Background of my laptop screen turns black when I have multiple apps open, Windows 11

ComputerP 20 Reputation points
2026-06-17T10:19:12.8066667+00:00

Hi,

After upgrading to Windows 11 several bugs have popped up... the most annoying one is the background of my screen going black sometimes and hidding my mouse cursor away, when I have different apps open.

I already searched a bit online and there were some references about the Windows Explorer task. Restarting it temporarly fixes the problem but it keeps coming back.

Thanks for the assistance.

BR, Pedro

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Display and graphics
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DaveM121 914.5K Reputation points Independent Advisor
2026-06-17T10:54:58.5233333+00:00

Your screenshot seems to indicate Explorer is crashing.

Open the Settings App.

Go to System - Recovery.

Click the 'Reinstall Now' button in the 'Fix problems with Windows Udpates' section, then wait for that process to complete.

That process should fix any corruption in Windows and will not affect your files, settings or installed apps.

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  1. Hendrix-V 17,185 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-06-18T07:43:41.23+00:00

    Please note that our forum is a public platform, and we will modify your question to hide your personal information in the description. Kindly ensure that you hide any personal or organizational information the next time you post an error or other details to protect personal data. 


    Hi Pedro P. Garcia,

    Since the background only turns black when multiple applications are open, the issue may be related to graphics rendering or resource management rather than the wallpaper itself.

    Here are some possible checking steps that you can try at this point:

    1, Monitor resource usage

    • Open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc).
    • Check whether Memory, GPU, or Disk usage spikes when the background turns black.

    2, Test with a new Windows user profile

    • Create a temporary local user account.
    • Sign in to the new account and see if the issue occurs there.
    • If it does not, the problem may be related to settings or data within the current profile.

    3, Disable hardware acceleration in frequently used apps

    • Applications such as browsers, communication tools, or creative software often use GPU acceleration.
    • Temporarily disable hardware acceleration in the affected apps and observe whether the behavior changes.

    If your laptop includes Intel, AMD, NVIDIA, or manufacturer-specific display software, verify that no performance, power-saving, or display enhancement features are enabled that could affect desktop rendering.

    Let me know if you need further assistance, feel free to ask me by clicking "Add Comment" or "Add Answer" if you cannot add comment so your response will be visible. Thanks for your effort.


    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

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