Considerable time has already passed after the launch of Windows 10 and up till now the operating system from Microsoft has proved its dependability and trustworthy nature. However, at certain times, unpredictable issues, can occur. One of these unannounced issues, which you can face, is a Windows 10 Black Screen on Laptop or pc. It is, rather, very frustrating as you are unable to see anything so it is very tough to diagnose the actual problem and thus troubleshooting steps cannot be employed.
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There could be a number of reasons behind this sudden appearance of a black screen on your Windows 10 PC/ Laptop or it can be just random. If you are facing the same issue then no need to worry as you are at the right place. Below mentioned are the various steps, following which can help you fix the Windows 10 Black Screen issue.
Troubleshoot Windows 10 Black Screen on PC/ Laptop
1. Seeing Black Screen When Logging In
The very basic thing which you can try is pressing Ctrl + Alt + Delete and if you can invoke the Task Manager through this then it’s great. Just navigate to File -> Run New Task. Key in ‘explorer.exe’ and tap on Return key.
If you are facing this issue on a Windows 10 Laptop, then you can press and hold the power button to shut down your laptop. Thereafter, remove the battery and press and hold the power button again for at least 60 seconds. Please place the battery back and restart your laptop.
2. Unplug Any External Devices
The black screen might have been caused by an external device or peripherals connected to your Windows 10 PC/ Laptop. Remove and unplug all external devices and if the display of your device comes back then connect the external devices back again, one at a time.
Upon re-connecting a particular external device, if the screen goes black again then congratulations! You have identified the root cause of the windows 10 black screen problem.
3. Reinstall Video Driver
For this, you are required to reboot your system in Safe Mode. For that, when you reach the login screen, please press and hold the Shift Key and click on the Power Button on the bottom right. Tap on ‘Restart.’
However, if you are unable to see the ‘Sign-in’ screen then you can repeatedly use the Power Button on your PC/ Laptop to restart your PC until you see the option of Windows 10 automatic repair.
- Please navigate to Advanced Start Up Menu by clicking on Troubleshoot -> Advanced Options -> Start Up Settings.
- Hit the ‘Restart’ button and under ‘Start-Up Settings’ press 5 or F5 to enter into Safe Mode with Networking.
So now you are in Safe Mode, press Windows Key + X and from the menu that pops up choose the option of ‘Device Manager.’
- In Device Manager navigate to ‘Display Adapters’ and expand it.
- Right click on the adapter and choose the option of ‘Uninstall’ from the pop-up menu.
- Hit on ‘OK’ and restart your PC/ Laptop. Once you restart Windows 10 will automatically reinstall the video driver.
Hopefully, this will solve the black screen problem. If re-installing doesn’t work then you can try updating your graphics drivers by choosing the option of ‘Update Driver’ instead of ‘Uninstall.’ Windows 10 will automatically look for updates, if any, online and update your graphics driver. Reboot your PC thereafter for the changes to take effect.
4. Waking Up Display
Sometimes, Windows 10 is not able to detect the display altogether. You can wake up the display of your Windows 10 PC/ Laptop by pressing ‘Windows Key + Ctrl + Shift + B’ from the keyboard.
In case you are not using a Windows 10 PC/ Laptop and using a tablet instead then you can wake up your device’s display by pressing Volume Up +Volume Down buttons together about three times.
5. Disable Fast Startup
If the above solution doesn’t work then you can try disabling fast startup. For this again you need to enter into Safe Mode. Please follow the below-provided steps while in Safe Mode.
- Navigate to Control Panel -> System & Security -> Power Options.
- On the left pane, you will see an option of ‘Choose what the power button does.’
- Click on it and choose the option of ‘Change Settings that are currently unavailable’ from the subsequent window.
- Remove the check mark from the option of ‘Turn on fast startup (recommended).’
Now save the changes and restart your Windows 10 PC/ Laptop.
6. Disable High Contrast
This could be the reason behind the windows 10 black screen. To turn off high contrast in Safe Mode please navigate to Settings -> Ease of Access -> High Contrast and choose ‘None’ from the drop-down menu. Please reboot your PC/ Laptop thereafter.
7. Reset your Windows 10 PC/ Laptop
Again, please make sure that you are in Safe Mode and follow the below-mentioned steps thereafter.
- Navigate to Settings -> Update & Security and click on ‘Recovery’ from the left menu pane.
- You will see ‘Reset this PC’ option now. Click on the ‘Get Started’ button below it.
That’s it! Now just follow the simple on-screen instructions to reset your PC.
8. Terminate Run Once Process
While in Safe Mode please press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to invoke Task Manager and thereafter follow the below-mentioned steps.
- Under the processes tab if you could find any instances of ‘RunOnce.exe’ or ‘RunOnce32.exe’ then select the item and click on ‘End Task’.
- Please check for the same in ‘Services’ tab also. If you could find any of the Run Once instance in services then right click on select ‘Stop.’
- Thereafter click on File -> Run New Task and key in the following command to restart your PC: shutdown –t00 –r
- Execute the restart command and post rebooting, hopefully, you get your display back.