Windows 11 black screen after login

Question

Windows 11 black screen after login

Spencer Hagan 20

Hi, I work for an IT company and lately we've been having this issue spread around a couple of our clients.

Windows will boot to the login screen fine, but once they log in they'll get stuck on a black screen. Hard rebooting the PC will allow them to login, but this is obviously not efficient or ideal. I've been researching online and found many posts saying that disabling the app readiness service will fix this issue, but that it also prevents you from running Windows Update and may break certain applications.

Besides the temporary solution of disabling app readiness, is there any way to resolve this? Or did Windows push an update that broke something, and we'll have to wait it out.

So far, we've tried:

disabling fast startup
clearing temp files
Setting pc to not sleep
uninstalling and reinstalling the graphics driver
updating bios

It's occurring on multiple different PCs, so we know it's not hardware related, Windows 11 is the only connecting pattern between them.

Christopher Booth Whiddon 0 Reputation points

2025-07-16T00:34:52.57+00:00

This doesn't work on Kiosk Builds
Unable to run new task as it is locked down

Even local admin has the Black screen, but I can run new task explorer.exe and then proceed
VishnuPraveen 0 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2025-08-14T19:49:33.2066667+00:00

This issue is still ongoing. Escalating internally to find a fix soon.
Spencer Hagan 20 Reputation points

2025-08-14T19:53:54.9133333+00:00

We've still been getting them, though they have been getting less frequent. But we have yet to find a solution. We're just monitoring Windows Update and hoping for a patch at this point.
Andrew Gunter 0 Reputation points

2025-08-15T19:08:01.69+00:00

Yes, it is happening to me as a well. Logon takes like a minute extra at a black screen for no apparent reason.
Sean Liming 4,816 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2025-08-16T16:13:17.8033333+00:00

when you say KIOSK build, are you using Kiosk mode: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/configuration/kiosk/

Or using Shell Launcher to launch the application?
BryceSor 5,495 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2025-08-17T00:56:30.3533333+00:00

I know you are using W11 but is this similar

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-client/user-profiles-and-logon/slow-logon-with-blank-screen?source=recommendations
Peter Wettergreen 0 Reputation points

2025-08-18T03:21:29.3833333+00:00

When I hit CTRL Alt Del. There is a brief flash of. “Preparing Security Options”. Hope this helps find the fix.

safe mode fixes are no help. Swapped GPU and even enabled TPU and Safeboot. No help
Douglas Farmer 10 Reputation points

2025-08-18T12:44:16.4733333+00:00

This is causing a nightmare for us also. We were hoping August's CU would have patched it but nope, still blank screen with just the mouse.

Our start menu is also not functioning.
Douglas Farmer 10 Reputation points

2025-08-18T15:51:29.6566667+00:00

I'm struggling with the same issue; I'd be curious to see if you have a similar setup to us.

Sophos
Cloud Drive Mapper
Dell devices
Imaged via SCCM
Andrew Gunter 0 Reputation points

2025-08-18T16:19:18.7+00:00

I'm fairly certain it broke for us in the July 2025 ISO. If I roll our deployment back to June 2025 ISO image I do not see the one minute wait time on a black screen after logon.

We are using SCCM to lay down applications on VDI but we're not using SCCM OSD for the VDI. Instead we are using the below process...

New ISO > bootable USB > Autounattend for Windows Install.

It also appears the problem occurs if you started with an ISO install from June and patch it to July CU level.

I verified with one of our desktop engineering team members the problem is also happening on Physicals. The Physicals do use the OSD portion of SCCM.

One more thing to note is in our case it seems new user profiles on impacted machines are missing APPX packages...

For example, log on to the device as a domain user with no pre existing profile and see if TEAMS or CALCULATOR is present in start menu. Verify the results in Settings > Apps > Installed Apps.

After about 15 minutes the APPX packages will appear in the start menu on their own. The local admin account does not have this issue only domain accounts. I haven't tested against local accounts that are not the builtin-admin.
Spencer Hagan 20 Reputation points

2025-08-18T17:52:41.3433333+00:00

We have a variety of different machines getting this issue, doesn't seem like there's any thread between them to hint at a cause. We've had mini PCs, MDTs, laptops, and desktops get this issue, domain and local user profiles.
Douglas Farmer 10 Reputation points

2025-08-18T20:43:29.3933333+00:00

@Andrew Gunter Aren't the appx's not installing due to AppReadiness service? I'd check your event viewer logs just in case you can see anything.
Douglas Farmer 10 Reputation points

2025-08-18T20:46:22.1233333+00:00

@Spencer Hagan I have noticed that you can have a broken machine, uninstall the latest Windows update which fixes it, and then update again back to the same version and still be working.

My next guess which I'm going to try tomorrow is looking disable all Intune configurations to a device, as although I'm not 100% certain, it seems to be that devices that are in a broken state are showing as not compliant in my intune bitlocker policy.
Andrew Gunter 0 Reputation points

2025-08-18T21:52:52.44+00:00

@Douglas Farmer My APPX apps not being there appear to be tied to whatever is going on here. Deploying with an ISO from June 2025 instead of the July 2025 ISO resolves the missing APPX as well as this black screen issue.

Our vanilla Windows Desktop deploy process is quick and I'm able to reproduce the problem described here in this thread at will by just pointing it at the correct ISO.

However, the OP is power cycling their computers to proceed past the black screen where the machines I'm looking at are progressing to the desktop naturally after a one minute delay.

Disabling the App Readiness service has no positive impact on either the missing APPX or black screen.
Douglas Farmer 10 Reputation points

2025-08-19T07:08:01.1333333+00:00

@Andrew Gunter Sounds like our issues are not exactly the same then; mine never progresses, and power cycling doesn't fix it either!
Jackson Pavelka 0 Reputation points

2025-08-22T16:07:42.88+00:00

Any updates here @VishnuPraveen ?

This is bricking computers across our company right now
Dominic Kaufmann 0 Reputation points

2025-09-10T12:33:31.6066667+00:00
Have you found out anything, @VishnuPraveen ? Possibly an issue with a third-party application or antivirus software?

We’re seeing three different variants of this problem:

Black screen with mouse cursor (requires restart, sometimes multiple times)

Black screen without mouse cursor (→ CTRL+SHIFT+WIN+B to restart the graphics driver)

Black screen suddenly after login (still under investigation)

Thanks for any update.
Eric Mannon 5 Reputation points

2025-09-30T06:08:27.1366667+00:00

My solution after battling with this for over a month on a brand new PC I purchased for the sole reason windows 10 was no longer going to be supported. I purchsed an Apple. Between the Intel i9 14900K crashing issue and this, PCs and Windows are no longer a viable option if production is your goal.
steven winkler 0 Reputation points

2025-12-12T10:10:37.51+00:00

This is a bunch of bullshit. This computer is brand new one update Microsoft is getting as bad as Apple
Eric Mannon 0 Reputation points

2025-12-12T17:51:16.64+00:00

Gotta agree. Windows 11 is a mess .... and I had to buy a new computer to use it.
AndrewT 0 Reputation points

2025-12-27T12:08:15.4533333+00:00

I have this same problem, which started immediately after a Windows update in early December 2025.

THe only fix that worked was to restore the system to a previous restore point. But 2 weeks later Windows forced me to update upon shutting down and the problem is back.

My machine is unusable, like many others.

Why has Microsoft not fixed this very serious error after 4 months?
Kiet Nguyen 0 Reputation points

2026-06-17T17:01:59.1166667+00:00

Hi, for anyone who has experience this problem recently, one way I figured out that might worked is forced shutdown window (press and hold the power button for 5 seconds).

Or what I did is I attempted to restart the laptop, which got me stuck in the loading restart screen. Which then I just forced shutdown window and then logged back in, so my laptops works normal now.

1 answer

Your answer

Christopher Booth Whiddon 0 Reputation points

2025-07-16T00:34:52.57+00:00

This doesn't work on Kiosk Builds
Unable to run new task as it is locked down

Even local admin has the Black screen, but I can run new task explorer.exe and then proceed
VishnuPraveen 0 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2025-08-14T19:49:33.2066667+00:00

This issue is still ongoing. Escalating internally to find a fix soon.
Spencer Hagan 20 Reputation points

2025-08-14T19:53:54.9133333+00:00

We've still been getting them, though they have been getting less frequent. But we have yet to find a solution. We're just monitoring Windows Update and hoping for a patch at this point.
Andrew Gunter 0 Reputation points

2025-08-15T19:08:01.69+00:00

Yes, it is happening to me as a well. Logon takes like a minute extra at a black screen for no apparent reason.
Sean Liming 4,816 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2025-08-16T16:13:17.8033333+00:00

when you say KIOSK build, are you using Kiosk mode: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/configuration/kiosk/

Or using Shell Launcher to launch the application?
BryceSor 5,495 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2025-08-17T00:56:30.3533333+00:00

I know you are using W11 but is this similar

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-client/user-profiles-and-logon/slow-logon-with-blank-screen?source=recommendations
Peter Wettergreen 0 Reputation points

2025-08-18T03:21:29.3833333+00:00

When I hit CTRL Alt Del. There is a brief flash of. “Preparing Security Options”. Hope this helps find the fix.

safe mode fixes are no help. Swapped GPU and even enabled TPU and Safeboot. No help
Douglas Farmer 10 Reputation points

2025-08-18T12:44:16.4733333+00:00

This is causing a nightmare for us also. We were hoping August's CU would have patched it but nope, still blank screen with just the mouse.

Our start menu is also not functioning.
Douglas Farmer 10 Reputation points

2025-08-18T15:51:29.6566667+00:00

I'm struggling with the same issue; I'd be curious to see if you have a similar setup to us.

Sophos
Cloud Drive Mapper
Dell devices
Imaged via SCCM
Andrew Gunter 0 Reputation points

2025-08-18T16:19:18.7+00:00

I'm fairly certain it broke for us in the July 2025 ISO. If I roll our deployment back to June 2025 ISO image I do not see the one minute wait time on a black screen after logon.

We are using SCCM to lay down applications on VDI but we're not using SCCM OSD for the VDI. Instead we are using the below process...

New ISO > bootable USB > Autounattend for Windows Install.

It also appears the problem occurs if you started with an ISO install from June and patch it to July CU level.

I verified with one of our desktop engineering team members the problem is also happening on Physicals. The Physicals do use the OSD portion of SCCM.

One more thing to note is in our case it seems new user profiles on impacted machines are missing APPX packages...

For example, log on to the device as a domain user with no pre existing profile and see if TEAMS or CALCULATOR is present in start menu. Verify the results in Settings > Apps > Installed Apps.

After about 15 minutes the APPX packages will appear in the start menu on their own. The local admin account does not have this issue only domain accounts. I haven't tested against local accounts that are not the builtin-admin.
Spencer Hagan 20 Reputation points

2025-08-18T17:52:41.3433333+00:00

We have a variety of different machines getting this issue, doesn't seem like there's any thread between them to hint at a cause. We've had mini PCs, MDTs, laptops, and desktops get this issue, domain and local user profiles.
Douglas Farmer 10 Reputation points

2025-08-18T20:43:29.3933333+00:00

@Andrew Gunter Aren't the appx's not installing due to AppReadiness service? I'd check your event viewer logs just in case you can see anything.
Douglas Farmer 10 Reputation points

2025-08-18T20:46:22.1233333+00:00

@Spencer Hagan I have noticed that you can have a broken machine, uninstall the latest Windows update which fixes it, and then update again back to the same version and still be working.

My next guess which I'm going to try tomorrow is looking disable all Intune configurations to a device, as although I'm not 100% certain, it seems to be that devices that are in a broken state are showing as not compliant in my intune bitlocker policy.
Andrew Gunter 0 Reputation points

2025-08-18T21:52:52.44+00:00

@Douglas Farmer My APPX apps not being there appear to be tied to whatever is going on here. Deploying with an ISO from June 2025 instead of the July 2025 ISO resolves the missing APPX as well as this black screen issue.

Our vanilla Windows Desktop deploy process is quick and I'm able to reproduce the problem described here in this thread at will by just pointing it at the correct ISO.

However, the OP is power cycling their computers to proceed past the black screen where the machines I'm looking at are progressing to the desktop naturally after a one minute delay.

Disabling the App Readiness service has no positive impact on either the missing APPX or black screen.
Douglas Farmer 10 Reputation points

2025-08-19T07:08:01.1333333+00:00

@Andrew Gunter Sounds like our issues are not exactly the same then; mine never progresses, and power cycling doesn't fix it either!
Jackson Pavelka 0 Reputation points

2025-08-22T16:07:42.88+00:00

Any updates here @VishnuPraveen ?

This is bricking computers across our company right now
Dominic Kaufmann 0 Reputation points

2025-09-10T12:33:31.6066667+00:00

Have you found out anything, @VishnuPraveen ? Possibly an issue with a third-party application or antivirus software?

We’re seeing three different variants of this problem:

Black screen with mouse cursor (requires restart, sometimes multiple times)

Black screen without mouse cursor (→ CTRL+SHIFT+WIN+B to restart the graphics driver)

Black screen suddenly after login (still under investigation)

Thanks for any update.
Eric Mannon 5 Reputation points

2025-09-30T06:08:27.1366667+00:00

My solution after battling with this for over a month on a brand new PC I purchased for the sole reason windows 10 was no longer going to be supported. I purchsed an Apple. Between the Intel i9 14900K crashing issue and this, PCs and Windows are no longer a viable option if production is your goal.
steven winkler 0 Reputation points

2025-12-12T10:10:37.51+00:00

This is a bunch of bullshit. This computer is brand new one update Microsoft is getting as bad as Apple
Eric Mannon 0 Reputation points

2025-12-12T17:51:16.64+00:00

Gotta agree. Windows 11 is a mess .... and I had to buy a new computer to use it.
AndrewT 0 Reputation points

2025-12-27T12:08:15.4533333+00:00

I have this same problem, which started immediately after a Windows update in early December 2025.

THe only fix that worked was to restore the system to a previous restore point. But 2 weeks later Windows forced me to update upon shutting down and the problem is back.

My machine is unusable, like many others.

Why has Microsoft not fixed this very serious error after 4 months?
Kiet Nguyen 0 Reputation points

2026-06-17T17:01:59.1166667+00:00

Hi, for anyone who has experience this problem recently, one way I figured out that might worked is forced shutdown window (press and hold the power button for 5 seconds).

Or what I did is I attempted to restart the laptop, which got me stuck in the loading restart screen. Which then I just forced shutdown window and then logged back in, so my laptops works normal now.

Answer 1

Dear Team,

Yes, this is a known issue with recent Windows 11 updates (mid-2025) causing black screen after login — often tied to the App Readiness service, user profile loading, or explorer.exe failing to launch.

Permanent Fixes (without disabling App Readiness):

Force-start explorer.exe on login

Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc → Task Manager

  If it's black, use `Ctrl + Alt + Del` → Task Manager
  
     File → Run new task → type `explorer.exe` → Check "Create this task with admin privileges"

Registry Fix
1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Make sure these values exist and are correct:
- Shell → explorer.exe
- Userinit → C:\Windows\system32\userinit.exe,
Check Group Policies If you manage via Active Directory, make sure no login scripts or group policies are delaying profile/app loading. Create a New Local User Profile Corrupted user profiles also trigger black screens. Try creating a new test local admin account and see if it boots normally. Use a Clean Boot for Troubleshooting Disable all non-Microsoft services (via msconfig) and startup apps to isolate third-party conflicts. Patch Rollback (if update caused it) Go to Settings > Windows Update > Update history > Uninstall updates
```
  Roll back recent **KBs from July 2025**.
```