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Linux screen sharing broken in new client

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
August 19, 2021
13 replies
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A few days ago, I installed the latest Zoom client (Version 5.7.5 (29123.0808)) on Fedora Linux Release 32. Now "Share Screen" offers only the whiteboard under "Basic". There is no option to actually share the video screen. Yes, I rebooted the system to be sure there was not some other problem. The old client worked great, though it may have been a few versions back. Does anyone else have this problem?

Best answer by climate_dude

That was it! I'm not sure why it worked before, but I switched over from Xwayland (Wayland) to Xorg following the instructions at https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/quick-docs/configuring-xorg-as-default-gnome-session/. Now screens and application windows appear in the Share Screen dialog window. Thanks!

jdott16

Community Champion | Employee

Hello @climate_dude

Can you verify if you are utilizing Wayland with your Linux set up? If so, you will need to launch your Linux session with Xorg instead. From the support article: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362153-Sharing-your-screen-content-or-second-camera#:~:text=Linux%20sessions%20utilizing%20Wayland%20can%20only%20share%20an%20entire%20desktop%20or%20whiteboard.%20To%20share%20just%20a%20specific%20application%2C%20you%20need%20to%20launch%20your%20Linux%20session%20with%20Xorg%20instead.

"Linux sessions utilizing Wayland can only share an entire desktop or whiteboard. To share just a specific application, you need to launch your Linux session with Xorg instead."

Let me know if you continue to experience any other issues or if this resolves what you are experiencing. Thank you.

C

climate_dudeAuthorAnswer

Newcomer

That was it! I'm not sure why it worked before, but I switched over from Xwayland (Wayland) to Xorg following the instructions at https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/quick-docs/configuring-xorg-as-default-gnome-session/. Now screens and application windows appear in the Share Screen dialog window. Thanks!

Z

zbrown

Newcomer

Meh, this isn't really a "solution" it's more accurately a workaround for a Zoom bug

M

mzingale

Newcomer

I found that dropping down to Zoom 5.6 works with Wayland on Fedora 34.

J

johnfparis

Newcomer

I tried going to 5.6.7 on Fedora 35 with Wayland, no go.

P

petrelharp

Newcomer

For background and a workaround that still uses wayland, see https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/-/issues/4665

The short version of the workaround is: do alt-F2, type "lg" and hit return; then enter

global.context.unsafe_mode = true

and hit return; then escape to go back to things. You might want to reverse this (change "true" to "false") afterwards.

E

es-kyra

Newcomer

Be warned, this "workaround" along with Xorg workaround above, both also work around all the security present in wayland which prevents apps from spying on your screen without your explicit permission.

W

waioefjwaeiofj

Newcomer

Same issue with Slackware x86 and x64 Current and OpenSUSE 😞 - Wayland support would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance

S

sintrix

Newcomer

i'm probably going to just cancel my corporate account, here i thought they were better than teams supporting linux. but then they got lazy. well. you snooze ya lose pal. i'm outtie!

L

LadyMeerkat

Newcomer

I've upgraded to Ubuntu 22 and now can share only the whiteboard. With Ubuntu 20 screen sharing worked well, but Ubuntu itself stopped working properly, I had to change it. Going down to Ubuntu 12+ Client doesn't solve the problem.

G

gbrown

Newcomer

I'm also on Ubuntu 22 and can only share the whiteboard. Zoom version 5.10.4.

N

N_E_R_D

Newcomer

No need to switch over to Xorg from Wayland as your default display server.. While on Wayland you can just spawn Zoom with the following environment variable set: XDG_SESSION_TYPE=x11

Like this:

$ XDG_SESSION_TYPE=x11 zoom &