Black screen when logging into Windows 8.0 or Windows 8.1

Anonymous
2014-08-30T04:45:41+00:00

Earlier this week some of our users reported seeing only a black screen or black screen with a moving cursor when logging into their Windows 8 or Window 8.1 device. The root cause appears to be a known issue with versions 2.16.31.75, 2.17.1.22 and 2.17.0.324 of Search Protect, a product which can be installed on Windows devices as part of a web download made available by ClientConnect Ltd. ClientConnect Ltd has posted a notification on the following website:

http://info.trovi.com/searchprotect/support_center_notifications

Some customers have reported resolving the problem using these steps:  

  1. Boot your device into the Windows Recovery Environment and enter safe mode
  2. Launch control panel and select Uninstall a program
  3. Remove the program with “Search Protect” in the name

If these steps do not help, please contact ClientConnect’s support center using the above link for support as described here.

As Microsoft continues to investigate this issue, updates will be posted here.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Performance and system failures

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-02-03T19:59:52+00:00

    only way I can access the internet is via the task manager

    have the same problem

    You can use Task Manager?  That implies explorer.exe is not running, so what happens if you try and start it (e.g. via TM's File, Create New task command)?   Note normally you would not want to choose ...with administrative privileges but that might help you get further in this circumstance.  In any case, notice that there would be two possibilities for using it: with and without an operand.  Without an operand you would just be trying to start the standard Desktop or Start Screen (according to your Taskbar Properties).  With an operand (e.g. C:) you would be using it to open a File Explorer window.

    And, of course, you could use Task Manager to start anything else that you thought might be helpful, including, in particular, msconfig.exe, which could allow you to change your boot options.  E.g. try switching to Low res video (aka VGA mode) and see if you can get further that way.  Etc.

    Good luck

    Robert Aldwinckle

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-02-09T01:15:02+00:00

    I found a temporary fix for this bug. I did not find 'search protect' in my programs anywhere.

    when you open task manager go to details. end the task called 'explorer' then go to file (on the menu of task manager) type in 'exploerer' and run as admin. that worked for me. but every time i restart it afterwards it still comes as a black screen.

    Hopefully that will allow you to save your files.

    Good luck

    Aqib Shirwani

    P.S. Id love a proper solution to this. I have the latest bios as well.

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-02-10T05:45:52+00:00

    these steps didnt fix the problem

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-03-15T15:40:40+00:00

    when you open task manager go to details. end the task called 'explorer' then go to file (on the menu of task manager) type in 'exploerer' and run as admin. that worked for me. but every time i restart it afterwards it still comes as a black screen.

    Sorry I missed this.  Is it still a problem?  E.g. are you still elevating explorer.exe?

    At least you could see Task Manager.  Now there are users who apparently can't even do that.

    http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows8_1-desktop/i-turned-on-high-contrast-on-my-laptopwindows-81/d7862519-1a4b-414c-b2cc-917ce261213e#LastReply

    HTH

    Robert

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  5. Anonymous
    2015-03-18T02:24:42+00:00

    Yes Robert, i am still using the explorer.exe thing. Isnt there any fix for this problem?

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