While there are plenty of bugs and issues on both Windows 10 and 11, one of the most recurring issues that plague user PCs is related to MPO or Multiplane Overlay. This feature was introduced by Microsoft in Windows 8.1 through Windows Display Driver Module (WDDM) 1.3. When implementing multiple frame buffers, MPO was intended to reduce CPU and GPU overhead by using a fixed-function hardware unit in the display controller as opposed to using shader cycles.
However, the feature has often been plagued with problems. And although Microsoft has dealt with issues and bugs related to MPO and other Desktop Window Manager (DWM) features in the past, with Windows 11 in recent days, it seems that the problem is mostly caused by hardware like AMD and Nvidia. Vendors have ignored. As software giant Microsoft.
There are many forum posts and threads online from users who apparently solved their display problems by disabling MPO. In fact, Nvidia once was Hotfix released. who recommended disabling the option via a registry tweak. Classic symptoms usually include stuttering, black screen or white screen issues, flickering, among others, in Windows as well as browsers like Chrome or Edge. It is possible that some enterprise software display issues, such as those where the Citrix Workspace mouse cursor turns white, can also be fixed. Some users say that driver timeout issues were also fixed.
While not every display-related bug is caused by MPO, disabling the option may come in handy if you’ve been unable to resolve the issue with other methods. To disable MPO, go to the Display Window Manager (DWM) registry address below and add the “OverlayTestMode” DWORD value 00000005.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Dwm
“OverlayTestMode”=dword:00000005
Steps:
- go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Dwm
- Right click. > new > DWORD 32-bit value
- Name the new DWORD value “OverlayTestMode”.
- Edit. By right-clicking the OverlayTestMode DWORD value
- Enter value data “00000005”
After that, to restore MPO if you have any problems, simply delete the OverlayTestMode DWORD you created. However, if voices on the internet are to be believed, disabling this feature will definitely magically cure many problems out there.
