After installing the Windows 11 25H2 update, my PC boots to a black screen with only a movable mouse cursor. The desktop, taskbar, and icons never appear. I tried resetting the graphics driver with Win + Ctrl + Shift + B, but that didn't help. I also opened Task Manager and restarted Windows Explorer, after which the screen began showing "Personalized Settings (Not Responding)" with a loading spinner while remaining black. Has anyone run into this after the 25H2 update? I'd prefer to fix or roll back the update without resetting or reinstalling Windows.
1 Answer
Try entering the Windows recovery environment by holding Shift while selecting Restart. From the recovery options, boot into Safe Mode, then go to Windows Update and uninstall the most recent quality or feature update. A failed or incomplete update may be causing Explorer or the personalization process to hang.
That sounds like the best next step. I’ll try Safe Mode and remove the latest update before considering a full reset.