Why does this happen?

In some circumstances, your remote device running Windows may not display correctly when accessed remotely using RealVNC Connect.

While connected to your remote device, you may see:

• a black or blank screen
• application windows are white
• the Start Menu is smaller than expected

The issue is most commonly seen when connecting to a device with no monitors attached (headless), or a monitor using HDMI/DisplayPort is connected but powered off.

In the above situations, Windows does not correctly report graphical updates to be captured.

How do I fix it?

RealVNC Virtual Display Driver

The RealVNC Virtual Display Driver is the preferred solution in most cases, providing a virtual display for remote access, For our guide on how to download and get started with the driver, please see our guide here: Adding Virtual Displays

Alternative workarounds

Please find below a list of workarounds that you can use to mitigate this issue:

1. Disable DirectX tracking in RealVNC Server's Options, Troubleshooting section:
   1. On the remote Windows device, open the RealVNC Server dialog, using the Start Menu or taskbar icon.
   2. Select Options from the hamburger menu at the top right
   3. Select Troubleshooting from the left menu
   4. Disable the checkbox for DirectX and click Apply.
      • This can also be changed:
        • In RealVNC Server's Options, Expert section using the CaptureMethod parameter and setting a value of 1, or;
        • In the Registry under HKLM\Software\RealVNC\vncserver by creating a String value named CaptureMethod and with a value of 1.
          
          RealVNC Server must be restarted after manually editing the Registry.
2. If HDR is enabled for a particular monitor, try disabling HDR support in Windows' Display Settings.
3. Connect an EDID emulator to the remote device. An example EDID emulator can be seen here.
   Note: RealVNC have not tested this particular emulator and it is only provided as an example.