How to Fix a Grey Screen on Windows 11

A grey screen on Windows 11 often comes from the display driver, a stalled Windows Explorer, a recent update, or a color filter. Reset the graphics driver with Windows key + Ctrl + Shift + B, then restart Windows Explorer. If the desktop never loads, use Safe Mode to roll back the driver or update.

You sign in, the wallpaper never appears, and the whole monitor sits there a flat, even grey while the mouse pointer still moves.

Work Out Which Kind of Grey Screen You Have

“Grey screen” covers a few different problems, and each one points to a different fix. Match what you see to a row in this table before you start changing things.

What you see	Most likely cause	Start with
Everything works, but colors look faded or black and white	A color filter is on	Turn off color filters
Solid grey after sign-in, pointer moves, no taskbar	Windows Explorer didn’t load or crashed	Restart Windows Explorer
Solid grey or blank at any time, nothing reacts	Display driver or connection problem	Graphics driver reset, cable and display mode checks
Grey started right after an update or a new driver	Driver or update conflict	Roll back the driver or uninstall the update
Grey before the sign-in screen, or every boot	Startup or system file damage	Safe Mode, System Restore, repair tools
Grey inside one app or browser only	That app’s graphics or hardware acceleration	App settings and updates

A grey screen isn’t the same as a blue screen. A blue screen (a stop error) shows text, a sad face and an error code, and the PC usually restarts by itself. A black or grey blank screen with no message is closer to what Microsoft calls a blank screen, and its guide on troubleshooting black or blank screens in Windows covers most of the same ground for Windows 11 and Windows 10.

Before you try anything that restarts the PC, save open work if you still can, and unplug USB drives, docks and other accessories you don’t need. A faulty accessory can stop Windows from finishing startup.

Is It Only a Grey Tint? Turn Off Color Filters

If the desktop, icons and windows are all there but everything looks grey, faded or black and white, the screen isn’t broken. Windows 11 has accessibility color filters, and one of them makes the whole display grayscale. The Windows keyboard shortcuts list notes that Windows key + Ctrl + C turns color filters on or off if that shortcut is enabled in settings, so it’s easy to trigger by accident.

1. Press Windows key + Ctrl + C once. If the color comes back, that was the whole problem.
2. If nothing changes, press Windows key + U to open Accessibility settings, or open Start, then Settings, then Accessibility.
3. Select Color filters.
4. Turn the Color filters switch off. If you use a filter on purpose, pick a different one from the list instead.
5. To stop it happening again, turn off the keyboard shortcut toggle on the same page, if your version shows one.

Microsoft’s page on using color filters in Windows walks through the same switch. If colors look off but not grey (too warm, too blue, or washed out on one monitor only), the problem is more likely Night light, HDR or the monitor’s own picture settings.

Grey Screen After Sign-In: Restart Windows Explorer

Windows Explorer draws the desktop, the taskbar and the Start menu. When it hangs or crashes at sign-in, you can end up staring at a flat grey or black background with a working pointer and nothing else. Restarting it takes a few seconds and doesn’t close your other apps.

1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager. If that doesn’t work, press Ctrl + Alt + Delete and select Task Manager.
2. If Task Manager opens as a small window, select More details.
3. On the Processes page, look for Windows Explorer. If it’s listed, select it and choose Restart.
4. If Windows Explorer isn’t listed at all, select Run new task (in the File menu or at the top of the window, depending on the layout).
5. Type explorer.exe and select OK.

The taskbar and desktop should return within a few seconds. If they appear and then vanish again, something is crashing Explorer repeatedly. Recent apps that add items to the right-click menu or the taskbar are common suspects, which is where Safe Mode and a clean boot (both below) help you narrow it down.

Grey with a spinning loading circle after sign-in is a related symptom. Give it a few minutes first, especially after an update, since Windows may still be finishing setup in the background. If it never clears, continue with the driver and Safe Mode steps.

Wake the Display: Driver Reset, Display Mode and Cables

When the whole screen is grey or blank and nothing on it reacts, Windows may be running fine underneath while the display path has stalled. Try these in order.

1. Press Windows key + Ctrl + Shift + B. Windows restarts the graphics driver. You may hear a beep and see the screen flicker. It doesn’t restart Windows, so your apps normally keep running.
2. Press Windows key + P to open the projection options. If you can’t see anything, press P again and then Enter to move to the next mode. Repeat a couple of times. This fixes cases where Windows is sending the picture to a TV or a monitor that’s turned off.
3. Check the cable at both ends, and try a different port on the PC (on a desktop, use the ports on the graphics card if it has one) or a different cable.
4. If you have another monitor or a TV, connect it. If the picture appears there, the first monitor, its input setting or the cable is the likely problem.
5. On the monitor itself, check that the input source matches the port you’re using.

If none of that helps and the keyboard doesn’t respond either, force the PC off. Microsoft’s blank-screen guide says to press and hold the power button for 20 seconds, then turn the PC on again. Expect to lose any unsaved work.

If the grey screen also comes with flicker or flashing, the checks in fixing screen flickering on Windows 11 overlap with these and add a refresh rate check.

Grey Screen After an Update or a New Driver

If the problem started right after Windows Update ran, or after you installed a graphics driver, undo that change first. You’ll need a working desktop for these steps; if you don’t have one, get into Safe Mode first (next section) and come back here.

Roll Back or Reinstall the Display Driver

1. Right-click Start and select Device Manager. If you need another route, see the ways to open Device Manager in Windows 11.
2. Expand Display adapters.
3. Right-click your graphics adapter (for example, Intel, AMD or NVIDIA) and select Properties.
4. Open the Driver tab and select Roll Back Driver. If the button is greyed out, there’s no older driver saved to go back to.
5. Pick a reason, confirm, and restart the PC.

If rolling back isn’t available, you can instead right-click the adapter and select Update driver, then Search automatically for drivers. Get graphics drivers only from Windows Update, your PC maker or the graphics chip maker. The steps for each source are covered in updating a graphics driver in Windows 11.

How to choose: roll back when the grey screen began right after a driver change; update when the driver is old and you haven’t changed anything recently.

Uninstall the Latest Windows Update

1. Open Settings and select Windows Update.
2. Under More options, select Update history.
3. Under Related settings, select Uninstall updates.
4. Find the most recent update, select Uninstall, and confirm.
5. Restart the PC.

Microsoft’s uninstall a Windows update page notes that some updates can’t be removed this way. If you can’t reach the desktop, the same option sits in the recovery environment under Troubleshoot, then Advanced options, then Uninstall Updates. For more detail on choosing which update to remove, see rolling back a Windows 11 update.

After the PC is stable again, check Windows Update, including Optional updates under Advanced options, for a newer driver or fix before you reinstall the update you removed.

When Windows Won’t Reach the Desktop: Use Safe Mode

Safe Mode starts Windows with a basic set of drivers and services. If the grey screen disappears in Safe Mode, a driver or startup app is the likely cause. The old advice to press F8 during startup usually doesn’t open a menu on Windows 11, so use the recovery environment instead.

Get to the Recovery Screen

If you can sign in, open Settings, then System, then Recovery, and select Restart now next to Advanced startup. You can also hold Shift while you select Restart from the power menu, including the one on the sign-in screen.

If you can’t get that far, Microsoft’s Windows Recovery Environment page describes holding the power button to turn the PC off as soon as Windows starts to load, doing that twice, and letting it start a third time so it opens the recovery environment on its own. A separate walkthrough of booting into recovery mode on Windows 11 covers the other entry points.

Start Safe Mode

1. On the Choose an option screen, select Troubleshoot.
2. Select Advanced options, then Startup Settings, then Restart.
3. When the list appears, press 4 for Enable Safe Mode, or 5 for Safe Mode with Networking if you need to download a driver.
4. Sign in. If BitLocker is on, Windows may ask for your recovery key first.

Microsoft’s Windows startup settings page also lists option 3, Enable low-resolution video, which starts Windows with a basic display setting. It’s a useful test when the grey screen appears only at your normal resolution or refresh rate.

In Safe Mode, use the driver rollback and update removal steps above. To leave Safe Mode, restart normally. If the PC keeps returning to Safe Mode, open System Configuration (type msconfig in Search), go to the Boot tab and clear Safe boot, as Microsoft’s start your PC in safe mode page describes.

Repair Options When the Quick Fixes Fail

System Restore

System Restore returns system files, drivers and settings to an earlier restore point without touching your documents and photos. Apps and drivers installed after that point are removed.

1. Search for Create a restore point, or open Control Panel and select Recovery, then Open System Restore.
2. Choose a restore point from before the grey screen started. Select Scan for affected programs to see what will be removed.
3. Confirm and let the PC restart.

From the recovery environment, go to Troubleshoot, then Advanced options, then System Restore. Microsoft’s System Restore page has the full details, and doing a System Restore on Windows 11 explains what to do if no restore points are listed. If Windows won’t start at all, Startup Repair in the same Advanced options menu can fix some problems that stop Windows from loading.

Check System Files With DISM and SFC

If Explorer keeps crashing or the grey screen returns after every fix, damaged system files may be involved. Microsoft’s System File Checker page gives this order:

1. Type cmd in Search, right-click Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.
2. Run DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth and wait. It can take several minutes.
3. Run sfc /scannow and keep the window open until verification reaches 100 percent.
4. Restart the PC.

Type the commands exactly, with a space before each slash. A missing space makes the command fail with an error instead of starting the scan.

Clean Boot to Find a Conflicting App

A clean boot starts Windows with Microsoft services only and no startup apps. Following Microsoft’s clean boot steps, open System Configuration (type msconfig in Search), go to the Services tab, check Hide all Microsoft services, select Disable all, then disable startup apps in Task Manager’s Startup apps page and restart. If the grey screen is gone, turn items back on a few at a time until it returns. Undo the clean boot when you’re done, or the apps you rely on won’t start with Windows. To undo it, choose Normal startup on the General tab of System Configuration, then select Enable all on the Services tab, and turn your startup apps back on in Task Manager.

Other Causes Worth Ruling Out

• Fast Startup. Fast Startup saves part of the system state at shutdown so the next boot is quicker, which can carry a driver problem over from one session to the next. A full restart (not shut down) bypasses it. To turn it off, open Control Panel, then Power Options, then Choose what the power buttons do. The setting and its trade-offs are covered in disabling Fast Startup in Windows 11. Treat this as an experiment rather than a guaranteed fix.
• One app turns grey. If only a browser or one program shows a grey window, update that app and look in its settings for a hardware acceleration option to turn off, then restart the app.
• Malware. Run a full scan in Windows Security (Virus & threat protection, then Scan options, then Full scan). Microsoft’s virus and threat protection help explains each scan type.
• Clues in the logs. Type perfmon /rel in the Run box (Windows key + R) to open Reliability Monitor. Red error marks for a display driver or Windows Explorer on the days the grey screen appeared help confirm the cause.

When It Might Be Hardware

If the grey screen shows up before Windows starts (on the PC maker’s logo screen or in the BIOS), Windows isn’t the cause. The same goes for a grey picture that persists on a second monitor, after a driver reinstall, and in Safe Mode. At that point the graphics card, the laptop screen or its connection may be failing.

Back up your files first if you still can. Then contact your PC maker’s support, especially if the device is under warranty, rather than opening the case. As a final software step, Reset this PC (Settings, then System, then Recovery) reinstalls Windows and gives you the option to keep your personal files, though you’ll have to reinstall your apps. If you need help from Microsoft directly, see the ways to get help in Windows 11.

Grey Screen Questions

Why does the screen go grey but the mouse still moves?

The pointer is drawn separately from the desktop, so a moving pointer usually means Windows is running and only Explorer or the display output has stalled. That’s why restarting Windows Explorer and the Windows key + Ctrl + Shift + B reset are the first things to try.

Will Windows key + Ctrl + Shift + B close my apps?

It isn’t designed to. The shortcut restarts the graphics driver to wake a blank or black screen, and apps normally keep running, though games or video players using the graphics card may pause or need a restart. Save your work as soon as the picture returns.

Does System Restore delete my files?

It doesn’t change personal files such as documents and photos. It removes apps, drivers and updates installed after the restore point, so note anything you’ll need to reinstall.

Can I fix a grey screen without a keyboard?

Mostly no. The driver reset, Task Manager and display-mode shortcuts all need a keyboard. On a tablet or 2-in-1 with no keyboard attached, connect one by USB or Bluetooth, or use the power button method to reach the recovery screen and work from there with touch.

What if the grey screen comes back every few days?

Note what you were doing each time and check Reliability Monitor for repeated errors from the same driver or app. A pattern tied to waking from sleep, a particular monitor or one game points to the driver or that hardware, which helps your PC maker’s support if you need to contact them.

If you’ve just recovered from a grey screen, create a restore point now so you have a recent, known-good point to return to next time.