macOS Big Sur Graphical Glitches: Black Wallpaper, Black Menu Bar

macOS Big Sur graphical glitches

macOS Big Sur graphical glitches


Are you experiencing graphical glitches in macOS Big Sur 11.1? Is the wallpaper unexpectedly disappearing and a black background is displayed instead? While this graphical issue is ongoing, right-click menus for apps available in the Dock are also displaying an ugly background with a gray / greenish tint!

How To Fix Black Wallpaper Bug

1. Restart Mac

A Mac restart fixes the problem, but it’s only temporary because the wallpaper bug unexpectedly reappears later on. We’re currently looking for other ways to fix it.

2. Switch Between Light / Dark Mode

Open System Preferences, tap on General and switch between Light and Dark mode to see if this will bring back the wallpaper and stop the display glitch. Does it work?

I’m wondering how widespread this issue is? Are you also experiencing it on your machine? Use the comments section available at the end of this article to share your feedback. Don’t hesitate to share your fix if you found a better solution.

Other macOS Big Sur Graphical Glitches

1. Fix Black Menu Bar

macos big sur dark menu bar in light theme
Is your menu bar black in macOS Big Sur although Dark Mode is disabled?
No worries, this isn’t a bug. The Menu Bar color is influenced, by default, by your current wallpaper. Try changing the the desktop background and you’ll notice that the menu bar changes its color accordingly.
Tip: If you want to keep your menu bar to display in grey (Light Mode), or black (Dark Mode), without changing with the wallpaper, you have to enable the Reduce Transparency setting in: System Preferences -> Accessibility -> Display -> Reduce Transparency.

2. Pink Screen On Shutdown

MacBook screen turning pink during Big Sur shutdown
Is your Mac display also turning pink, for a couple of seconds, while shutting down macOS Big Sur?

Are you encountering any other graphical issues in macOS 11? Share them via the comments section and we will take a look at them.

Related: You can replace the missing Calculator widget in macOS Big Sur, with the Spotlight search shortcut!