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ollie_3060
Participant
September 17, 2025
Answered

After Effects preview window is black but only on my laptop

  • September 17, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 234 views

Hi guys, 

 

I've been having this issue for around a week now and I haven't been able to find a solution. 

Basically my After Effects preview is black but only when I use AE on my laptop, if I drag the application over to my second screen the preview plays. 

I've tried everything in this thread - Solved: My After Effects preview is all black. - Adobe Product Community - 8307052 checked the eye icon is on, toggled all the preferences it suggests (Mercury Transmit, pruged the cache etc etc), uninstalled and reinstalled AE, updated my driver but still the problem persists. 

I use Windows 11 with NVIDIA GEFORCE studio driver. The fact I can see the preview on my second screen leads me to believe it's something to do with my laptop?

 

Any ideas would be greatly appriciated. 

Thanks 

Ollie

    Correct answer ollie_3060

    Hi Nishu, 

     

    Thanks for the reply. 

     

    I got IT to have a look (it's a work laptop) and they made sure all the drivers were up to date. We then discovered that my laptop wasn't shutting down properly, apparently this was a windows setting, after making sure that was deselected and running a proper restart, it now works again. 

     

    Thanks 

    Ollie

    1 reply

    nishu_kush
    nishu_kush
    Legend
    September 17, 2025

    Sorry to hear about the issue, Ollie.

     

    Could you share your system specifications (CPU, GPU, RAM, OS version)? What version of the Nvidia Studio driver are you using? It could be a GPU driver-related issue. If you've an integrated Intel-GPU, you can try disabling it with the steps below: 

    • Close After Effects
    • Go to the Device Manager (Run >> devmgmt.msc)
    • Select Display Adapter, Right click on  the "Intel UHD graphic card".
    • Select "Update Driver"
    • Select "Browse my Computer"
    • Select "Let me Pick from a list of available drivers on my Computer".
    • Select "Microsoft Display Adapter".
    •  Launch After Effects.

    Let me know how it goes. Moving this thread from Bugs to Discussions for troubleshooting.


    Thanks,
    Nishu

    O
    ollie_3060AuthorCorrect answer
    Participant
    September 22, 2025

    Hi Nishu, 

     

    Thanks for the reply. 

     

    I got IT to have a look (it's a work laptop) and they made sure all the drivers were up to date. We then discovered that my laptop wasn't shutting down properly, apparently this was a windows setting, after making sure that was deselected and running a proper restart, it now works again. 

     

    Thanks 

    Ollie

    O
    ollie_3060Author
    Participant
    September 22, 2025

    Fast boot was the setting, just FYI.

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