All cursors are switching to crosshair

[Mr_Critterfur]

Turning off caps lock, enlarging the brush size, and changing the cursor settings do not work for me.

Caps lock doesn't affect it.

The brush settings are set to standard, not precise. In fact, it doesn't matter what setting I use, it's always a crosshair. The only time it changes is if I turn on "use crosshair when painting. Then it's always a circle with a crosshair.

And enlarging it turns it back to a circle, but as soon as I move the brush, it goes back to a crosshair.

I am SERIOUSLY annoyed by this, because it did not do this 2 hours ago.

I've turned "Use Hardware acceleration" on and off. Didn't affect it.

The eye dropper tool shows an eye dropper, but as soon as I move it, it turns into a circle with a crosshair.

How can I fix this?

[Trevor.Dennis]

What is your Photoshop version, and does it have all its updates?
What operating system are you using?
What are your cursor settings in Preferences?

Are you using a tablet?

[Mr_Critterfur]

CC. Yes.

MacOS 10.12

I have tried them all. None of them affect the cursor. It's always a cross hair. The only time it isn't, is when I turn on show crosshair in brush tip.

[Mr_Critterfur]

I can't find the edit button, but I want to make a correction. No matter what settings I set in cursor preferences, it's always a crosshair.

[Mr_Critterfur · Accepted solution]

Ugh. Nevermind. A simple reboot fixed it.

[Munwetsa]

A while after the reboot it will start happening again, or after a reinstall. There is definitely an issue and it's a huge hassle to have to keep rebooting. It needs a fix to Photoshop.

[cyber27657884vaxr]

Same issue with 23.5.3.

[PECourtejoie]

Hello, @cyber27657884vaxr hit the Caps Lock key on your keyboard. 

Make sure also that the brush is not bigger than your image, in this case, Photoshop shows you the center of the Brush.

[Clay Crowell]

Keep an eye on your memory usage. Photoshop has horrible memory leaks and that leads to Windows not being able to create handles for cursors and other items. That's probably why rebooting fixed the issue. I have to restart Photoshop after almost every images now due to memory leaks.

[Trevor.Dennis]

Keep an eye on your memory usage. Photoshop has horrible memory leaks and that leads to Windows not being able to create handles for cursors and other items. That's probably why rebooting fixed the issue. I have to restart Photoshop after almost every images now due to memory leaks.

By @Clay Crowell

What are your system specs?
How much RAM do you have, and how much is allocated to Photoshop?

Do you work on very high res images with lots of layers?

32Gb would be comfortable, and 16Gb do at a pinch.  Less than that is going to be a miserable user experience.  I've stayed with 64Gb for my last two systems because Photoshop just wasn't using its allocated 70%

[Clay Crowell]

Processor 13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-13900K 3.00 GHz
Installed RAM 64.0 GB (63.7 GB usable)
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Pen and touch Pen support

I'm not sure what you mean by how much is allocated to Photoshop.  According to Task Manager, Photoshop after opening a single file is using 1.6% of memory in use. Total memory in use is 48%.

I'm editing captures of slides and removing dirt and hair found on them and at some point the memory usage by Photoshop reaches over 16G (25%) and the total memory usage climbs to 96% and Photoshop hangs. It eventually releases the memory and produces an error (doesn't crash) and memory usage by Photoshop drops back down.

My last test case, memory usage is currently 3677mb at the start and freezes at 49,000mb. I'm literally only using the Remove Tool to remove dirt, dust, and fibres.

[Clay Crowell]

As far as layers, I open the raw file as a Smart Object, run a script to add a Levels layer and an empty layer on top of that as well as set up grids to make editing easier and convert these 3 layers to a Smart Object. At that point I was at 3677mb but as I edit with the Remove Tool, the memory (leaks) climbs to 49,000mb and hangs. When the error dialog is displayed, the memory drops top 52.7mb and I am able to continue editing.

This version has some of the worst memory leaks I've seen and it causes the product to be unresponsive.