Windows display blank on reboot after Windows 11 ARM preview/24H2 update

[chadlwilson]

Describe the issue

After an update to Windows 11 ARM Insider Preview 26200.5001 (similar for those updating to official release 24H2) when the VM rebooted the screen was black/blank. The VM seemed to be doing stuff underneath.

I could workaround/fix this by

• Changing the display device from virtio-ramfb-gl (default, I never have changed this) to virtio-gpu-gl-pci
• Restarted VM. Display now works.
• Reinstalling UTM/Spice guest tools (this is normal to need to do after an upgrade due to the way insider previews work)
• Changing back to virtio-ramfb-gl. Display still works.

I'm not sure if this is a change on UTM (from 4.5.x) or Windows 11 ARM Insider preview nor what the differences are between the display drivers, but recording it here in case others have the same issue and need a workaround.

Feel free to close this if it's expected.

Configuration

• UTM Version: 4.5.2
• macOS Version: Sonoma 14.4.1
• Mac Chip (Intel, M1, ...): M1

Debug log
I don't think I can recreate this now - perhaps at the next Insider Preview update? :-(

Upload VM
config.plist.zip

[chadlwilson]

For what it's worth, I didn't have the same problem after updating to 26212.5000 so not sure if this was something to do with that release; or the QEMU/UTM update. To be fair, these are Canary channel builds (necessary right now to get necessary fixes to be able to run Ruby on Win 11 arm64, and I missed my chance to switch back to dev channel at 26200)

[chadlwilson]

I did another Insider Preview upgrade and did not have an issue with the display. Will close this for now as perhaps it was something quirky specific to my setup, and I am using Insider Preview builds so it's possible this is specific to that, rather than a UTM issue.

Can re-open if others have similar issues.

[Kaiojag]

Only now I have the same problema as your. Even changing the display option I still have a black screen. I also do not know how to reinstall UTM/Spice guest tools how can I do it? I am sorry for reopening the thread.

[chadlwilson]

Well you can't reinstall the spice tools until you can actually see the screen and interact with the guest, so need to find a way to fix that first.

There could probably be many reasons the display isn't working, this ticket was specifically about it happening as an unexpected side effect of a Window update/upgrade (which hasn't happened to me before or since).

[halter73]

I noticed the same issue shortly after updating to Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.1252. It might have happened earlier without me noticing since I typically RDP in, but I appreciate the tip that you need to reinstall UTM/Spice guest tools to fix this issue. That worked for me. It's good to know if I lose RDP for some reason, I can still use the UTM display.

It might be worth reopening this issue for visibility especially if changing the display option doesn't work around the issue. I found https://www.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/1dk7z45/windows_11_vm_on_utm_black_screen_after_software/ before finding this which suggests that Windows updates are causing the UTM display not to function and just show a black screen. I'm glad I was able to fix the issue without reverting the update.

[chadlwilson]

Interesting - so it isn't/wasn't just me...

Since I was on the canary channel, if it's something from a windows update it does stand to reason that I'd be hit first.

I haven't done any updates for a while as I'm trying to get off the canary channel at some point without a complete reinstall, so had switched to Dev and hoping for the build #s to catch up for a small window some time this year 😅

[RealDyllon]

I'm experiencing this issue as well. I'm able to see the login screen, but upon logging in the screen turns black.

[corwin-of-amber]

@chadlwilson's symptom occurred for me as well after updating to 240927. I can confirm that switching to virtio-gpu-gl-pci and reinstalling guest tools worked as prescribed.

BTW any reason not to leave the display setting as virtio-gpu-gl-pci? In case future updates will reintroduce this problem.

[msart-it-vision]

Having Updated my UTM VM Windows 11 from 22H2 with the 24H2 from ISO and have the BlackScreen also.

Above mentioned Method did not work but the Display change to Option virtio-gpu-gl-pci works.
Only downside it is only 1024x786 and no Screen Sizing or Resolution change possible.

I use RDP and lucky me had it also configured before the Update.

No virtio-ramfb-gl anymore i had used from the beginning in mid 2022.

MBA M2 MacOS 15 - UTM 4.5.4
(this is now my most actualized Windows because whatever i do i get no 24H2 Updates on my Hardware Windows11. This is not to important because my Z490 is mostly running on MacOS (Sequoia) and my Laptop on Zorin 17. These are up to Date with ease.)

[chadlwilson]

I suspect the particular update is causing an issue regardless of the display device - since it's possible to change it temporarily and then change it back to the original driver without ongoing issue.

[msart-it-vision]

Have tried the above method changing device several times but as i stated that did not work.
And yes, i have always reinstalled the Spice Tools.
The GraficCard shows up in the devicemanager but on the Mac Side it only flashes shortly when entering Remote Desktop.
The flash is the same when device is virtio-gpu-gl-pci but after flash it comes up with a Monitor Out after one Second which it will not when on virtio-ramfb-gl.

Windows 11 Pro 24H2 26100.1882
[KB5043178] MBA M2 MacOS 15 - UTM 4.5.4

Btw.: have updated my Z490 to 24H2 26100.1882 as well with the GroupPolicy Trick and there is the difference also, first the start sound and after a second the Monitor turns from Black to Login. It was also present with 26100.1742.
My Laptop did a BSOD while updating from 1742 to 1882 and is now back on 1742 but tries again.
After having the updated the AMD Adrenalin Driver the 1882 Update has run through.

I have stumbled across other Users with Hardware also getting the BlackScreen in the same way: First Boot Sequenc with Vendor Logo and Circle visible and after GraficDriver Loadet stays Black.

[darianss]

Hi all, this didn't really work for me. Switching the display device to virtio-gpu-gl-pci still leads to a black screen, after the initial Windows loading screen showing up fine. The mouse pointer is visible though. Not sure what else to try.

[osy]

Duplicate of #6837

[osy]

There is definitely something that broke in Windows. Another issue is that when you try to install Windows 24H2 ARM64, it will load the installer and then immediately show "Guest has not initialized the display (yet)" when the graphics drivers are loaded. This can be worked around by un-mounting the guest tools ISO and manually installing it afterwards.

[tiiiecherle]

There is definitely something that broke in Windows. Another issue is that when you try to install Windows 24H2 ARM64, it will load the installer and then immediately show "Guest has not initialized the display (yet)" when the graphics drivers are loaded. This can be worked around by un-mounting the guest tools ISO and manually installing it afterwards.

Thanks, I was trying to do exactly this, installing Win 24H2 ARM64 and had the same issue and nothing worked. Only the combination of selecting virtio-gpu-gl-pci and unmounting the guest additions before installation fixed it for me.
Installing the guest additions after the update went fine.

[denischernenko]

I experienced "Display Output Not Active" error too. Could not fix it, but found temporary solution:

1. Skip installing drivers from \Drivers\viogpudo and change — this is how I can still operate the VM. I just made a little batch script to bypass it.

2. Emulated Display Card in VM Hardware settings -> virtio-ramfb-gl (GPU Not Supported).

Though, I still see 'Display Output Not Active' for a second or two while booting/restarting VM, but now it does not obstruct my work anymore.

[saidatta]

ditto. I gave up on emulating win 11. will wait until a proper fix.

[skapsarali]

getting same error "Display Output Not Active"

[creechy]

Just curious if there are any thoughts on a path for this? Could there eventually be a solution without workarounds?

[timothynoel]

FWIW, the latest 4.63 release addressed this for me. In 4.62 I was getting blank screens on my windows (23H2) and Debian Bookworm VMs, no matter the display device used. Now everything is working. I see the display not active message very briefly in Debian but everything works fine afterward

[osy]

There's two different issues here. #6861 was addressed by 4.6.3 and affects every QEMU VM as soon as you start it. This one only affects Windows 11 24H2 (including after updating to it) and is caused by a Windows driver issue.

[timothynoel]

Thanks for the correction, I missed that other issue, and also, thanks for the fix on that one.

[creechy]

Just curious if there are any thoughts on a path for this? Could there eventually be a solution without workarounds?

FWIW - I still had to do the workaround - switch video card - reinstall guest tools - switch video back.
UTM 4.6.3, M3 Max, Sequoia, Windows 11 ARM (guest)
Keeping a backup of the VM for a while :-)

[msart-it-vision]

Well...

i had the Problem related to 24H2 and after booted from UTM 463 (virtio-ramfb-gl) with no Display out and connecting via Remote Desktop on my MBA M2 i activated/downloadet the spice tools iso via the GUI Frame of UTM and installed the Driver in Win11 Pro Arm 24H2 again.

Then the Remote Desktop was Black Screen and the GUI of UTM Sand colored.
I had to Hard Reset but jep, after Booting i had the GUI Display out again.

So even if @timothynoel mixed it up, he got me to try 463.
My Win 11 Pro for ARM 24H2 Grafic Out Problem is solved after 3 Month with Remote Desktop only.

[bdutta]

Glad to find this workaround as it worked for me and unblocked me. The problem (black screen) cropped up after the guest additions were added, so I got the network, Microsoft Market, and a resizable display (I'm assuming that all of those somehow need guest additions). I stopped the VM, then removed / unmounted the guest-additions iso and then the Win11 installer iso, changed the display driver, and restarted VM, then everything seems to work fine.

[chadlwilson]

Yeah, there seem to possibly be a few related issues of blank or non-functional display being referred to here which might be slightly different to when I first opened the ticket where it was a transient problem after a specific upgrade that eventually rolled out more widely in 24H2.

Subsequent to this I have switched to permanently using the (slow, laggy) virtio-ramfb display device as I found with the GPU variants that my display would be permanently dead when swapping between an external device and laptop display with a running VM, usually after sleep. It was too annoying so I swapped, as I prefer not to use remote desktop to access my Win VM.

But that's another example of a separate blank display device problem that might be a bit independent of this one, and I'll try again on more recent UTM along with some other workarounds to address that (might be #6204).