menu bar disappearing

[aresando]

Hi
I have a weird bug that appeared recently, where the menu bar on my mac not only dims, but the content simply disappears on the displays that are not the active one.

The apple logo and File / Edit ... menu are still visible but everything on the right hand side (date/clock, battery icon, etc.) simply become gray on gray.

This does not happen when I connect an external screen directly to the computer. Only when I use my DisplayLink compatible station. I tried different things, including switching "Reduce transparency" and "Show meny bar background" on and off in System Settings, with no results. Each time I click on one display (whether the laptop's or one of the two external screens), the content of the menu bar on the two other displays dims, before simply disappearing one second later, bar a couple of icons that are colorful instead of the standard dark gray colour.

Any idea?
Thanks

[rboerner]

Originally Posted by aresando

Hi
I have a weird bug that appeared recently, where the menu bar on my mac not only dims, but the content simply disappears on the displays that are not the active one.

The apple logo and File / Edit ... menu are still visible but everything on the right hand side (date/clock, battery icon, etc.) simply become gray on gray.

This does not happen when I connect an external screen directly to the computer. Only when I use my DisplayLink compatible station. I tried different things, including switching "Reduce transparency" and "Show meny bar background" on and off in System Settings, with no results. Each time I click on one display (whether the laptop's or one of the two external screens), the content of the menu bar on the two other displays dims, before simply disappearing one second later, bar a couple of icons that are colorful instead of the standard dark gray colour.

Any idea?
Thanks

I 'think' I may have encountered the same issue, presuming you are running macOS 26.

In my case, I was able to work around the issue by going to System Settings --> Accessibility --> Display --> Reduce Transparency and turning that option to off.

When I did so, the menu bars within my DisplayLink driven displays appeared as expected.

[aresando]

Originally Posted by rboerner

I 'think' I may have encountered the same issue, presuming you are running macOS 26.

In my case, I was able to work around the issue by going to System Settings --> Accessibility --> Display --> Reduce Transparency and turning that option to off.

When I did so, the menu bars within my DisplayLink driven displays appeared as expected.

Hello @rboerner and thanks for your interest in this.
I am on macOS 26. As mentioned in my original post, I tried switching Reduce Transparency already (and restarted DisplayLink) but unfortunately it has no impact on my screens.

[rboerner]

Originally Posted by aresando

Hello @rboerner and thanks for your interest in this.
I am on macOS 26. As mentioned in my original post, I tried switching Reduce Transparency already (and restarted DisplayLink) but unfortunately it has no impact on my screens.

Given your description, I would suggest reporting this issue to DisplayLink directly by following the process outlined here --> https://support.displaylink.com/know...to-displaylink

[Szymon]

Hi aresando,

Internal investigation revealed this macOS issue. Other features are affected as well, a good example is Sidecar - Use an iPad as a second display for a Mac. Unfortunately, it's up to Apple to fix this.

Regards
Szymon

[aresando]

Originally Posted by Szymon

Internal investigation revealed this macOS issue. Other features are affected as well, a good example is Sidecar - Use an iPad as a second display for a Mac. Unfortunately, it's up to Apple to fix this.

Thank you Szymon.

I will wait for updates.

That said, I don't suffer from the same problem on another pair of displays, where the only difference is that I do not use DisplayLink and connect them directly to the computer. 🤔

[Szymon]

DisplayLink as well as SideCar uses different technology stack to get pixels on your screens. Therefore, you see the difference.

Regards,
Szymon

[aresando]

Originally Posted by aresando

I will wait for updates.

Quick update on this topic: updating MacOS to 26.2 has partially solved the issue. Some icons are still disappearing in the Menu bar but at least all system info (incl. the clock!) are now visible on all displays, even when the focus window is in another display.