Black screen / black outline around desktop items - Explorer glitch

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2026-09-12T03:59:04.5+00:00

Hello: I was wondering if someone could help me with what seems to be a common yet unresolved Explorer glitch. After logging in, at some random time I start to see black outlines around my desktop folders, files, etc. Both screens eventually go completely black. I can get back to "normal" by firing up the Task Manager, then opening a folder, then restarting Explorer when it appears in the Processes list. This started as an occasional glitch, now its every time I start the computer up and within minutes of boot. I've reset the graphics driver, cleared the explorer cache, reset to defaults, run the three DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /XXXX operations ending in RestoreHealth (which said it was "repairable") then immediately run sfc /scannow (which took three or four hours but didn't find anything). I have not loaded any "bad shell extensions" to the best of my knowledge or "customized" using "third party shell modifiers". Windows is up to date per the updater as are my drivers, per CCleaner. The problem temporarily went away a month or so ago, then I deleted the French and Spanish Windows installs using "Add / Remove Programs" to free up some disc space and the issue came back with a vengeance. I've reinstalled the two language packs.

Any ideas. Caveat - old chemistry major - please speak to me as you would a child or a golden retriever, in the immortal words of Jeremy Irons. Thanks in advance.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Performance and system failures
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  1. AI answer

    2026-09-12T03:59:22.7833333+00:00

    Based on the symptoms, the most useful next step is to confirm whether explorer.exe is hanging or crashing, then capture data from it.

    1. Open Task Manager with Ctrl+Alt+Del > Task Manager.
    2. Go to the Details tab.
    3. Check whether explorer.exe and userinit.exe are running.

    If explorer.exe is running when the screen starts going black:

    1. Download ProcDump and extract it to a folder such as **C:\Tools**.
    2. Open an elevated Command Prompt.
    3. Go to that folder.
    4. Run:
    procdump -ma explorer.exe explorer.dmp
procdump -ma userinit.exe userinit.dmp

    This creates dump files that can be analyzed to find what is breaking Explorer.

    If explorer.exe is not running, or it exits during the problem:

    1. Download Process Monitor (ProcMon) and extract it to a folder such as **C:\Sysinternals**.
    2. Run ProcMon as administrator.
    3. If only one user session is allowed on the device, use Options > Enable Boot Logging.
    4. Restart the PC.
    5. After startup, open ProcMon again, save the log, and choose All events.
    6. Check the log for explorer.exe or userinit.exe exiting with a nonzero exit code.

    If a second signed-in user can be used to reproduce the issue, ProcMon can also be left running in one session while the other session reproduces the black screen, then the capture can be saved.

    If the issue looks like Explorer is stopping responding rather than exiting:

    1. Press Windows key + R, type eventvwr.msc, and press Enter.
    2. Open Windows Logs > Application.
    3. Look for Event ID 1000 around the time the black screen happens.
    4. If the event points to explorer.exe or userinit.exe, enable Windows Error Reporting dumps.

    Warning: editing the registry can cause serious problems if done incorrectly. Back up the registry first.

    Create these values under:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting

    If the key does not exist, create it.

    Use these values:

    • DumpCount = 10 (REG_DWORD)
    • DumpType = 2 (REG_DWORD)
    • DumpFolder = C:\dumps (REG_EXPAND_SZ)

    Then restart or sign in again and reproduce the issue. If Explorer hangs, a dump should be written to C:\dumps.

    There are also two simpler Windows-side checks that are supported by Microsoft for Explorer problems:

    • In Control Panel > System and Security > System > Advanced system settings > Advanced > Performance > Settings > Advanced, make sure Adjust for best performance of is set to Programs.
    • Under Virtual memory > Change, make sure Automatically manage paging file sizes for all drives is selected, then restart.

    If the machine is on an update released before late July 2026 and the black screen is tied to Explorer, Start, or other XAML-based shell components not starting, install the latest Windows update available for the device. Microsoft states this issue is addressed starting with updates released June 23, 2026.

    References:

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