This lockdown period saw a substantial rise in the use of video conferencing apps. Zoom is one of the primary screen-sharing apps. A lot of people use it for official and personal online meetups. Though it is an efficient application often people complain about experiencing blacks screen issues on Zoom. This happens while they are in the middle of a video call. Obviously, it is quite an undesirable situation that hampers your meeting.
In this guide, I have explained how to fix this black screen issue on Zoom. I have covered the troubleshooting method for both Windows and Linux users. The major reason for the issue can be the auto-switching of graphics settings. Likewise, on Linux, the screen sharing feature uses compositing. This requires a third-party compositor called xcompmgr which the user has to install manually. I have put up the steps to integrate this compositor on your Linux machine. Now, let’s get down to the guide.
How to Troubleshoot Zoom Black Screen Issue
First, let’s fix the issue for Windows users.
Most of the PC today makes use of graphics card from Nvidia. Obviously, these are the staple GPUs for gaming and video editing.
- Open Windows Control Panel
- Go to Nvidia Control Panel
- Click on Manage 3D Settings > then navigate to the tab I would like to use the following 3D settings
- There click on Select a program to customize
- Then browse to Zoom bin directory
- Look for a file Cpthost.exe and then select it > Click on Add
To find the Cpthost.exe go to C: drive. Then follow the path I have mentioned below.
C:/Users/Pc_username/AppData/Roaming/Zoom/Bin
- Then click on Add Selected Program
- Go to Preferred Graphics Processor
- Under that select Integrated graphics
- To save the changes click on Apply
Now, relaunch Zoom and try to connect with someone through a video call. The black screen problem should now be fixed.
Fix Zoom Call Black Screen Problem on Linux
Earlier as I mentioned for Linux there is a third-party compositor that needs to be installed. So, we will see the command that you can issue and fix this problem.
- Open the terminal on your Linux machine
- give the below command if you use Ubuntu, Debian, or Linux Mint
sudo apt install xcompmgr
- open SUSE users will give the following command
zyper install xcompmgr
- And Fedora users will have to enter the command I have put up below
dnf install xcompmgr
Now, you know how to successfully install xcompmgr. Still, there is one more command left that you have to enter. It will work on any distro of Linux that you use.
xcompmgr -c -10 -t0 -r0 -o.00
So, that’s all you have to do to troubleshoot the black screen issue you often face on the Zoom conferencing app. I hope that this helps. Let me know if the above methods worked for you or not.
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