Grey boxes blocking screen share

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2021-09-13
11:03 PM
- last edited on
2022-03-11
09:00 AM
by
Bri
I have had the experience many times when someone was screen sharing (say a Youtube video) and dark grey boxes block the picture. I believe one box was the gallery of participants on the side, I have no idea what the other grey box was... how do you get rid of these boxes so that the screen share picture is unimpaired?
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2021-09-14 11:03 AM - edited 2021-09-14 11:05 AM
Hey @Linzhess, the host may have 'Show My Zoom Windows to other participants when I am screen sharing' disabled.
If you go to your Zoom client settings > Shared Screen > and check the setting, the gray boxes are the Zoom windows.
Also recommending if sharing a Web Tab, in your example YouTube, I would encourage instead of sharing your desktop to share the web browser tab instead. This should resolve your problem with the experiences I've had anyway! Let me know if this helps!
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2022-03-06 12:40 PM
Where is the option to just share the tab? I tried the other fix of enabling Show my Zoom windows, but that didn't solve the gray boxes. Any help is appreciated!

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2022-08-30 03:38 PM
Greetings... I have this same issue of grey screen when I go to screen share a video. I have a Mac with Monterey OS. Please advise on any other options for getting past this obstacle. Thanks, JAH23

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2023-01-23 10:15 AM
I tried this, it didn't help....I am having to speak to Zoom support about this now

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2022-01-05 10:03 AM
Hi RN!
Sorry to jump in like this though our teacher has the same issue and everyone in class could see these and the option for show zoom windows is disabled.
Thank you 🙂
Shawn
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2023-01-23 10:35 AM
Hey @pascalgrierson @Linzhess @JAH23 @JRSTEN5925 @Shawnloveshorse looked back at some issues that are similar and seems like if you check “Optimize for video clip” under the ellipsis during a screen share, those boxes will appear.
So, if unchecked, the grey boxes will not appear. Seems like this is by design.
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2023-02-25 11:47 PM
This was already unchecked and the grey boxes still appear. I've tried all possible solutions and when recording or screensharing, it still shows the gray boxes with diagonal lines.
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2023-03-07 09:53 AM
We've written about this topic on our blog quite extensively including why it happens and few options for resolving or working around it. Hope this helps you all out. Not a new thing.
https://thewebinerd.com/2021/07/13/get-rid-of-those-gray-boxes-in-zoom/

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2024-02-20 08:58 AM
Great article. I ended up buying a new computer and the boxes went away. They showed up on my old one, so it looks like you may be correct. It's likely the computer and not the application. That's an expensive fix though.

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2025-01-13 02:10 AM
Hi! To resolve this issue you can download and install driver Intel® Graphics Driver 32.0.101.5972 (WHQL Certified) or the latest driver.
Note: From the Intel page, under Version, click the drop-down to access the necessary driver.

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2025-02-27 06:50 AM
I downloaded the latest Intel Graphics driver as suggested. Rebooted. Still get the gray boxes. Until this is fixed, I'll continue to use two monitors.

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2025-01-30 03:27 PM
1. Go to Zoom online (not desktop)
2. Go to Settings > Meetings > In Meeting (Basic) > toggle ON "Show Zoom windows during screen share"
3. Then, go to Zoom desktop. If you are signed in already, sign out and then sign back in.
4. Click on your profile picture and go to Settings
5. Go to Share > toggle ON "Show my Zoom Windows to other participants when I am screen sharing"
6. Click Advanced at the bottom of the screen
7. Under Screen capture mode, select Secure share with window filtering

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2025-02-27 09:33 AM - edited 2025-02-27 09:49 AM
Responding to Newcomer's suggestion: I got to step 5 ("Go to Share > toggle ON "Show my Zoom Windows...") but couldn't find that option. So I skipped that one and performed steps 6 and 7. This in fact DID remove the gray boxes. I hope it sticks. Sometimes (many times) settings get changed and I have to reapply my preferences. But that's another discussion!
