Ghost Window in Windows 11

Question

I upgraded to Windows 11 and now I have this constant Ghost Screen on my laptop display. If I hover over it, is shows a processing blue circle that never stops. I have no idea what it is and it never goes away. Any screen area under it can not be accessed. Very annoying.

Any ideas?
Thanks
Sue Darte

Answer 1

That is the search widget failing for some reason. The ghost screen you see is the search widget stuck in a loop. This widget comes up whenever you hover over the search icon on the task bar in windows 11.

A quick and easy way to fix this is to bring up task manager, search for windows explorer under processes and restart it. That should reset the taskbar and everything else that runs off it. Hope that fixes the issue.

Answer 2

Hello @Sue Darte

This shadow is a known issue with certain windows 11 devices and a simple update will sort this out. If the update doesn't sort this issue try running the SFC and DISM command and this will surely sort the Issue.

If none of them are helpful try the below steps -Press the Win + R keys together on your keyboard to open the Run command window.

• In the Run command search field, type sysdm.cpl and hit Enter to open the System Properties window. -In the System Properties dialogue box, select the Advanced tab . under the Visual Effects tab, look for Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop and uncheck the option. Once it is done try restarting and see if that sorts the issue.

Hope this resolves your Query!!

--If the reply is helpful, please Upvote and Accept it as an answer--

Answer 3

The problem seems to be that if you move the mouse over the search icon at exactly the right speed the search hover menu for the search icon crashes because you move off of the icon before it has finished it's animation and rendering.

The solution is:

• Right-click on the task bar
• Click on taskbar settings
• Turn off Search (it is redundant anyways - just click Start and start typing to open the search box)

If you have the problem at the time, restart Windows Explorer as described in other posts here (Ctrl+Shift+Esc , press w (to jump to the "W"s), right-click on Windows Explorer, click Restart)

BTW (for beginners): I am using "right-click" as shorthand for secondary click which may be 2-finger click, 2-finger tap, long touch (or left-click if using a left-handed mouse) depending on your device.

Answer 4

1) Open administrative command prompt and type or copy and paste:

DISM /Online /Get-OSUninstallWindow

Post an image and / or indicate whether it displayed error 1168.

2) Place the computer in clean boot:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows-da2f9573-6eec-00ad-2f8a-a97a1807f3dd
https://www.elevenforum.com/t/perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows-11-to-troubleshoot-software-conflicts.2787/

3) If the box still appears in clean boot then test using safe mode:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/start-your-pc-in-safe-mode-in-windows-92c27cff-db89-8644-1ce4-b3e5e56fe234
https://www.elevenforum.com/t/boot-to-safe-mode-in-windows-11.538/

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Answer 5

Hi PankajPathak-9998,

Error 1168 indicates that the default 10 day go back period no longer exists (the previous version has been deleted).

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