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Game Shows a Black Screen on Launch but the Audio Plays

Last verified August 2026Tested against Windows 11, Windows 10Good evidence

Audio playing means the game launched, loaded, and is rendering — so this is not a crash and not a broken install. The picture is being sent somewhere you cannot see: another display, a resolution or refresh rate the monitor will not show, or a colour mode it cannot accept. Press Alt+Enter first, because forcing the game into a window proves the diagnosis in about two seconds.

Start here

  1. Press Alt+Enter to force windowed mode
  2. Check where Windows thinks the picture is going

It is worth being precise about what the sound tells you, because it rules out most of what people try first. The game is not failing to start. Its files are not corrupt. The anti-cheat did not block it. Something is drawing frames right now and handing them to the display pipeline. Everything below is about finding where those frames are going, and that is a much smaller problem than the black screen makes it look.

Symptoms

  • Menu music or ambient sound plays over a completely black screen
  • Mouse clicks produce sounds, so the interface is there and responding
  • The monitor shows black rather than a no-signal message
  • Alt-tabbing away and back briefly shows the game, or fixes it until next launch
  • It began after changing resolution, adding a monitor, or turning on HDR

Why this happens

The game is rendering to a display you are not looking at

If Windows still believes a second monitor or a TV is attached, a game can open on it. You get the sound from your speakers and the picture on a screen that is off, disconnected, or on another input.

Press Alt+Enter to force windowed mode · Check where Windows thinks the picture is going

The resolution or refresh rate is one the monitor will not display

Games store the display mode they were last set to. If that mode is not valid for the monitor now attached, the monitor receives a signal it cannot show. Microsoft documents reducing refresh rate or resolution as a remedy for display problems over HDMI specifically.

Reset the game's stored display settings

HDR is on and something in the chain cannot handle it

HDR needs an HDR10-capable display, a PC that supports HDR and wide colour gamut, and compatible drivers. When one link is missing or the cable cannot carry the mode, the result can be a picture the monitor refuses to show.

Turn HDR off and test

The game is in exclusive fullscreen and the handover failed

Windows normally intercepts an exclusive fullscreen request and runs the game borderless, composited by the desktop window manager. When that interception is turned off, the game takes the display directly, and a failed mode change leaves you with nothing on screen.

Change the Fullscreen Optimizations setting

The game is rendering on one graphics adapter and displaying on another

On laptops and mixed multi-monitor setups the game can end up rendering on an adapter that does not drive the screen you are watching. Microsoft names moving to a monitor attached to a different graphics device as a real condition the display stack has to handle.

Pin the game to the graphics adapter that drives your monitor

Fixes

1.Press Alt+Enter to force windowed mode

about 2 min

The fastest diagnostic available and it costs nothing. Most games toggle between fullscreen and windowed with this shortcut, and if the game appears in a window the problem is definitively the display mode rather than the game.

Applies to: Windows 10, Windows 11

  1. With the black screen in front of you, press Alt+Enter.
  2. If the game appears in a window, you have your answer — go into its video settings and set a display mode and resolution that match your monitor before switching back to fullscreen.
  3. If nothing happens, press Alt+Tab and look at the thumbnails: a thumbnail showing the game means it is rendering and the picture is going to the wrong place.
  4. Not every game supports Alt+Enter, so treat no response as inconclusive rather than as a result.

2.Check where Windows thinks the picture is going

about 5 min

Rules out the most common version of this — a game opening on a display that is off, disconnected, or on another input — without changing any settings permanently.

Applies to: Windows 11, Windows 10

  1. Press Windows+P and choose PC screen only. This collapses everything onto one display.
  2. If the game appears, it was opening on another screen.
  3. With the game focused, press Shift+Windows+Left or Right arrow to move its window to the display you are using.
  4. Open Settings → System → Display and confirm only the monitors you actually have are listed, and that the right one is set as your main display.
  5. Unplug or power off any TV or second monitor you are not using, then relaunch the game.

3.Turn HDR off and test

about 8 min

A quick, fully reversible way to remove a whole category of cause. HDR has real hardware and cable requirements, and a chain that does not meet them can produce a picture the monitor will not show.

Applies to: Windows 11, Windows 10

  1. Open Settings → System → Display.
  2. On a multi-monitor setup, select the display you play on first — the toggle applies per display.
  3. Turn Use HDR off and launch the game again.
  4. If that fixes it and you want HDR back, check your hardware really supports it: run dxdiag and look for AdvancedColorSupported.
    dxdiag
  5. Microsoft recommends DisplayPort over HDMI for colour accuracy, so switching cable type is worth trying before giving up on HDR.

Confirmed by the vendor.

Source: Microsoft

4.Change the Fullscreen Optimizations setting

about 8 min

Switches the game between taking the display directly and being composited by Windows. Which one works varies by game, and this is a single checkbox you can put back.

Applies to: Windows 10, Windows 11

  1. Find the game's executable — in Steam, right-click the game and use Manage → Browse local files.
  2. Right-click the .exe, choose Properties, and open the Compatibility tab.
  3. Note the current state of Disable fullscreen optimizations, then set it to the opposite and click Apply.
  4. Launch the game and test.
  5. If it is no better, put it back — this genuinely varies per game rather than having one correct setting.

Confirmed by the vendor.

Source: Microsoft

5.Pin the game to the graphics adapter that drives your monitor

about 10 min

The fix for laptops and setups mixing integrated and discrete outputs, where the game can render on one adapter while you watch a screen driven by another.

Applies to: Windows 11, Windows 10

  1. Open Settings → System → Display → Graphics.
  2. Find the game, or add its executable with Browse.
  3. Open Options and set High performance to force the discrete GPU.
  4. Check which physical outputs come from which adapter, and play on a display driven by the one you selected.
  5. Restart the game and test.

Confirmed by the vendor.

Source: Microsoft

6.Reset the game's stored display settings

Check before applyingabout 15 min

Left until later because it discards your configuration, but it is the reliable fix when a game has saved a display mode the monitor cannot show and you cannot see the menu to change it.

Applies to: Windows 10, Windows 11

Before you do this

This discards your saved graphics settings and, in some games, keybindings stored in the same file. Copy the file first — and never delete a folder containing save games, which some titles keep alongside the configuration.

First:

  • Back up the configuration file before renaming or deleting it
  1. Close the game completely, including from Task Manager if needed.
  2. Find its settings file — commonly under Documents\My Games, %LOCALAPPDATA%, or the game's own folder. The game's support pages or community will name the exact path.
  3. Copy the file somewhere safe before touching it, so you can undo this.
  4. Rename or delete the original so the game regenerates it with defaults on next launch.
  5. Alternatively, check whether the game accepts a launch option such as -windowed, which many engines support and which avoids editing files at all.
  6. Launch the game and set the resolution and refresh rate to match your monitor before returning to fullscreen.

If none of this worked

If there is no audio either, the game is not running properly and this is a launch failure rather than a display problem — start with the launcher's own error reporting. If the monitor reports no signal instead of showing black, the display is receiving nothing at all, which points at the cable, the input, or the GPU rather than the game. And if the black screen appears on the desktop too, this is not a game problem: treat it as a driver or hardware fault.

Common questions

Why does the audio work if nothing is on screen?
Audio and video travel completely separate paths. Sound reaching your speakers proves the game launched and is running its main loop, which is why this symptom rules out crashes, corrupt installs, and blocked launches all at once.
Should I reinstall the game?
Almost certainly not. A reinstall usually keeps the configuration file that stores the bad display mode, so it costs you a long download and changes nothing. Resetting that file is the targeted version of the same idea.
Why did this start when I added a second monitor?
Because the game now has somewhere else to open, and Windows may have changed which display is primary. It can also mean the game is rendering on an adapter that does not drive the screen you are watching, which is why pinning the GPU is on the list.

Did this fix work?

If a step is wrong, outdated, or did not help, telling us is the fastest way to get it corrected — reports are reviewed before new articles.

Report a problem with this page

Related problems

Sources

  • HDR settings in WindowsOfficial

    Microsoft · Support page · checked Aug 16, 2026

    • The Use HDR toggle is found under Settings > System > Display, and on a multi-monitor setup the display must be selected first
    • HDR requires an HDR10-capable display, a PC supporting HDR and wide colour gamut, and compatible WDDM graphics drivers
    • Hardware support can be confirmed in the DirectX Diagnostic Tool by checking for AdvancedColorSupported
    • Microsoft recommends DisplayPort over HDMI for colour accuracy
    • For colour problems over HDMI, Microsoft's documented remedies include reducing the refresh rate to 30 Hz or the resolution to 1920x1080 at 60 Hz
    • SDR and HDR content brightness are adjusted with sliders in Display settings
  • Demystifying Fullscreen OptimizationsOfficial

    Microsoft · Documentation · checked Aug 16, 2026

    • Fullscreen Optimizations intercepts games requesting exclusive fullscreen and runs them in a borderless windowed format covering the entire screen
    • With Fullscreen Optimizations the Desktop Window Manager composites the game rather than the game taking complete control of the display
    • Fullscreen Optimizations can be disabled per game from the executable's Properties, on the Compatibility tab
  • Handle device removed scenarios in Direct3D 11Official

    Microsoft · Documentation · checked Aug 16, 2026

    • An application moving to a monitor attached to a different graphics device is a documented reason a window size change can return a device removed error
    • A system changing from a power-saving graphics adapter to a performance graphics adapter causes a device removed condition
    • When a graphics device is removed or reset the desktop resolution often changes, producing a window size change