Black desktop background display issue in Windows 11

One of the issues that Windows 11 users are facing is a black desktop wallpaper showing up at random times after a Windows 10 upgrade. According to most of the users, they saw a black wallpaper on the screen while changing the theme or used a new wallpaper. There are some others who found that the background of the screen turned black when trying to open the Start menu.

The reason for this problem in Windows 11 is unknown, but there are some fixes that other users have successfully tried when encountering this issue. In this article, some solutions have been listed that can help you fix this issue on your Windows 11 PC.

Before you go ahead and try the fixes mentioned below, perform a system reboot and check if this solves the problem.

Solution 1 – Restart Windows Explorer using Task Manager

1. Use the Ctrl + Mayús + Esc key combination to open the Task Manager.

2. Click More details at the bottom to see the full view of Task Manager.

3. Select the processes tab.

4. Here, select Windows Explorer in the list of processes that are currently running on your system.

Note: If you can’t see Windows Explorer listed, open File Explorer (Windows + E) and then continue.

5. Click on the Restart button at the bottom right. This updates the desktop wallpaper.

6. You will now see the original background image that you had used as your wallpaper instead of the black wallpaper.

Solution 2 – Change the desktop background manually

If restarting Windows Explorer did not help you resolve the black screen background display, try changing the screen background manually by following the steps mentioned below.

1. Open Run using the windows and r key combination

2. Type ms-settings:customization to open the Personalization Settings page.

3. Now click Background to modify the desktop background.

4. You will now be in the Background section.

5. Here, select the option Image in the dropdown next to Personalize your background.

6. Below, there is a recent images section where you will see all recently used backgrounds/images. Select any one of them to apply a new background.

7. If you want to use a different image as your desktop background, click the explore photos button next to Choose a photography.

8. Select the image you are interested in and click Choose the photo.

9. That’s it. The new wallpaper will now be displayed.

Solution 3 – Update the graphics driver

1. Press Windows + R to open the Run dialogue.

2. Type devmgmt.msc and hit Get into to open Device administrator.

3. Click on the Arrow down beside Display adapters to expand it and see the different graphics card entries.

4. The right button of the mouse on the graphics card and choose Update driver.

5. In the Update driver wizard that opens, click on the Automatically search for drivers option.

6. Windows starts searching for driver updates for the selected graphics card.

7. If there is any update, it will install it and display a message «The best drivers for your device are already installed”.

8. Restart your PC after the update is done and check if the issue is resolved.

Thank you for reading.

The problem with the randomly displayed black wallpaper will be resolved after trying the solutions mentioned in this article. We hope this helped you fix the problem on your Windows 11 PC. Please let us know in the comments which solution worked for you.