When your device starts normally, Windows 10 loads many services, drivers, and applications, which remain running in the background, if one or more of them are causing issues, it’s possible that you will come across a black screen on windows 10.
Using a clean boot allows you to instruct Windows 10 to start only with a minimal set of services, drivers, and apps, which can help you to figure out if something running in the background is the cause of the screen going completely black.
A clean boot is similar to safe mode, but it allows you to re-enable one service or software at a time, which can help to pinpoint the Black Screen on Windows 10 more accurately.
Perform Clean Boot
To perform a clean boot, use these steps:
- Open Start.
- Search for msconfig, select the System Configuration item in the result to open the experience.
- Click the Services tab.
- Check the Hide all Microsoft services option.
- Click the Disable all button.
- Click the Apply button.
- Now, Click the Startup tab.
- Click the Open Task Manager option.
- Click the Startup tab.
- Select each application, and click the Disable button in the bottom-right corner.
- Close Task Manager.
- Click the OK button in the “System Configuration” experience.
- Restart your computer.
While this process won’t fix the problem, it’ll give you an idea of where to start looking to resolve the issue.
If, after restarting your computer, you no longer see a black screen on windows 10. You’ll now know that there’s a problem with one of the background processes.

Troubleshooting Black Screen Using a Clean Boot
In this case, use these steps to re-enable the items (one-by-one), and restart your device to see which one is causing the black screen on windows 10:
- Open Start.
- Search for msconfig, select the System Configuration item in the result to open the experience.
- Click the Services tab.
- Check the Hide all Microsoft services option.
- Find one of the services.
- Click the Apply button.
- Click the OK button.
- Restart your computer.
Once you complete the steps, repeat the steps for every item until you can determine the device that’s causing the problem.
If Your Login Screen Never Appears
- Check connections to the external display
- Try connecting your display to different available output ports. Sometimes, changes in the drivers can cause the output to be transmitted to a different display port.
- Try changing the projection mode by pressing Win Key + P and trying out different combinations.
- Press Win Key + P → Press P again and hit Enter.
- Repeat the above step
- Safe mode
- Since you can’t have the login screen, you can’t get into the Safe Mode directly. So you’re going to need either a Recovery Disk/USB or an Installation Disk/USB.
- Boot your PC with the bootable disk/USB you got in the above step.
- On the Windows Setup screen, select Repair your computer option. If you’re not seeing this screen, your PC didn’t boot up from the bootable media you inserted, and check your PC manufacturer’s website for more info on how to boot from a secondary media.
- On the next screen, select Troubleshoot. Then you can select the Safe Mode. Select Advanced Options > Startup Settings > Restart.
- Now you can continue the same steps from iii) in the Safe mode section of “If you can get to the Login screen”
- Disconnect the installation media and restart the PC after all the steps.
Fix Black Screen on Windows 10
If you see a black screen after signing into your account, and you’re still able to use the mouse pointer, then it could be a problem with the Windows Explorer process.
To resolve Windows Explorer process issues, use these steps:
- Use the Ctrl + Shift + Esc keyboard shortcut to open Task Manager.
- Click the More details button (if you’re using the compact model).
- Click the Processes tab.
- Right-click the Windows Explorer service, and select the Restart option.
After you complete the steps, you should be able to access the desktop again.
Terminating and restarting explorer.exe
Alternatively, if the above steps didn’t work, you can terminate and start the process again using these steps:
- Use the Ctrl + Alt + Delete keyboard shortcut to open Task Manager.
- Click the More details button (if using the compact model).
- Right-click the Windows Explorer service, and select the End task option (if available).
- Click the File menu.
- Select the Run new task option.
- Type the following command and click the OK button.