Zoom does not detect my window when sharing screen on Linux (GNOME, and all WM, but works on KDE)

[fnurhidayat]

I tried to share my screen, but the only option there is Dekstop 1, can you guys fix this issue, so I can choose my window to share, since it's a little bit annoying if I share the entire screen, there's a  huge black box appearing on my screen, and my participant can't see my screen fully.

You guys can take Telegram as example, it supports the window sharing on GNOME, and majority of Window Manager. Or Zoom inside Browser. I think there's something wrong with the libx11 implementation.

• OS: Arch Linux
• Zoom version: 5.8.3
• Window Manager: BSPWM, DWM, Sway

[pizzalover28]

Hi! 

My name is Pizzalover28 and I am glad to assist you today. 

Is your zoom version up to date?

[dwrBad]

Hi, I've got the same problem since several versions, running

* Zoom Version: 5.8.4 (210)

* Ubuntu 20.04

* Gnome via X

Regards
Harald

[afryanda27]

I am in i3wm, have same problem.

[rouhim]

Same here for:

OS: manjaro 21.2.0 GNOME

Zoom: 5.8.4 (210)

Display server: wayland

In 5.8.3 everything worked perfectly.

Further info:

The private screenshot api used by zoom is no longer available.

Check this issue how to workaround: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/-/issues/4665

[es-kyra]

For more context, Zoom incorrectly implemented their screensharing on modern gnu+linux distributions which use Wayland. Zoom did not introduce Wayland support until March 1, 2020 version 3.5.361976.0301. This was broken upon release because they did not use the correct API (gdbus-org.freedesktop.portal.ScreenCast) which has been available since early 2018: https://github.com/flatpak/xdg-desktop-portal/releases/tag/0.10. This resulted in issues for multi-monitor setups, problems with HiDPI screens, unusable performance, and other glitches from the beginning, and now it is broken completely.

Many users are switching to affordable, reliable, backed-by-open-source options like https://8x8.vc, powered by Jitsi (plus, they didn't lie to their users about end-to-end encryption and get sued). The screenshot API exists only for the system to take screenshots (of course). It is very inefficient for video but what's worse is it is also completely insecure because in order for it to be publicly enabled, applications have full access to record your entire screen without explicit permission.

The correct API was designed for video, and gives the user control over sharing specific windows/apps or the entire screen, so no app gets to spy on your screen without your permission. So when Zoom created their  implementation they used the wrong API, and for the almost two years since then Zoom still didn't update, ignored the users with issues, did not monitor for deprecating APIs, and did not test upcoming gnu+linux distributions like Fedora to see that the API they use was incorrect, long been deprecated, and imminently disabled. This left many users and developers to do the testing and investigation for them, but still took nine months to be recognized. Finally, they are working on this now, so we will see how long the fix takes.

[zbrown]

We seem to be getting some response on another thread, hopefully this means Zoom will finally implement screencasts properly

[kplaha]

@fnurhidayat does screen sharing for KDE work with Xorg or Wayland? I haven't had any luck with sharing screen under KDE+Wayland so far (now on 5.9.3).