How to fix Black Screen after Windows 10 update?

In this tutorial, we are going to be discussing problems that appear when you log in your Windows 10 account and you are welcomed by nothing but a black screen. It does not go away over extended periods of time; even if you just let it sit for the whole day, the screen just stays black. When the back screen comes up, your actions are very limited, since you do not have access to the desktop.

This may be just a one-time thing; maybe an update has been recently installed, and your system is acting a little bit weird.

The first approach we would suggest to resolve this is touse the following steps:

• Press Ctrl + Alt + Del simultaneously on your keyboard. This will bring up a blue screen with five options.
• Select Sign out from the available options. This will take you back to the login screen. Select your account again, log back in and check if the problem has been resolved This process may fix the problem for you. You may not need to go any further or continue with other complicated steps to fix the problem.

Use Startup repair

If you try to log back in and the screen is still back, the next thing we suggest would be to access the Ctrl + Alt + Del menu again:

• Now, press and hold the Shift key, while holding it down, click the power icon in the lower right corner of the screen and select Restart. This is going to open the Choose an option screen.
• Now, select Troubleshoot.
• Go to Advanced Options. In the next screen, select the Startup Repair option.
• Your system will reboot and try to repair any issues causing the black screen. Now, this may resolve your problems. Usually, it takes a few minutes. There are some situations when the process may take longer. So, be patient and let your system do its thing.
• To start the process, select your account and enter your password. If you don’t have one, just ignore it and click Continue. Wait for the process to complete.
• Now, if the process repairs the problem, it will say that the repairs have been made and then suggest you restart the system. Restart your system and check if everything works fine. But if the system still acts questionable or it states on the startup repair screen that it could not repair your system, then you need to try out another solution.

Perform a system restore

You would need to go back to the Choose an option screen and navigate to Troubleshoot > Advanced options > System Restore. If your System Restore is turned on, you will be able to select a date when the system was known to be working and restore your system to it. Note that this process does not affect your personal files and folders. It only affects system files and settings. Once the restore is complete, your system should not have any black screen issues. In some cases, the system restore may be turned off because some of Microsoft’s updates disable it. Also, system updates can remove your previous system restore points.

Perform a system file check

So, if that’s the case, restart your system and continue with the next solutions.

1. Now, this time, when the black screen comes up, press the Ctrl + Shift + Del keys again on your keyboard.
2. On the blue screen menu, select Task Manager. Once it is open, click on File and select Run new task. Type explore in the search area and press Enter.
3. Now, if your desktop comes up, the next step will be to simply perform a system file check. You have to perform this task with administrative privileges. To do this, right-click on the Start or Home button and select Command Prompt (Admin).
4. Once the Command Prompt window opens, input sfc /scan now and press Enter. The process may take 15-20 minutes or more, but you need to let it complete.
5. If it saysrepairs were made, then go ahead and restart your system. If it starts up normally, then the problem has been resolved. But if it runs and says that no problems were found, you need to go ahead and move on to the next solution.

Uninstall your video adapter

When you see the black screen, press the Ctrl + Alt + Del buttons on your keyboard to open the blue screen. Select Task Manager. But this go to File and then select Create a new task. In the box, input Control and press Enter. This will open the Control Panel. Maximize the window and set the view option to Large icons. It will be most likely to the Category view. Next, click on System > Device Manager on the left. Now, you should not just uninstall the video adapter. We would suggest that you should first download the video drivers for your system. You’ll need to go to your manufacturer’s site either on your computer if you can actually make it that far with it or on another system. Go to the site and look your system up by its model or serial number or service tag and download the video drivers for your operating system.

So, once you are sure that you have the right drivers, right-click on your graphics device in Device Manager and select Uninstall. After that, restart your system. When your system restarts, Windows will reinstall the video device and the default graphics. If the black screen is fixed, then you can go ahead and install the video drivers that you downloaded.

Fix or uninstall your antivirus

Let’s just say the system still comes up with a black screen after the above steps.

1. Press the Ctrl + Alt + Del keys on your keyboard; then you would go to Task Manager again. This time, what you will do is remove your antivirus. Sometimes, after updates, your antivirus could be causing a problem with the system booting into the desktop.
2. To fix this problem, press Ctrl + Alt + Del on the black screen and click Task Manager.
3. Now, go to File > New task and type control in the search area. When the Control Panel comes up, you still have to change the view to large icons.
4. Next, select Programs and Features. In the next window, right-click on your antivirus, and if it has a repair option, then try to fix the software first before considering to uninstall it. When the repair process is completed, restart your system, and if it starts properly, the problem has been fixed.

But if it does not start properly or your system does not have the repair option, right-click on your antivirus and select Uninstall and then restart your PC. If the problem is no more after the restart reinstall your antivirus.

Create a new user account

So, let’s just say even after all these files, the system still does not want to start up correctly. The next thing we suggest is to go to the Control Panel. Here, we will be creating a new user account. Unless you already have an extra account. It may be the account of a co-worker or your spouse. If they have an account on your system, simply log into their account and check if it works. If their account works and yours does not, you have to create a new account and then move your files over to it because your account may be corrupt. If you do not have an additional account to go to or the other accounts are also corrupted, you would go to Task Manager > File > New task and input cmd in the search area. Check the Create this task with administrative privileges box and click OK. At this point, we will be enabling the administrator account. Now, by default, the administrator account is disabled in Windows 10. So, what you need to do is re-enable it. There are a couple of ways to do this. But we are just going to do this from the Command Prompt, and then we will show you how to do it from Windows 10 pro as well.

1. In the Command Prompt window, input net user administrator /active:yes and press Enter on your keyboard. It should say the command completed successfully.
2. Now, close the Command Prompt window. Press Ctrl + Alt + Del and select Sign-out. On the welcome page, you will be presented with an additional option.
3. Now, you will have the option to sign in as an administrator. This process may take just a few minutes. If the administrator account finishes setting up, you now have to create another user account. To do this, click the Start or Home button, input control panel in the search area and select Control Panel from the list of results.
4. Go to User accounts, and then select Manage another account.
5. In the next page, select Add a new user in PC (The options may vary depending on which version of Windows 10 you are using).
6. For Windows 10 Pro, go to Users, right-click over the white space in the window and select New user.
7. Now, input the new account’s credentials, uncheck The user must change password at next logon box, and click Create.

Now, you have to give the new account you have created administrative privileges

1. Double-click on the account you just created, navigate to the Member of tab and click Add.
2. Click on Advanced in the next window. Click Find Now and select Administrators, and then click OK.
3. Once you’re done, you can decide to keep the administrator account or disable it again.
4. If you want to keep it enabled, then you should set a password to it. But if you want to disable the administrator account just as a safety precaution, right-click on it and select Properties.
5. Check the Account is disabled box, and click Apply and OK to save the changes.
6. If you are on Windows 10 Home and you do not have access to the management console, you can disable the account the same way you enabled it–through Command Prompt. Right-click on the Start or Home button and select Command Prompt (Admin).
7. Now, input net user administrator /active:no and press Enter. You will be notified that the command was successful.

If you log out of your account, you will notice that the administrator account is not on the list. Log into the new account that you created. The applications from your old account will still be there, but you will have to copy your files over to this account.

Reset your PC

If the solutions above still did not solve the black screen issue, then you have to reset your PC. At the Welcome screen, press and hold the Shift key, then click Restart. This will cause your computer to restart into the Choose an option screen. Navigate to Troubleshoot > Reset this PC. You will now be presented with two options: Keep my files and Remove everything. From the names, you can already guess what each option does. Note that in either case, all the settings will be restored to default.

Pro tip: If you are having driver issues, we suggest that you download and install Auslogics Driver Updater. This tool is fast and easy to use. All your drivers will be downloaded in just one click. You do not need to know much about the drivers like the other methods require. Here, the tool does all the job for you while you sit back and relax. It will scan for all the outdated or missing drivers and install their latest versions.

We hope that this article has shown you how to get rid of the black screen after Windows 10 update. Share it with others who experience similar issues.

We appreciate your ideas and comments, and we are ready to answer all your questions regarding the above topic.