Blurred popup banner notifications

Question

Blurred popup banner notifications

Davide Consiglio 20

On Windows 11 26H2 (build 26300), after upgrading from Windows 10, toast notifications from multiple applications, including WhatsApp and Google Chrome, often appear with blurry text and icons. The issue is intermittent: some notifications appear perfectly sharp. Pressing Win + Ctrl + Shift + B temporarily restores the notification's clarity, but the problem returns with a subsequent notification. Screenshots captured using Win + Shift + S also show the blurriness. My display resolution is 1920 × 1080, with Windows scaling set to 100%. I have an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and have already reinstalled the graphics driver and tried disabling Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling (HAGS), but neither resolved the issue.
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Answer 1

Emma1-N 14,895 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Welcome Davide Consiglio,

Since this is a public forum, we will hide your personal identifiable information, and I have sent that image of yours containing your personal identifiable information in a private message so we can work together to resolve the issue.

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A. Since the blur only affects some notifications and is gone after Win + Ctrl + Shift + B, the notification banner is probably being drawn with the Windows transparency (blur) effect. Let's narrow it down first and then test a few quick things.

A few quick questions

Is your PC signed in with a personal Microsoft account, and is it not managed by a work or school organization? Please also tell us the edition (Home or Pro) under Settings > System > About
Do Windows own notifications (for example from "Settings" or "Windows Security") also look blurry, or only apps like WhatsApp and Chrome?
Do you use one monitor or several? Is "HDR" turned on for the display?

Things to try now

Turn off transparency. Press Win + I, go to Accessibility > Visual effects, and set Transparency effects to Off. Then send yourself a few test notifications (for example, a WhatsApp message) and check whether the banner stays sharp.
Check HDR. Go to Settings > System > Display > HDR. If Use HDR or Auto HDR is on, turn it off and test again. If the display has more than one entry, check each one.
Check for updates. Go to Settings > Windows Update > Check for updates. Then open Advanced options > Optional updates and install anything listed there. See Get Windows updates as soon as they're available. Restart the PC afterwards.
Repair system files. Right-click Start and select Terminal (Admin). Run DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth and wait for it to finish. Then run sfc /scannow and restart when it completes.

Looking forward to your update.

Davide Consiglio 20 Reputation points

2026-10-23T05:05:34.75+00:00
Thank you for your questions. Here are the details:

Account: Local Windows account, Windows 11 Pro, personal PC not managed by an organization.

Affected notifications: WhatsApp and Google Chrome. Windows system notifications appear sharp, although I haven't tested all types yet.

Display: Single monitor, HDR disabled.

Troubleshooting already tried:

Reinstalled the NVIDIA graphics driver and disabled HAGS.

Ran sfc /scannow and DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth. Neither resolved the issue.

Disabled Transparency effects and used Win + Ctrl + Shift + B. Both temporarily make the current notification sharp, but the next notification is blurry again.

Checked Windows Update and installed available optional updates.

I'll also try enabling “Get the latest updates as soon as they're available” to see if it helps.

Are there any other tests you would recommend?
Emma1-N 14,895 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-10-24T07:11:34.59+00:00
Hello Davide Consiglio,

You can try the step: Re-register the Windows notification components.

Right-click "Start" and select "Terminal (Admin)". Run this command: Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.Windows.ShellExperienceHost | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

Restart the PC and test again.
Davide Consiglio 20 Reputation points

2026-10-25T19:54:23.3066667+00:00

Hello, I tried re-registering the Windows notification components, but unfortunately, it didn't fix the issue.

Thank you.
Emma1-N 14,895 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-10-27T04:12:36.65+00:00

Hello Davide Consiglio,

Thank you for trying that and for confirming the result.

Since the issue continues and appears limited mainly to WhatsApp and Chrome notifications, could you please try one comparison test?

Open Settings > System > Notifications and make sure notifications are enabled for Microsoft Edge. Then generate a notification from Edge and check whether its notification banner is sharp or blurry.

Please also check whether a blurry WhatsApp or Chrome notification remains blurry after you open the notification center with Windows key + A.
Davide Consiglio 20 Reputation points

2026-10-27T17:09:42.9866667+00:00

I noticed that only about 1 in 10 Chrome notifications appears sharp, whereas Edge notifications are usually sharp, with only about 1 in 10 appearing blurry.

Notifications from both browsers appear sharp in the Notification Center.
Emma1-N 14,895 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-10-29T04:47:47.88+00:00

Hello Davide Consiglio,

You can try the step: Reinstall Chrome. Go to Settings > Apps > Installed apps, select the three dots next to Google Chrome, and select Uninstall. Restart the PC
Davide Consiglio 20 Reputation points

2026-11-02T10:27:25.5266667+00:00

I tried reinstalling both Google Chrome and WhatsApp, but the issue persists.
Emma1-N 14,895 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-11-03T04:02:39.6833333+00:00

Hello Davide Consiglio,

Thank you for your update. Please try the step below:

Set a fixed refresh rate. Go to Settings > System > Display > Advanced display. Under Choose a refresh rate, select a fixed rate (for example, 60 Hz). If you see "Dynamic refresh rate", set it to "Off". Then test again with a few notifications.
Davide Consiglio 20 Reputation points

2026-11-04T04:28:50.68+00:00

Dynamic Refresh Rate was already disabled. However, I found that lowering the refresh rate from 239.76 Hz to 60 Hz significantly reduces the blur in notifications. At 60 Hz, only about 1 in 50 notifications appears blurry.
Emma1-N 14,895 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-11-05T03:53:42.14+00:00

Hello Davide Consiglio,

Check the 239.76 Hz entry. This rate is slightly different from a standard 240 Hz mode and may come from the display's timing mode. Open "NVIDIA Control Panel" > "Display" > "Change resolution". Under "Choose the resolution", look in the "PC" section (not "Ultra HD, HD, SD"), set your resolution to "1920 x 1080", and select a refresh rate such as "240 Hz" or "144 Hz" if listed. Select "Apply", then send a few notifications. Please note that NVIDIA Control Panel is non-Microsoft software, so we can't guarantee its option names or behavior.