Windows 7 movie maker, has black screen but has audio

Anonymous
2013-04-16T05:33:22+00:00

I have windows 7 movie maker and the preview screen is black, I can here audio but can't see anything. How do I fix this?

Windows for home | Other | Music, photos, and video

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2013-04-16T16:20:01+00:00

The most common causes of black video (only audio) are:

  1. Not having the correct video codec to decode the video file.  This can happen with certain file types. While it might be possible to remedy this by figuring out what exact codec the file needs and then getting that installed on your system, this can be fraught with peril.  My recommendation in these cases is to convert the source video file to a supported file type (preferably .wmv).  I've used Freemake Video Converter for this task, but feel free to research your options.
  2. Having an outdated video graphics driver.  The solution for this is to run dxdiag and go to the Display tab.  Find out the make/model of your graphics card along with the installed driver version.  Then go to the manufacturer's website and find and install an update.  Alternatively, you may have to go to your PC manufacturer's website to get a graphics driver update, if they prevent you from installing driver updates directly.

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-03-11T08:22:52+00:00

    Hi Stephen,

    Thanks for sharing the information with us and this information may be helpful for other Community users.

    Please feel free to contact us, if you need any further help we would be glad to assist you.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-03-11T05:57:57+00:00

    I had this problem on a Windows 7 laptop that had dual mode graphics (on-board Intel and high performance AMD). I solved the problem by disabling dual mode graphics and running all applications with high performance graphics.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-03-09T13:55:52+00:00

    Hi,

    We appreciate your time and effort for getting back to us.

    Before we proceed, I need more information to help you better.

    1.   What is the Windows Movie Maker version installed on your system? To know the version, open the Windows Movie Maker and click on File > About Movie Maker.

    2.   Which Windows version are you using?

    3.   What is the video file format which you are trying to play in the Windows Movie Maker?

    4.   Is this issue specific to a particular video or all videos?

    5.   Did you check if the video file plays fine on some other media players?

    Reply with the necessary information and we will be glad to assist you further.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-03-09T08:18:48+00:00

    Converting the file to .wmv mutes the audio and keeps the black screen.  In other words converting doesn't work.  At all.

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