Moonlight shows a black screen but you can hear the game

Checked October 30, 2026 against Moonlight PC v6.2.0 and Sunshine v2026.914.233613 (latest stable releases) and their documentation. Sources are listed at the end of the page.

Why audio working matters

Audio means Moonlight reached the host, the app launched and Sunshine is sending data. So skip the network checks for now and look at what Sunshine captures. Moonlight’s black-screen checklist starts at the host display for the same reason.

1. Make sure the host has an active display

• The monitor should be powered on and connected to the GPU that does the encoding. A display that is off or asleep can’t be captured.
• No monitor? Moonlight suggests a cheap headless HDMI dongle (a “dummy plug”). A virtual display driver is another option. See streaming without a dummy plug.
• Windows hosts: Sunshine’s dd_configuration_option setting can activate the display if it’s inactive (ensure_active), and can make it the primary or only display while you stream.

2. Check which GPU and display Sunshine captures

• On Windows, Sunshine uses the Desktop Duplication API, which only captures from the GPU driving the display. On laptops and multi-GPU PCs, the game has to run on a display attached to that GPU.
• If you have several monitors, check Sunshine’s output_name setting. The Sunshine log lists the displays it detected at startup. While streaming, Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F1…F12 switches the streamed monitor.

3. Find out whether it’s one game

Stream the built-in Desktop app. If the desktop shows but one game stays black, it’s game-specific. Moonlight suggests streaming the whole desktop and starting the game from there.

4. HDR and protected content

• With HDR streaming on, Moonlight lists a known issue where the video may not start until you move or click the mouse. Try that before anything else.
• Some password managers (KeePass and iCloud Keychain are named) mark themselves as protected content, like DRM, which can interfere with capture. Close them for a test.
• If you used Microsoft Remote Desktop, the PC may be locked. For Sunshine hosts, Moonlight’s docs say to log back in through the “Desktop” app, then start the stream you wanted.

5. Linux hosts

• NVIDIA with KMS capture: if the stream is black, Sunshine’s docs say to add nvidia_drm.modeset=1 to the kernel command line.
• KMS capture needs Sunshine’s native package; Flatpak and AppImage builds can’t get the privileges it needs. XDG Portal capture works with every package type.
• SteamOS or Bazzite in Game Mode: there is an open Sunshine issue where the picture goes black, with audio, once a game starts. See the Steam Deck black screen guide.