Centre - the method is similar to how it was done since Lucid. After downloading the mouse theme, extract the tar.gz file somewhere you can find it later. Next, you'll need superuser access to your filesystem - open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) then enter

gksu nautilus

and press enter. Enter your password in the window that pops up. You now have root access to your filesystem so be careful. Navigate to /usr/share/icons/ Keep this location open, but open up another window or tab and go to the directory where you extracted your mouse theme. Copy the theme folder into /usr/share/icons/ after which you'll be able to see your new theme show up in the Gnome Tweak tool. But we aren't quite finished yet - open the terminal and enter

gksu gedit /usr/share/icons/default/index.theme

and change the name after "Inherits=" to the name of your new theme. This makes it the default cursor theme for the entire system and it will be the cursor seen in the login screen.

So, although not ideal and not as simple as it once was (think pre-Lucid), it still is possible to install cursor themes in Oneiric.

Edit: You'll likely need to reboot (or logout) to see the changes.

Solution 4:

You can use Gnome Tweak Tool (sudo apt-get install gnome-tweak-tool) to change the mouse theme in Ubuntu 11.10