Windows goes to a black screen with mouse cursor when waking up from sleep mode.

Question

Lately, I've been experiencing an issue where my screen goes black with only the mouse cursor visible when waking from sleep. I've run sfc /scannow, DISM RestoreHealth, and reinstalled the latest NVIDIA drivers using DDU in Safe Mode, but the problem persists.

I can temporarily fix it by launching explorer.exe via Task Manager, but it shouldn’t happen to begin with.

Running Windows 11 Pro 25H2 (OS build 26200.7840) — anyone else encountered this or found a reliable fix?

Answer 1

If the cursor is visible on the black screen, this is unlikely to be a graphics problem, more likely there is corruption in the Windows system files or the user profile.

Open the Settings App.

Go to System - Recovery.

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

Answer 2

It seems like you are encountering a known issue where the screen goes black with only the mouse cursor visible after waking from sleep mode. Since you've already tried running sfc /scannow, using DISM, and reinstalling your NVIDIA drivers, here are a couple of additional troubleshooting steps you might consider:

1. Reset the Graphics Driver: You can try resetting the graphics driver by pressing the Windows logo key + Ctrl + Shift + B. This can sometimes resolve display issues.
2. Check Shell Configuration: Ensure that the registry value for the shell is set correctly. You can do this by:
   • Pressing the Windows logo key + R, typing regedit, and pressing Enter.
   • Navigating to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon and checking that the Shell value is set to explorer.exe. If it isn't, change it accordingly.
3. Perform a Clean Boot: If the issue persists, perform a clean boot to identify if a startup application or service is causing the problem. This can help isolate the issue further.
4. Capture Process Dumps: If you can access Task Manager, check if explorer.exe and userinit.exe are running. If they are, you might want to capture process dumps to analyze the issue further.

If these steps do not resolve the issue, consider reaching out to Microsoft Support for more tailored assistance based on your specific configuration and the ongoing issue.

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References:

• Scenario guide: Black screen after you sign in to the system