Troubleshooting Tips: Overcoming the Windows 10 Black Screen Dilemma After an Upgrade

You get ablack screen after Windows 10 update ? Don’t worry. Many Windows users have been there, and most of them managed to fix the issue by using one of the methods below. You can work your way down the list until you find the one that works.

Try these fixes

Fix 1: Try a Windows key sequence to wake the screen

A quick fix to your black screen problem would be:

If you have a keyboard connected, press the Windows logo
key+Ctrl+Shift + B .
If you’re in tablet mode, simultaneously press thevolume-up and volume-down buttons three times within 2 seconds.

If Windows is responsive, a short beep will sound and the screen will blink or dim while Windows attempts to refresh the screen.

Fix 2: Unplug unnecessary USB equipment

Sometimes black screens can be caused byexternal devices . To check for it, you can try disconnecting all your USB devices from your PC:

Unplug your external devices.
Restart your computer.
If the black screen has disappeared, you canplug the devices back one at a time to see which piece of hardware is causing this issue. Once you’ve identified the culprit, you can update the driver for that particular piece of hardware to better troubleshoot the black screen issue — Fix 3 may give you some tips about it.
If this produces no results, you can move on to Fix 3.

Fix 3: Update your graphics card driver

Various reasons can trigger black screens after Windows 10 update, but the most common cause of it isincompatible or outdated Windows drivers . Especially the graphics card driver — either your current graphics driver is corrupted during the Windows update process or it’s not compatible with your current Windows 10 version.

Then,updating your graphics card driver should do the trick. But you may wonder how it’s possible to update your graphics driver with a black screen. Don’t worry, generally, you’re able to start your PC in Safe Mode with networking to sort out the issue. If you don’t know how toboot your computer into Safe Mode , you can refer to this article — remember to press the5 number key toenter Safe Mode with networking .

To avoid creating other problems when downloading and installing the up-do-date graphics driver, you can do it automatically with Driver Easy .

Driver Easy will automatically recognize your system and find the correct drivers for it. You don’t need to know exactly what system your computer is running, you don’t need to risk downloading and installing the wrong driver, and you don’t need to worry about making a mistake when installing.

You can update your drivers automatically with either theFREE or thePro version of Driver Easy. But with the Pro version ittakes just 2 clicks (and you get full support anda 30-day money back guarantee):

Start your PC inSafe Mode with networking .
Download and install Driver Easy.
Run Driver Easy and click Scan Now . Driver Easy will then scan your computer and detect any problem drivers.
Click the Update button next to your graphics driver toautomatically download the correct version of the driver, then you canmanually install it (you can do this with theFREE version).

Or click Update All toautomatically download and install the correct version of all the drivers that are missing or out of date on your system (this requires the Pro version – you’ll be prompted to upgrade when you click Update All).

Fix 4: Uninstall third party Windows theming software

If the above steps don’t work for you, chances are that some software, such as antivirus orthird party Windows theming apps , may be causing your black screen problem. Especially if you haveUXStyle or StartIsBack in your Windows 10, you really should tryuninstalling it to fix the issue.

If you don’t have the mentioned applications on your PC, you can try these steps to solve the problem:

Start your PC in Safe Mode .
Once you log into your system,right-click the taskbar, then selectTask Manager .
Click theFile tab, thenRun new task .

4. Type services.msc andcheck the box under it, then clickOK .

5. In the pop-upServices window, double clickApp Readiness .

6. Make sure theStartup type is set toDisabled , and clickApply thenOK .

7. Restart your PC to check if the problem is resolved.

Fix 5: Log in using a different user account

Black screens might also be caused bycorrupted Windows user profile . To check for it, you can try restarting your PC in Safe Mode, then logging into Windows with a different user account, say, your working user account. If you can log in, it means your previous user account was causing the problem, then you can replace the folder of the problem user account with that of your working user account. Here’s what you need to do:

Restart your computer in Safe Mode .
Login with your working user account.
Navigate to C:\Users\{working-user-profile-name}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Caches .
Copy the folderCaches .
Login with the corrupted user account.
Navigate to C:\Users\{broken-user-profile-name}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Caches .
Replace the folder with the folder from the working user account.

If you don’t have an existing working user account, you cancreate a new account . Here’s how:

Make sure your Windows user account is an administrator. (If it’s not, you can refer to the instructions further down this page to activate the original administrator account and use it to login to Windows.
In the bottom left corner of your screen, click theStart button, then theSettings icon.
ClickAccounts .

4. ClickOther people , thenAdd someone else to this PC . And follow the on-screen instructions to create a new user account.

5. Log into this account and check to see if the black screen issue is resolved.

How to activate the original Windows administrator account

Typecmd in the Windows search box, right clickCommand Prompt , then selectRun as administrator .
Type net user administrator /active:yes and pressEnter on your keyboard.

Click here

3. Restart your computer and you’ll be able to log into Windows with the administrator account.

Fix 6: Reset your PC

If none proves helpful for your black screen issue, you may consider resetting your PC, without spending a fortune for a technician. Here’s how to reset your system: