Black Screen After Login or Boot on Windows 11

Category: Windows 11 · Audience: Customers & Technicians · Est. time: 15–35 min

Summary

A black screen with a working mouse cursor is almost always the graphics driver or the Explorer shell. A black screen with no cursor points to display/hardware.

Symptoms

• Black screen after signing in (cursor may or may not show)
• Blank display but the PC appears powered on

Solution

1. Wake the display. Press Win + P and select PC screen only; press Win + Ctrl + Shift + B to restart the graphics driver (screen flashes, beeps).
2. Restart the shell. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc → Task Manager → Run new task → type explorer.exe → OK. If Task Manager won't open, press Ctrl + Alt + Del → Task Manager.
3. Check the display connection. For desktops: confirm the monitor cable is in the graphics card port (not the motherboard), the monitor input source is correct, and try another cable/port.
4. Disconnect extra monitors/docks. A second display or dock can grab the output. Unplug them and reboot.
5. Boot into Safe Mode (Technician). Force‑restart 3 times to trigger recovery → Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup Settings → Restart → Safe Mode with Networking.
6. Fix the graphics driver in Safe Mode. Device Manager → Display adapters → right‑click → Roll Back Driver (if a recent update caused it) or Uninstall device → reboot to reinstall. For a clean job, use DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) then install the latest driver from Intel/NVIDIA/AMD.

If that doesn't work

• Try Recovery → Advanced options → System Restore to roll back to before the problem.
• No cursor and no Safe Mode → suspect the monitor, cable, or GPU hardware; test the PC on another screen.
• Escalate to BBN Support, noting whether a cursor is visible and whether Safe Mode works.

Prevention

• Install graphics drivers from the vendor, not random updater tools.