How to Lock Your Cursor to One Monitor While Gaming
The fix for the oldest dual-monitor gaming annoyance: one click near the edge and your mouse is on the wrong screen. DMT solves it with a single hotkey.
The problem, precisely
What happens
In many games — Fallout: New Vegas is a famous example — the cursor isn’t confined to the game window. The moment you flick toward an edge (a flick shot, an inventory click, a map scroll), the mouse slides onto the second monitor. Clicking there minimizes the game or focuses another app. Alt-tabbing back in takes seconds you don’t have.
The DMT fix (2 minutes)
- Install DMT (v2.13 here) and open it from the system tray.
- Go to Cursor → General and set a hotkey for “Lock cursor onto screen” — Ctrl+Alt+L is a good pick.
- In v2.13+, use the new “lock cursor to current monitor” hotkey if you game on a secondary screen rather than the primary one.
- Press the hotkey before the match. Press it again when you’re done.
Pro tips
- Borderless-windowed games: always use the hard lock hotkey — sticky resistance can be bypassed by some game engines.
- Exclusive fullscreen usually confines the cursor by itself; DMT matters most for borderless and older titles.
- If a game still escapes, try running DMT as administrator — games launched elevated need an elevated DMT to hook them.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I keep my mouse on one monitor while gaming?
Install Dual Monitor Tools, open the Cursor module, and assign a hotkey to “Lock cursor onto screen”. Press it before launching the game; press again when you quit.
Why does my cursor go to the second monitor in fullscreen games?
Many games — especially older titles and borderless-windowed ones — don’t confine the cursor. Clicking near the screen edge (menus, inventory, map) pushes the mouse onto the other display, minimizing or unfocusing the game.
Does cursor lock cause input lag?
No. DMT works at the OS level with negligible overhead — it doesn’t inject into the game or add any frame latency.
Which is better for gaming: lock or sticky?
Lock for competitive FPS (absolute confinement), sticky for story-driven games where you occasionally want to check Discord on the second screen without fully unlocking.
Ready to try Dual Monitor Tools?
Free, open-source, and portable. Get version 2.13 now.
Download DMT v2.13 (Free)