This is a very frequent problem.
You turn on your computer. Type in the password and then the screen goes black.
Instead of taking you to the desktop the screen show a blank black screen. A windows update among other things might be the cause
This problem is easy to fix but at times it might take up time depending on what maybe causing the issue.
What causes My Computer to show Black Screen When I Log In.
- Display drivers not working properly
- Program running in the background
- Display settings
- Corrupt, outdated or incompatible drivers
- Graphics Card
- Windows update
How to fix black screen after login
Graphics Drivers
The first option is to restart your computer’s graphic graphics drivers. You can restart the display drivers with the windows keyboard short cut.
Simultaneous press WINDOWS KEY + CTRl + SHIFT + B
If you do it properly you should hear a beep followed by a screen flash. Then if its the drivers that were not loaded properly your issue should be fixed.
Restart the machine
A simple restart can also fix the problem. This has worked for some. But how do you restart the computer when there is nothing being displayed
Another keyboard combination to your rescue. This time press CTRL + ALT + DEL then on the bottom right of your screen press the power button and select restart.
Intel Graphics
First if your computer is using Intel Graphics self refresh might be the issue when its not running on battery and not connected to the power supply. You need to disable it.
- Press CTRL + Alt +F12 on your computer and you should be be in the Intel Graphics menu.
- Next select, select Power
- Then select on battery
- then uncheck the check box on self refresh
- Click apply
- The restart you computer
Start Windows in safe mode
You can start windows in safe mode. This strips windows down to its bare essentials meaning it will boot with less software that maybe causing the issue. We already dedicated a whole article on booting windows in safe mode if you are having troubles in booting in safe mode.
To boot in safe mode hold down the power button for 10 seconds to shut the computer down. Then press the power button to turn on as soon as it shows the windows logo press the power button again to shutdown. Repeatedly do so and on the third time it should enter Windows recovery mode.
Now Select, Troubleshoot, then Advanced options, followed by start up settings, then restart. When you computer restart it will give you multiple restart options as shown in the image below. Select option 5 which says Safe Mode with networking F5 will achieve the same thing too.
Your computer should now start in safe mode.
If you are able to login you can now do a number of thing like roll back display drivers or perform system restore
Roll back display drivers
If you are able to login in with the computer on safe mode. You can roll back or update your display drivers.
- Go to This PC
- Right click on an empty space and select properties
- Next select device manager
- Then Display adapters
- Right click on display drivers and select update
- On the window that appears select Search automatically for updated drivers
See images below
If new drivers are available you computer will automatically download and install them. Make sure its connected to the internet. Now Restart you computer and boot normally and see if you are able to login.
If you fail again you might have to roll back your drivers. To do so follow the steps above but on number 5 instead of selecting update. Click uninstall driver. Windows will revert back to basic drivers
System restore
Another tool you can use whilst in safe mode is system restore. If you have made changes to you computer which you think are the ones that are causing black screen on login, do a system restore. This will revert your computer to when it was working fine
If you were able to login in safe mode press the Windows + R key simultaneously this should bring up the run windows. Now type without quotes “rstrui” and press SHIFT + Enter. After windows loads system restore select next. It will give you restore points with date which you can restore your computer to.
Select the date in which your computer was last working. Then click next. Windows will restore your system and note this may take a while.
Start or Restart Windows explorer
When you login in windows explorer is responsible for showing the desktop and icons which you would expect. But if windows explorer does not start then you you will get a black screen on login.
To start windows explorer,
- Press Control + SHIFT + Del on you computer keyboard.
- Then select Task Manager
- On task manager select File then New
- In the box that appears type “explorer.exe” without quotes and press enter.
Windows explorer should now be started
Hardware and peripherals
You computer monitor and cables may also be the ones giving you a head ache. Check if the monitor is connected properly.
If you have a secondary display you can connect to it with an HDMI cable and see if you successful login.
Disconnect any peripheral devices like connected flash drives, Bluetooth devices printers etc then restart the computer.
The last option would be to use windows setup repair option
Windows repairs
If you have a windows installation disk or flash drive you can repair your computer without losing your files.
If your don’t have a one easily create a bootable flash drive with this method here.
Insert the flash drive or DVD
Turn on the machine, immediately press F12 until the machine goes into boot selection mode
Now select the Flash drive to boot from flash drive
After windows loads instead of install windows select repair windows