TeamViewer + Windows 8.1+AMD switchable graphics = black screen

I use TeamViewer a lot, both for work (with a purchased license) and the free version for home.  Recently, on my home machine, a Dell e6540 whenever I’d connect to it, all I’d see was a black screen. Connecting to another laptop, a Dell e5520, was no problem.

One thing I thought could be an issue was the AMD switchable graphics, so I set the teamviewer_desktop.exe to use the more powerful AMD Radeon HD 8790M.  Made the switch and no luck.  So I asked Google, and found a superuser.com thread (http://superuser.com/questions/777492/teamviewer-other-screen-sharing-showing-a-blank-or-black-screen-to-remote-user)  that said to do the exact opposite, set teamviewer_desktop.exe to use the Intel graphics.

That was the trick, with teamviewer_desktop.exe set to Power saving, TeamViewer functions normally.

Go to the AMD Catalyst Control Center, then Switchable Graphics Application Settings.  If TeamViewer_Desktop.exe is not listed, click Add application and browse to your TeamViewer installation (default is C:\Program Files (x86)\TeamViewer) select Power Saving and click Apply.

VMWare Workstation 11 now available!

http://www.vmware.com/products/workstation/features.html

Lots of new features, and a big performance boost for Haswell CPUs, 2GB of video memory,  Windows 10 TP ready, QHD+ resolutions, and more!

I originally wrote this up when it was on sale for a 30% discount.  I guess I went over and purchased my upgrades and forgot to come back and publish this.