Desktop background randomly goes completely black

Xelvania

Distinguished
Feb 6, 2014
84
2
18,635
I noticed a while back that my desktop was refreshing randomly, but I didn't really make anything of it. I've done numerous virus scans with everything updated via Malwarebytes Premium and my own Windows Defender Program and it always tells me I'm clean. Now, my background on my desktop just goes black randomly and a way to fix it is to just refresh the background and my wallpaper comes back...

Also, sometimes when I click and hold down my left mouse button and drag to create a box on my desktop, it'll create blackness instead of being transparent like it usually is and the blackness stays. Can anyone please help me? This is starting to bug me real bad. I have everything updated. Windows 10, my graphic card's drivers, everything. Really not sure what in the hell is causing this..

This photo is of my screen black and me dragging my mouse cursor while holding the left click down. Apparently, I start removing the black by doing this and it reveals my wallpaper, little by little.. It's so weird and I don't know what is causing this.

x7v62AV.jpg
 
Solution
Updated Graphics card drivers?

right click start button
choose powershell (admin)
type SFC /scannow and press enter
once its completed, copy/paste this command into same window:
Repair-WindowsImage -Online -RestoreHealth and press enter
SFC fixes system files, DISM cleans image files, re run SFC if it failed to fix all files and restart PC


Do you have desktop sync set up? go to settings/accounts/sync. If you have another device win 10 can/will try to match desktops on both devices or with a saved profile it has online - this might explain desktop going black but not squares

Are the squares where icons usually are? You can do this to reset them...

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Updated Graphics card drivers?

right click start button
choose powershell (admin)
type SFC /scannow and press enter
once its completed, copy/paste this command into same window:
Repair-WindowsImage -Online -RestoreHealth and press enter
SFC fixes system files, DISM cleans image files, re run SFC if it failed to fix all files and restart PC


Do you have desktop sync set up? go to settings/accounts/sync. If you have another device win 10 can/will try to match desktops on both devices or with a saved profile it has online - this might explain desktop going black but not squares

Are the squares where icons usually are? You can do this to reset them: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/5655-clear-reset-thumbnail-cache-windows-10-a.html
 
Solution