Black screen connecting to Windows 11 Pro

[wislert]

NoMachine worked on my current environment for quite some time. Yesterday when I tried a new connection, I got a black screen on connection.

Server:

• Win 11 Pro
• NoMachine 9.3.7 (latest)
• Nvidia driver 581. 57 (latest. The version was lower but I’ve installed an update trying to fix the problem)

Client:

• Macbook Air
• NoMachine  9.3.7 (latest)

I tried to check/uncheck “Disable client side hardware decoding” and all other checkboxes in the “Advanced display settings”. Tried to do the same with the “disable the screen shading effect when the screen is blanked” (actually it was disabled due to main option “Blank the physical screen when somebody connects” was disabled). Nothing works.

It’s funny that, at the same time I establish a connection via [removed], NoMachine starts displaying the remote screen to me. I need to fix my NoMachine, I don’t want to use [removed].

Any ideas?

[Britgirl]

Hi, before you updated the nvidia driver to the latest, with the previously installed version you were also getting the black screen, but only recently? Did something else change in your set-up since you last connected without any problem? Was the other product already installed or did you install it recently?

Can you go back to your original settings on both client and server and try again? Then take logs from the Mac client (on the client go to Settings > Player > Security > Take logs) and the Windows server (on the server host, go to Settings > Server > Security > scroll down and take logs) and send them to us? You can submit them here or if you prefer send via email to forum[at]nomachine[dot]com.

[wislert]

The black screen issue started before updating my Nvidia drivers. I did this because I read it could help.

There were no changes on the server I was connecting to. Perhaps some Windows updates were installed without my knowledge.

Attachments:

1. macos_connection_log_2026-03-09-21.24.12.zip
2. macos_server_logs_2026-03-09-21.22.07.zip
3. windows_server_logs_2026-03-09-16.26.48.7z

[wislert]

Somehow, that issue is gone and now everything works perfectly, even though I didn’t do anything to fix it. I hope those logs help you locate the problem.

[Britgirl]

Hi, thanks for letting us know. We analyzed the logs and they show no errors in the software. Is your Windows headless? We know that headless systems can cause a black screen under some circumstances and this doesn’t depend on NoMachine, but rather on the video card and drivers.

More information about is available here: https://kb.nomachine.com/AR05S01124

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