The mouse pointer in my Ubuntu VM has turned into a little hand with a document, and clicks are ignored. How do I get out of this mode?

The mouse pointer in my Ubuntu 8.04.3 LTS VM (running in VMware Fusion) has changed into a little hand holding a document. It doesn't show up in screen-shots.

All mouse clicks (left or right) are ignored. But I can still type in the one Terminal window I have open. (And commands work fine.)

I wonder if I'm in some kind of drag-and-drop mode.

How do I get out of this?

Update: Rebooting (from the command-line) worked. Ubuntu came up with the regular mouse-pointer.

Daryl Spitzer

Posted 2009-12-09T18:53:46.213

Reputation: 7 505

Hey Daryl. If that command-line reboot has fixed the problem, you may want to add your fix as an answer to your own question, then accept it. – RJFalconer – 2010-01-09T02:01:23.513

Answers

The only solution I've found is to reboot.

Daryl Spitzer

Posted 2009-12-09T18:53:46.213

Reputation: 7 505

I solved it (without having to reboot) by performing these steps. Which was basically dragging some text from the host to the guest machine.

I think I had the same problem as what you have - can't be sure though. Try it anyway.

JW.

Posted 2009-12-09T18:53:46.213

Reputation: 189

Clicking on the URL gives: Error. Page cannot be displayed. Please contact your service provider for more details. (26) – boardrider – 2019-08-23T18:20:26.697

Switching to a VT via CtrlAltF2 or the like, logging in, and then killing the app via kill will release the lock on the pointer.

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams

Posted 2009-12-09T18:53:46.213

Reputation: 100 516

After doing this, you can use Ctrl+Alt+F7 to get back to the GUI – Jake Toronto – 2015-07-31T17:14:35.820

If you do Ctrl + Alt + F1 followed by Ctrl + Alt + F7, this may fix the problem.

Caleb Eby

Posted 2009-12-09T18:53:46.213

Reputation: 11

3Why? Can you elaborate on what this does? (it should switch to a tty and back to X, but why does that help?) – bertieb – 2015-08-26T22:43:42.090

I think it's because it stops drawing the pointer, and when you return to GUI, it must redraw it – Caleb Eby – 2015-10-16T15:15:00.457

Just logging out (Ctrl+Alt+Del) solved the issue for me

Sudheesh.M.S

Posted 2009-12-09T18:53:46.213

Reputation: 101