After installing the Windows 11 25H2 update, my display is almost completely black. I can move the mouse cursor, but the desktop, taskbar, and icons never appear. Pressing Win + Ctrl + Shift + B did not help. I opened Task Manager and restarted Windows Explorer, but afterward the system became stuck showing "Personalized Settings (Not Responding)" with a loading spinner while the rest of the screen remained black. Has anyone run into this after the 25H2 update? I'd like to recover the desktop without resetting or reinstalling Windows if possible.
1 Answer
Try entering the Windows Recovery Environment and booting into Safe Mode. Hold Shift while selecting Restart, then go to Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings and choose Safe Mode. From there, open the update removal options and uninstall the most recent quality or feature update. A failed or incomplete update may be causing Explorer and the personalized settings process to hang.
Safe Mode and removing the latest update are probably the best next steps before attempting a reset. I’ll try the recovery options first.