When your computer suddenly displays a black desktop background instead of the typical bright one, it can be rather frustrating. Users may have a black desktop background after installing a particular update, or if their personalization settings are incorrect, the graphics driver has failed. This article suggests how to fix the black desktop background display issue on Windows 11/10.
Fix: Black Desktop Background Display Issue on Windows
The methods to fix a black desktop background in Windows are listed below:
- Restart File Explorer
- Run SFC Scan and Repair Windows Image
- Update Driver
- Roll Back Driver
- System Restore
Check if the black desktop background display issue on your Windows PC is resolved or does not exist after trying each method.
1] Restart File Explorer
While File Explorer, like most other processes, doesn’t have a built-in option to restart, you can restart Windows Explorer via Task Manager. If there is a temporary glitch associated with the Desktop, restating will fix it. Here is how to do it:
- Open Task Manager and click the Processes tab.
- Sort it by name or Apps category.
- Locate and then right-click the Windows Explorer process.
- Choose the Restart option from the context menu.
Alternatively, you can execute the command given below via Windows Terminal to restart Windows Explorer. Open Windows Terminal, copy and paste the command given below, and press Enter:
Stop-Process -ProcessName 'explorer'
After completing one of the above methods, the taskbar will momentarily vanish and reappear. Following that, the black background should disappear, and the original background on your desktop background should display again.
2] Run SFC Scan and Repair Windows Image
Running the SFC scan will search for damaged system files or integrity issues and attempt to fix them with the Windows Image. For more information on how to perform this function, check out how to perform an SFC scan on your Windows PC. In the worst-case scenario, you can choose to repair Windows.
3] Update Driver
In this method, you must update the latest display adapter to fix the black desktop background display issue on your Windows PC. Updating the latest drivers for your PC can help you solve the issue. The driver installed on your PC may not be the most recent because Windows update takes time due to compatibility checks.
We recommend that you get the driver directly from the OEM website. For more information on how to perform this function, check out how to update the driver.
4] Roll Back Driver
In this method, you need to roll back the existing driver. So, you need to uninstall the current driver on your device and install the previous one again. It means you must select an old driver from display adapters via the Device Manager on Windows, as rolling back to an old driver may resolve the issue. This is how you roll back the driver:
- Open Device Manager, locate the Display adapters option, and expand it.
- Next, right-click the available driver and select the Properties option from the context menu.
- In the graphic driver’s properties window, click on the Driver tab and click the Roll back driver option.
- In the Driver Package rollback page, click the radio button next to any of the list of reasons displayed and click Yes. Next, restart your PC.
After you finish these procedures, Windows will remove and restore the current device driver with the older driver. Windows does not have a previous driver to roll back to if the Roll Back Driver button is absent. If that is the case, uninstall the device, get an older driver from the manufacturer’s support website, and install the driver following the on-screen instructions.
5] System Restore
If nothing else works, you might consider using System Restore to return your computer to a previous working state when the desktop background was not black. Any recent system changes on your PC can be reversed with the help of this function. So, by returning your PC to its prior state, it could solve the current issue. Follow our guide on how to do System Restore on Windows.
Conclusion
So, in this article, we have discussed a couple of possible workarounds for the black desktop background display issue on your Windows PC, like restarting Windows Explorer, running an SFC scan, updating the display drivers, rolling back the driver, resetting your PC to its previous state, etc. This can happen if any settings were altered following a Windows Update or after you installed a program; you can also choose to uninstall them.
