One of the “worst” problems that users often encounter on Windows 10 is the black screen error.
Black screen errors can occur in a number of situations on Windows 10, stemming from problems related to the graphics card, connection errors between your computer and the monitor, errors that occur while installing the operating system, updating new versions... or simply can occur randomly at any time.
In the article below, WebTech360 will guide you through some solutions to fix the Windows 10 black screen error.
In addition, if you encounter a black screen error on Windows 7, 8 and Windows 8.1 computers, you can refer to the troubleshooting instructions here .
Fix black screen error on Windows 10
If you encounter a black screen error while installing Windows or a new update, be patient, as the installation may be taking place in the background. However, if the time is longer than 3 to 6 hours, the installation process may have been frozen.
In that case, try turning off your computer by pressing and holding the power button for a few seconds. If you are using a laptop, you can unplug the charger and remove the battery.
Unplug all unnecessary devices connected to your computer such as external hard drives, USBs, printers, phones, game consoles, and secondary monitors.
If possible, you should also turn off Wifi and Bluetooth. Leave only necessary connections to the computer such as: keyboard, mouse and monitor.
Wait about 60 seconds, then replace the battery and plug in the power cord and turn on the computer.
If it is just a minor problem, a little glitch, the installation process will continue and complete. After displaying the Windows 10 Desktop screen, you can reconnect external devices and other devices.
If the installation fails and reverts back to the previous state, disconnect all external devices and try installing Windows 10 update again. Or you can use USB Boot to install the operating system .
If your computer displays a black screen error before logging into Windows 10, the most likely cause is a connection problem between your computer and the monitor.
In this case, if you are using a Windows computer, carefully check the monitor connection cable at both ends to see if it is securely and correctly plugged in, and if the power cord to the monitor is plugged in?
If you have multiple video output ports, you can try changing to another port. Sometimes updating the driver can cause errors such as sending video signals to the wrong port (DVI, HDMI , DisplayPort, Thunderbolt, VGA).
If your computer has both a discrete graphics card and an integrated card, you can switch to the integrated card to check if the discrete card is faulty. In many cases, after updating Windows 10 or BIOS, the discrete card is disabled and you have to re-enable it in the motherboard settings.
If you are using an external monitor, you can open the display settings and increase the brightness of the display , also check that the input the monitor is using is correct. Try connecting to a different monitor or using a different cable (DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI, VGA, Thunderbolt) to see if the problem is with the monitor, the graphics card or the cable.
If you are connecting your computer to a TV , double check that the TV is turned on and make sure you have the correct Input set to connect to the device.
In many cases, the black screen error is due to Windows 10 not detecting the monitor. You can use the Windows + Ctrl + Shift + B key combination to restart the video driver and refresh the display connection.
On tablets (like the Surface Pro), you can wake the screen by quickly pressing the volume up and volume down buttons three times at the same time.
When you do this, you should hear beeps and see activity on the screen indicating that Windows 10 is able to respond to commands and that it is reestablishing a connection to the display.
Alternatively, assuming Windows 10 is responsive, you can use the Win + P keyboard shortcut to bring up the “Project” menu. Then press P again and press Enter to cycle through the different display modes, and see if the black screen issue goes away. (You will need to repeat this 4 times to cycle through all possible modes.)
If you don't see anything on the screen, press and hold the power button for about 10 seconds to turn off the device. Then press the power button again to restart it.
Externally connected devices can be the cause of the black screen error. In this case, try disconnecting all external devices and check if the error persists.
If everything returns to normal and the black screen error no longer appears, you can then try reconnecting your external devices to your computer one by one. If your computer displays the black screen error again, then you can determine which device is causing the problem.
Disconnect your device, then restart your computer and if the device continues to have a black screen error, contact the manufacturer for assistance.
If you see a black screen after signing in to Windows 10 and can still use your mouse pointer, it could be an issue with the Windows Explorer process.
To resolve Windows Explorer process issues, follow these steps:
1. Use the shortcut Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager .
Quick Tip : You can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Alt + Del , then click the Task Manager button.
2. Click the More details button (if in collapsed mode).
3. Click the Processes tab.
4. Select the Windows Explorer service.
5. Click the Restart button from the bottom right corner.
Once you complete the steps, you should be able to access the desktop again.
If the previous steps do not work, you can terminate and restart the process with the following steps:
1. Use the shortcut Ctrl + Alt + Delete to open Task Manager.
2. Click the More details button (if in collapsed mode).
3. Right-click on the Windows Explorer service and select the End task option (if available).
4. Click the File menu.
5. Select the Run new task option .
6. Enter the following command and click the OK button.
explorer.exe
7. Once you complete the steps, you should be able to use your device normally.
If the above solutions still fail, you can boot your computer into Safe Mode and try to fix the error.
There are many ways to boot your computer into Safe Mode. You can follow the steps below:
1. Start your computer.
2. Right on the sign-in screen, press and hold the Shift key , then click the Power button in the bottom right corner of the screen, and select Restart .
If you don’t see anything because the screen is black, then start your computer, see the blue Windows logo appear, press the Power button and start your computer again. Repeat the same steps 3 times until Windows 10 Automatic repair is enabled. Follow the on-screen instructions and open the Advanced options menu.
3. On the Advanced Startup Menu window, click Troubleshoot .
4. Click to select Advanced options .
5. Click to select Startup Settings .
6. Click Restart .
7. On the Startup settings window, press the F5 key or the 5 key to access Safe Mode with Networking .
Once your computer has booted into Safe Mode, follow these steps:
Normally, when your device starts up normally, Windows 10 loads a bunch of services, drivers, and apps that run in the background. If one of them isn't working properly, a black screen error can appear.
Clean Boot will instruct Windows 10 to start with only a minimal number of services, drivers, and applications, which can help you determine if something running in the background is causing your screen to go completely black.
On Windows 10, Clean Boot is similar to Safe Mode, but it allows you to re-enable one service or software at a time to pinpoint the problem more precisely.
Refer to the article: How to perform Clean Boot on Windows 10/8/7 for details on how to do it.
Fix Black Screen Problem with Clean Boot
In this case, use the following steps to re-enable the items (one by one) and restart the device to see which item is causing the black screen error:
1. Open Start.
2. Search for msconfig , select System Configuration in the results.
3. Click the Services tab.
4. Select the Hide all Microsoft services option .
5. Select one of the services.
6. Click the Apply button.
7. Click the OK button.
8. Restart your computer.
Once you complete the steps, repeat the steps for each item until you can determine the cause of the problem.
Re-enable startup items
If no service is causing the problem, use the following steps to re-enable startup items:
1. Open Start.
2. Search for Task Manager.
3. Click the Startup tab.
4. Select an app and click the Enable button in the bottom right corner.
5. Close Task Manager.
6. Restart your computer.
Once you complete the steps, repeat the instructions with each item until you find the app that is causing the black screen error.
If you want to revert the changes, you can use the same instructions outlined above to perform a Clean Boot.
Another cause of the black screen error is due to an error updating the graphics card driver. Usually, the error updating the graphics card driver occurs during the Windows 10 update process.
In some other cases, the problem is not the update error, the video driver can be the cause of the error and display a black screen.
If the video driver is not working properly, you can uninstall the video driver in Safe Mode, then let the operating system automatically reinstall the driver after restarting.
1. Press Windows + X key combination to open Power User Menu and select Device Manager .
2. Expand Display Adapters .
3. Right-click on the network card and select Uninstall .
Tip : You can also select the Delete the driver software for this device option to remove the driver from your computer. In some cases, this option is recommended, but if the operating system cannot find the driver online, you will have to download the correct driver for your video card from the computer manufacturer's website.
4. Click OK to confirm.
5. Restart your computer to confirm.
After your computer finishes restarting, Windows 10 will automatically reinstall the video card driver and the black screen error may no longer appear.
Sometimes Fast Startup enabled on your computer is also one of the reasons for the black screen error. When the computer boots into Safe Mode, follow the steps below to enable Fast Startup:
1. Open Control Panel .
2. On the Control Panel window, find and click System and Security .
3. Click to select Power options .
4. Select the Choose what the power button does link in the left frame.
5. Click on the Change settings that are currently unavailable link .
6. Uncheck the Turn on fast startup (recommended) option .
7. Click Save changes .
8. Restart your computer to complete the process.
Important note: depending on your hardware configuration, your computer may not support Fast Startup.
If High Contrast is enabled on your computer, it can also be the cause of the black screen error.
While in Safe Mode you can disable High Contrast by following the steps below:
1. Open Settings .
2. On the Settings window, find and click Ease of Access .
3. Click to select High contrast .
4. Select None from the drop down menu to turn off the High Contrast feature.
5. Restart your computer to complete the process.
Process Run Once can also be the cause of black screen error after logging into Windows 10.
To disable Run Once process on Windows 10, follow the steps below:
1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open the Task Manager window.
2. Check the Processes tab and the Services tab , then look for any instances of RunOnce.exe and RunOnce32.exe .
3. If you find an instance in the Processes tab , select it and click End task . If you find an instance in the Services tab , right-click it and select Stop .
4. Click File .
5. Select Run new task .
6. Enter the following command to restart your computer:
shutdown -t00 –r
7. Click OK to execute the reboot command.
8. Restart your computer to complete the process.
A faulty user account can also be the cause of your computer's black screen error.
If your user account is corrupted and this is the cause of the black screen error, then you can create a new account in Safe Mode.
To create a new user account in Safe Mode, follow these steps:
1. Open Start .
2. Type the keyword Command Prompt into the Search box and press Enter .
3. On the search results list, right-click Command Prompt and select Run as an Administrator .
4. Type the following command into the Command Prompt window and press Enter:
net user tempuser /addNote: In the above command, remember to change "tempuser" with the name of the user account you want to create.
5. Enter the command below to change the account type to Admin account and press Enter:
net localgroup administrators admin /add
Note:
Don't forget to change "admin" in the above command with your account name.
6. Restart your computer to complete the process.
Note that:
You are using Command Prompt to create an account instead of using the Settings app. This is because Windows 10 does not allow creating a new user account through Settings while in Safe Mode.
Once your computer has finished booting, log in with the new account you just created. If the black screen error no longer appears, it can be confirmed that the cause of the error may be a problem with the old user account.
Alternatively, you can also use System Restore to undo system changes using one of the available restore points, which can fix the black screen issue on Windows 10. You won't lose your files, but depending on your current configuration, you may lose some settings, apps, and updates. (System Restore will only work if you've previously enabled and configured this feature.)
When your device has a black screen error, you won't be able to use System Restore normally, so you'll need to manually activate the recovery environment:
To access the Advanced startup environment, follow these steps:
1. Start your computer.
2. Immediately after the Windows logo appears on the screen, press the power button to interrupt the boot sequence.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 two more times.
After the third interruption, Windows 10 will open into the Advanced Startup environment and then you can continue with the steps below to use System Restore.
Alternatively, you can use a bootable USB to access Advanced startup settings using the following steps:
1. Boot the computer using the bootable USB.
Quick Tip : If your device won't boot from USB, you'll need to change your motherboard's BIOS settings to ensure it can boot from USB. Typically, you can access the BIOS by powering on the device and pressing one of the function keys, Delete , or ESC . However, you may need to check the manufacturer's support website for more specifics.
2. Click the Next button.
3. Click the Repair your computer link in the bottom left corner.
After you complete the steps, continue with the System Restore instructions.
To restore your computer to an earlier time to fix the black screen issue, follow these steps:
1. Click on the Advanced Startup option .
2. Click on the Troubleshoot option .
3. Click the Advanced options button.
4. Click on the System Restore option .
5. Click the Next button.
6. Select the last known working restore point that you think will resolve the issue.
7. Click the Scan for affected programs button to identify the applications that will be affected after the restore point is created.
8. Click the Close button.
9. Click the Next button.
10. Click the Finish button.
After you complete the steps, System Restore will restore your device to an earlier time, removing system changes since the restore point date, which may resolve the black screen issue on Windows 10.
If the issue appeared after upgrading to a new version of Windows 10, rolling back to a previous version may alleviate the black screen issue until a new system update or driver is released to permanently resolve the issue.
Whenever you see a black screen, you won't be able to use recovery options through the Settings app or access Safe Mode from the desktop. This means you'll have to manually launch the recovery environment.
To access the Windows Recovery Environment, follow these steps:
1. Start your computer.
2. Immediately after the Windows logo appears on the screen, press the power button to interrupt the boot sequence.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 two more times.
After the third interruption, Windows 10 will open into the recovery environment and then continue with the steps below to go back to the previous version.
You can also use a USB flash drive to access Advanced startup on Windows 10 using the following steps:
1. Boot the computer using a bootable USB media.
Quick Tip : If your computer won't boot from USB, you'll need to change your motherboard's BIOS settings to ensure it can boot from USB. You can usually access the BIOS by powering on your device and pressing one of the function keys, Delete, or Esc. However, you may need to check your manufacturer's support website for more specifics.
2. Click the Next button.
3. Click the Repair your computer link in the bottom left corner.
Once you've completed the steps, continue with the instructions to revert to your previous version of Windows 10.
Once in the advanced options settings, you can go back to the previous version of Windows 10 by following these steps:
1. Click on the Troubleshoot option .
2. Click the Advanced options button.
3. Click on the Uninstall Update option .
4. Select the Uninstall latest feature update option .
5. Log in with your account credentials.
6. Click the Uninstall feature update button .
If rolling back to a previous version resolves the issue, you should avoid updating again until you know there is a system, software, or driver update that permanently fixes the issue.
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