Troubleshooting

Black or blank recordings (Linux)

Some Linux GPU drivers crash Chromium’s GPU process during screen capture. Recordings can come out blank (only the cursor survives), and editor canvases may go black.

Lumen rebuilds canvases when the GPU process restarts. After two GPU crashes in a session, or a blank recording, it starts in software rendering from the next launch and offers a restart.

Events are logged to lumen.log in the app user-data folder (typically ~/.config/Lumen/).

To force GPU rendering again:

# Prefer this for a one-off launch
LUMEN_GPU=1 lumen

Or delete the use-software-rendering marker in the user-data folder, then relaunch.

Cursor tracking unavailable on Linux / Wayland

Global pointer access is blocked on Wayland, so tracking reports itself unavailable and zooms come from screen activity instead. Use an Xorg session for full cursor tracking.

Wayland can also make the picker look odd: Ubuntu asks you to choose a screen or window in its own dialog first, and Lumen then lists that one choice (a full screen can show up under Windows). Xorg fixes this too.

To check which session you’re in, open a terminal and run:

echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE

It prints wayland or x11 (Xorg).

Switch to an Xorg session (Ubuntu)

1. Save your work and close Lumen.
2. Open the system menu in the top-right corner → Power Off / Log Out → Log Out.
3. On the login screen, click your name. Don’t type your password yet.
4. Click the gear icon ⚙ in the bottom-right corner and choose Ubuntu on Xorg.
5. Enter your password and log in.
6. Run echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE again. It should print x11.
7. Open Lumen. The Wayland notice is gone and zooms follow your cursor.

Ubuntu remembers the session you picked, so you only do this once. To go back, repeat the steps and choose Ubuntu.

No gear icon on the login screen

If there’s no gear icon, or no Ubuntu on Xorg option, you can make Ubuntu always log in with Xorg:

1. Open a terminal and edit the config:

   sudo nano /etc/gdm3/custom.conf

2. Find the line #WaylandEnable=false and remove the # so it reads WaylandEnable=false. This makes every login use Xorg.

3. Save with Ctrl+O, Enter, then exit with Ctrl+X.

4. Restart your computer.

To undo it, put the # back and restart.

Note

Ubuntu 25.10 and later no longer ship an Xorg session for the default GNOME desktop, so the steps above won’t work there. Lumen still records normally on Wayland; zooms follow on-screen activity instead of your cursor.

macOS permissions

Grant Accessibility and Screen Recording when prompted. Without them, capture or tracking will fail.

Sign-in or Premium not unlocking

• Use the same Google or GitHub account on the website and in the app.
• Finish the browser sign-in flow, then return to Lumen.
• Confirm Premium is active on lumen.raashed.com/upgrade.

Still stuck?

Email work@raashed.com with your OS, Lumen version, and what you see (or attach lumen.log).