Just installed Ubuntu server 22.04 and as I needed a DE, followed some tutorials where most of them suggested that I can install gnome (or ubuntu-desktop) using the tasksel command.
After doing so I encountered two problems: the mouse pointer on desktop is showing as a solid gray square ⬛ and the hotspot is at upper left corner. However when I run any gui app the pointer is drawn perfectly fine.
How can I fix this issues?
I faced the same problem on Ubuntu 24.04 beta, on GNOME / Ubuntu desktops, using my preferred cursor theme DMZ-White. When the mouse is over the top bar or the dock/launcher (whatever it's called), the mouse pointer is a light gray (almost white) square.
It seems to me that the icon theme is missing the default file. For me this solution worked:
Check which cursor theme you're using. Start gnome-tweaks and go to Appearance -> Styles -> Cursor.
In a terminal, navigate to its directory under /usr/share/icons and then the cursors subdirectory underneath, e.g.
cd /usr/share/icons/DMZ-White/cursors/
(The cursor theme's name may not directly map to the filesystem directory name, use common sense to find it.)
Then create the missing symbolic link (or copy the file):
sudo ln -s left_ptr default
Then switch to a different cursor theme in gnome-tweaks and back to this one, for the change to take effect. Or log out and log back in.
If inside the VirtualBox VM, and with the latest kernel 6.5.*, it is necessary to install the newer compiler:
sudo apt install gcc-12
After that, it is necessary to install the latest Guest Additions.
I have found that changing the cursor theme works: How do I change the cursor and its size?
apt install oxygen-cursor-theme
update-alternatives --config x-cursor-theme
What solved it for me was going into the Menu -> "Tweaks" -> "Appareance" and set Cursor to one of the options in the blank dropdown. In my case, "DMZ Black".
Note that this requires the ubuntu-desktop install using tasksel. The minimal one doesn't come with "Tweaks" afaik.
