PC Black Screen With a Cursor After You Sign In
If you can sign in and move the mouse cursor, but the desktop never appears, Windows has started and Explorer has not. Explorer is the part of Windows that shows the desktop, the taskbar, and your folders. Restarting Explorer from Task Manager often brings the desktop back without losing your files.
You do not need the desktop, the Start menu, or any icons to try the main fix on this page. If the cursor moves, you can use a keyboard shortcut to open Task Manager from the black screen, then follow the steps written for that view.
This is different from a black or blue crash screen with an error code that appears before you sign in. That kind of screen means Windows stopped before login. Here, sign-in worked, so start with the Explorer fix below before you try recovery options.
Part of the PC Won't Start? Boot Problems and the BitLocker Recovery Screen, Step by Step series, the pillar guide for this cluster.
Check that this is the after sign-in black screen
You are in the right place if you saw the Windows sign-in screen, entered your PIN or password, and then the screen went black. The desktop does not load. There is no taskbar at the bottom and no icons, even though sign-in seemed to work.
Move the mouse or touch the touchpad. If the cursor moves across the black screen and the PC sounds on, with fans running or lights on, Windows has likely started but Explorer has not. That pattern matches this page.
This is different if you never reached sign-in. A crash screen with a stop code, or a black screen that appears before you can enter a PIN or password, follows a different route. Use the linked guide for that problem instead.
Before you try a fix, wait a full 10 minutes once, in case a slow or older PC is still loading. If the desktop appears, you do not need the fix. Also note any Windows update or driver change from the day before.
Restart Explorer from Task Manager when all you see is a cursor
You can do this fix from the black screen. You do not need the Start menu, the desktop, or any folder to open first. Use the keyboard to open Task Manager, then use Task Manager to start Explorer again. Try the steps in order, and give each one a few seconds to work.
- Press Ctrl, Shift, and Esc at the same time, then let go. Wait about 10 seconds. Task Manager should appear as a window on the black screen. If it opens as a small box, select More details at the bottom so you can see the full window and its menus.
- If nothing appears, press Ctrl, Alt, and Delete at the same time. A different screen will open with a short list of choices. Select Task Manager from that list. Task Manager should then open, and you can go on to the next step below.
- Now start Explorer by hand. In Windows 11, select Run new task near the top of Task Manager. In Windows 10, select File at the top left, then select Run new task from the menu. Either way, a small box called Create new task will open.
- Click inside the box if you need to, then type explorer.exe exactly as written. Check the spelling and the dot before exe, then press Enter or select OK. You do not need to change anything else in that window. Then wait and watch the black screen.
There is a second route if Explorer is already listed. In Task Manager, go to Processes, then look for Windows Explorer in the list. You may need to scroll down. Right-click Windows Explorer, then select Restart from the menu that appears. The screen may flicker or stay black for a few seconds.
Give Explorer time to load after either route. Icons often appear first in pieces, and the taskbar can take a little longer. Do not press the power button while this is happening. Wait a full minute before you decide whether the step worked.
Success looks like this. Within about a minute, your desktop icons appear and the taskbar loads at the bottom, with the Start button, search, and clock. Click Start or open a folder to check. If both load normally, you are fixed and you can stop here.
If the desktop appears and then goes black again
If the desktop appears, that is useful news, because Explorer did start. This is a different problem from a desktop that never loads at all, and something that runs after you sign in is likely knocking the desktop back off the screen. Repeating the restart of Explorer may bring the desktop back, but it will not tell you why it left.
First, restart once, properly, before you try the Task Manager fix again. Press Ctrl, Alt, and Delete together, select the power icon in the lower right corner, and select Restart. When the PC comes back, sign in and wait a full minute to see what happens.
If it goes black again, restart once more the same way, and unplug extras before you sign in this time. Remove USB drives, unplug a docking station, and disconnect a second monitor if you use one, then sign in again. If the desktop now stays on for several minutes, one of those items was confusing Windows or its display.
If the desktop still vanishes, note when it happens and write the time down. Going black straight away points more to a program that starts with sign-in. Going black after a few minutes points more to a display driver fault, and that timing will help in the next steps.
If Task Manager will not open or Explorer will not start
If Task Manager will not open, or Explorer still does not start, stop repeating the same steps. Press Ctrl, Alt, and Delete together once. If the blue or black options screen appears, use that screen instead. It works even when the desktop does not. Try this screen once before you try anything stronger.
Select Sign out, wait until the sign-in screen returns, then sign in again as you normally would. Signing out closes the failed session and starts the sign-in process cleanly, so Explorer gets a fresh chance to load. Give it a full minute after you sign in.
If signing back in changes nothing, return to the same screen and use the power icon in the lower right corner. Select Restart, not Shut down. Restart clears the current state, while Shut down can save part of it and reuse it next time on some PCs. Wait for the restart to finish on its own.
If another account is on this PC, sign in to that one once. If its desktop loads, the fault is likely in your account. If it is black too, the fault is likely in Windows itself. Either way, stop here and move to Safe Mode next. Do not keep forcing the power off. Two or three tries in total is enough.
Use Safe Mode to undo a recent driver or update
Safe Mode loads Windows with basic drivers and without most programs that normally start after sign-in. That often lets the desktop appear when the normal desktop will not. Follow the full entry steps on our Safe Mode page. For a brief start, press Ctrl, Alt, and Delete, then hold Shift while you select Restart from the power icon in the lower right corner.
If the desktop loads in Safe Mode, do not change any settings yet. Select Start, then Power, then Restart, and let Windows start normally once. That restart alone sometimes clears the fault, and you may get your usual desktop back. If the screen goes black again, return to Safe Mode and use the next steps.
If this started after a Windows update or a display driver change, stay in Safe Mode and follow our bad update page. It covers removing a recent update and rolling back a driver, in the right order, so there is no need to work through those steps here. Restart normally when you finish and check the desktop.
If there was no clear update or driver change, try System Restore from Safe Mode. Press the Windows key and R together, type rstrui, and press Enter to open it, then pick a restore point from before the black screen started. System Restore removes programs installed after that point, so you may need to install some programs again, and it leaves your personal files alone, including documents and photos.
Stop it coming back and know when to get help
Once your desktop is back, let any Windows update that is still running finish completely. Do not turn the PC off while it works. Restart the PC once it has finished, even if everything looks normal again.
Skip driver updater and cleaner tools, even if an ad says you need one. Those tools often cause this fault by installing the wrong driver or removing files Windows needs.
Write down the date the problem started and what changed just before it, such as an update or a driver change. Keep that note. If you take the PC for repair, that is the first thing the shop will ask for.
Get help if Safe Mode is also black, if the screen flickers and you hear clicking sounds from the PC, or if the fault comes back after a restore. This fault alone does not mean your photos and documents are lost. No fix on this page deletes personal files.
Conclusion
If your desktop is back, you have done the hard part from the least useful screen Windows gives you. A moving cursor and a successful sign-in meant Windows itself had loaded, even when nothing on the screen suggested it. That is worth remembering if it happens again.
If it is still black, that result still tells you something clear. Note what you tried, leave the PC alone rather than forcing it off again, and take that note with you when you get help.