Support

Product: Cursor Lock Keys for Windows (Stream Deck plugin for Windows) · Provider: GRAMSHIFT (Tokyo, Japan)

Contact

Email contact@gramshift.com in English or Japanese. We reply within 7 business days, usually sooner. Please include your Windows version (Settings > System > About), your Stream Deck app version, how your screens are arranged, the name of the game or app, and a photo or screenshot of the key and of its settings (the Status line says what the plugin sees).

If the pointer ever stays confined

Press the lock key again. If the key does not react, quit the Stream Deck app (right-click its icon in the taskbar corner, or use the keyboard): the plugin frees the pointer when it exits. If the plugin is not running any more and the pointer is still confined, bring another window to the front, for example with Alt + Tab: on our Windows 11 test PC, Windows dropped a pointer confinement by itself as soon as another window came to the front.

Get started

Install the plugin from the Elgato Marketplace. In the Stream Deck app, find Cursor Lock Keys for Windows in the action list and drag an action onto a key.
Press the key to lock, press it again to free. No setup is needed; the settings let you pick a screen and a "hold to leave" key.

The actions

Lock to Monitor: a press confines the mouse pointer to one screen, so it can not slide onto the screen next to it. Screen: the screen the pointer is on when you press (default), or one screen you choose; if the pointer is on another screen, it is first moved to the middle of the chosen one. A press on the key that shows the lock frees the pointer. With two keys for two screens, a press on the other key moves the lock there.
Lock to Window: a press confines the pointer to the inside of the window that is in front at that moment (the area without the title bar and borders), for example a game running in a borderless window. While another window is in front, the pointer is free and the key says PAUSED; when the window is in front again, the lock is back. The lock follows the window when it is moved or resized, and ends by itself when the window is closed, hidden or minimized, or when its inside becomes smaller than 200 pixels.
Cursor to Monitor: a press moves the pointer to the middle of the next screen (from left to right, then around again), or of the screen you choose. While a lock of this plugin is on, this key does not move the pointer: it shows LOCKED "unlock first" and the alert sign, and the lock stays as it is.

Hold to leave (both lock actions): choose Ctrl, Alt, Shift or Ctrl + Alt. While you hold it on the keyboard, the pointer is free and the key says PASS; when you let go, the lock is back (the plugin looks ten times a second, so allow a tenth of a second). Choose a key your game does not make you hold all the time.

How it works, and what that means

The plugin uses the Windows function ClipCursor, which limits where the mouse pointer can go. Three facts follow from how Windows handles it (measured by us on Windows 11):

Windows drops the limit by itself whenever another window comes to the front. So the plugin looks ten times a second and sets it again. For up to about a tenth of a second after you switch windows, the pointer can cross to the other screen; it is brought back when the lock is set again.
Windows has one such limit for the whole PC, and the last program that sets it wins. A game that confines the pointer itself (some do while they are in front) can replace the plugin's rectangle with its own, as often as it likes. The key then says NOT HELD. The plugin can not prevent this.
The key shows what Windows reports. LOCKED appears only while Windows reports exactly the rectangle of the lock, read back after it was set.

What it does not do

It only limits where the pointer can be. It does not change mouse movement a game reads directly from the mouse (Raw Input), such as turning the camera in many 3D games. If a game's camera stops at the edge of the screen, or a click lands on the other screen, the pointer was the cause and a lock can help; if not, this plugin changes nothing for that game.
We have not tested games in exclusive full-screen mode. Such games usually handle the pointer themselves.
We make no statement about how any anti-cheat software treats it. The plugin does not read, open or modify any game or other program; it calls the Windows functions named on this page from its own process.
It does not lock the keyboard, hide the pointer or change mouse speed.
With one screen, Lock to Monitor has nothing to hold back: the key says LOCKED, and the pointer moves as before.

When the lock ends by itself

Event	What happens
The screen layout changes (a screen is added, removed, moved or its resolution changes)	A lock to a screen ends within about a second.
The PC wakes from sleep, or the plugin was paused for more than three seconds	The lock ends.
No lock key is on the visible Stream Deck page any more (you changed page or profile, or deleted the key)	The lock ends, so that a lock can not stay on without a key to undo it. Keep a lock key on the page you use while playing. A Cursor to Monitor key does not count.
The Stream Deck app quits or restarts the plugin	The plugin frees the pointer before it exits.
The plugin process is killed or crashes	A small helper process that the plugin starts (the same Node.js, file `bin/watchdog.cjs`) notices that the plugin is gone and frees the pointer. It does nothing else.
The window of a Lock to Window is closed, hidden, minimized or smaller than 200 pixels	The lock ends.

The plugin frees the pointer only if Windows still reports the rectangle the plugin set. A confinement that another program set is left alone.

What the keys show

Key	Meaning
Dark, `FREE`	This plugin holds no lock.
Green, `LOCKED`, with the name of the screen or window	Windows reports that the pointer is confined to that screen or window.
Dark, amber `PAUSED` "not in front"	Lock to Window: another window is in front, so the pointer is free until the window is in front again.
Dark, amber `PASS` "key held"	You hold the "hold to leave" key.
Amber frame, `NOT HELD` "overridden"	The lock is on, but Windows reports a rectangle that another program set. The plugin leaves it alone and locks again when that program lets go.
Amber frame, `FAILED` "Windows refused"	The press could not confine the pointer. Nothing stays on.
Amber frame, `NO WINDOW`	Lock to Window: there is no window in front (the desktop or the taskbar is).
Amber frame, `TOO SMALL`	The window or screen is smaller than 200 pixels, or not on the desktop.
Amber frame, `LOCKED` "unlock first"	Cursor to Monitor was pressed while a lock is on. The pointer was not moved.
Amber frame, `1 SCREEN`	Cursor to Monitor: there is no other screen.
Amber frame, `BLOCKED`	Cursor to Monitor: the pointer did not arrive, because another program confines it.
`--` "not connected"	The screen chosen in the settings is not connected now.
Amber frame, `--` "reinstall plugin"	The plugin could not load its Windows part. Remove the plugin in the Stream Deck app and install it again from the Elgato Marketplace.

Questions

Which screen is "Display 1"?
The number is the one in the Windows device name of the screen (\\.\DISPLAY1). It is usually, but not always, the number that Windows Settings > System > Display shows. The settings list also shows each screen's own name and resolution.

The key says NOT HELD in my game.
The game sets its own pointer limit. The plugin leaves a limit that another program set alone, so the game's limit stays in force. The lock comes back when the game lets go of it.

The lock ended when Stream Deck switched profiles.
That is on purpose (see the table above). Put a lock key on the profile or page that is shown while you play.

"Hold to leave" does not react while my game is in front.
If the game runs as administrator, Windows may not tell normal programs which keys are held. We have not tested this case.

Does it work with different display scaling on each screen?
The plugin reads all rectangles in real pixels (per-monitor DPI aware). We tested on one screen at 100%; if a lock is off by some pixels on your setup, please write to us.

Does it work on Mac?
No. This plugin is for Windows 10 and 11 only.

Privacy

The plugin runs on your PC and sends no data to us or to any online service. See the Privacy Policy.