How to Fix the Black Screen After Login on Windows 10 and 11

     You enter your password, and instead of your desktop you get a black screen, sometimes with a mouse cursor. The cause is usually a graphics driver problem, a stuck Explorer process, or a display setting. Work through these fixes in order.

Quick answer

    Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc, choose Run new task, type explorer.exe, and press Enter. If that doesn’t help, press Win + Ctrl + Shift + B to restart the graphics driver.

Fix 1: Wait, then restart the graphics driver

    Wait a minute in case Windows is still loading. Then press Win + Ctrl + Shift + B. The screen may flicker and you may hear a short beep as the graphics driver restarts.

Fix 2: Start Explorer manually

1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc. If Task Manager doesn’t open, press Ctrl + Alt + Del and choose Task Manager.
2. Click Run new task (under File in some versions).
3. Type explorer.exe and press Enter.

If your desktop appears, restart the PC normally and see if the problem comes back.

Fix 3: Check your display connection

• Press Win + P and choose a different mode, such as PC screen only, then press Enter. You may need to press the arrow keys to move through the options.
• Unplug extra monitors, docks and HDMI cables, then restart.
• Check the cable and monitor input if you use a desktop PC.

Fix 4: Restart in Safe Mode

1. At the sign-in screen, hold Shift and click the power button → Restart.
2. Choose Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup Settings → Restart.
3. Press 4 or F4 for Safe Mode (or 5 for Safe Mode with Networking).

If you can’t reach the sign-in screen, turn the PC off with the power button during startup three times in a row. Windows then opens recovery options on its own.

[Screenshot: the Startup Settings screen]

Fix 5: Fix things from Safe Mode

• Graphics driver: open Device Manager → Display adapters, right-click your adapter, and choose Uninstall device. Restart and Windows installs a basic driver. Then download the latest driver from your graphics maker.
• Fast Startup: open Control Panel → Power Options → Choose what the power buttons do → Change settings that are currently unavailable, and untick Turn on fast startup.
• Recent update: uninstall the latest update from Settings → Windows Update → Update history → Uninstall updates.
• System files: run the SFC and DISM commands.

Last resorts