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For some reason, the mouse cursor in Eclipse is disappearing.

I can see that I am able to move on the next line and it shows me via the usual color changes, but the cursor itself is not visible. When I start eclipse, I can see the cursor but once the initialization is complete, the cursor is hidden again.

The same thing happened when I switched from Eclipse Indigo to Juno and other versions. I do not know what to do.

Any pointers on what might be wrong ?

Ashutosh Jindal
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Anuj Kulkarni
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1 Answers1

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Anuj, try whether one of the following usual suspects fixes the problem :

  1. Change to a new workspace and check whether the problem re-appears there.

    • If it does not re-appear, then you are dealing with a corrupt workspace. Would a whole lot be lost if you began with a new workspace ?
    • If it does, then it's probably a rowdy Eclipse plugin. The next logical step would be a fresh Eclipse install (I would recommend Eclipse Indigo for Java Devs downloadable from here)

  2. If the problem persists with a brand new Eclipse + new workspace, then we'll need to widen our hunt and include OS / JDK problems. And while we are on that, which OS , JDK and Eclipse version are you using ?

Backing up a 'working' Eclipse setup

Once the problem has been fixed (for example by doing a Fresh Eclipse install) I would highly recommend backing up the following :

  1. The Eclipse Installation directory (so that you get all the plugins you installed)
  2. Workspace directory.

That ways you can restore a working version of your setup with minimal effort.

Ashutosh Jindal
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  • Yes, I changed the workspace and the problem persisted. Finally I downloaded Eclipse Juno and now working on that. I tried setting all preferences to default and checking Editor preferences for Java in eclipse. It did not work. So I had to use new eclipse only. (and adding all the plugins again) – Anuj Kulkarni Aug 21 '12 at 02:29
  • Cool. So a new Eclipse fixed the problem ? I would recommend backing up your workspace at this point and once you have installed all the plugins you need backing up the Eclipse installation itself. Having a snapshot (even if it was manually created) has saved me a lot of times with a brittle development environment. I might even recommend putting the Eclipse install and the workspace directory in a local GIT repo and tagging it OR if you have the space putting them in a Dropbox sub-dir. – Ashutosh Jindal Aug 21 '12 at 09:30