Black screen with a cursor after logging onto windows

[AlexandraElise]

After typing in my password to log onto windows, my screen goes black and all I can see is the cursor. I can move the cursor around but otherwise nothing happens. My computer will not run 'safe mode', I cant get any of the BIOS key combos to work. I managed to open up the task manager, and I tried to do 'new task' and searched 'desktop'. It says windows cannot find desktop. I press windows button + u and it says 'class not registered' I can open up the cmd window and that is about it. Please help, I just want to use my computer.

 

[sunder25]

new task : explorer.exe
after that, go to start, type cmd, run a command prompt.
in the command prompt window type "sfc /scannow"

 

[AlexandraElise]

Thanks Sunder for your assistance, but I figured another way to fix it soon after posting this questions. Here's how I did it:

- I restarted my computer and attempted to run it in safe mode (i'm not really sure if it worked or not, because there wasn't any visible indicator that it had)
- I logged on and arrived at the dreaded black screen with my cursor in the center
- I pressed ctrl + alt + delete on my keyboard to open up the task manager window
- I clicked on 'new task' and searched for 'cmd'
-it pulled up the command prompt window
- I typed 'rstrui.exe' in the cmd window, and hit enter
- My computer then ran the system repair program and proceeded to restart itself.

After this I was able to successfully log back in to my windows and arrive on the windows home page. Success!
I think its worth mentioning that the only thing missing from my computer after the repair was a program that I had installed that same night, just before the problem occurred, so I'm assuming that was the problem! I'll be sure not to download that again.

Good luck to anyone else experiencing this problem. I hope this solves it for you, and if not keep searching and try lots of fixes! Thats how I ended up at my success.

 

[Vicky-Cent]

rstrui.exe on command promt is just gonna restore your computer, it is not gonna fix the problem for a long term...
Follow this and get it fixed for sure...
http://www.centools.com/tech/just-black-screen-after-logging-into-the-windows/
It worked for me...
You must try this.

 

[conquerz]

@Vicky-Cent, I checked your link and searched for all those 'malware' apps and didn't find a single one.

I had the exact same problem just now (11th March 2015) after doing Windows update. Doing a system restore (Running 'rstrui.exe' from Task Manager) did not fix for me cos my restore point was corrupted. This is what I did to fix the black screen with mouse pointer/cursor after logging into your account, which happened after doing a Windows Update:

- Press CTRL + ALT + DELTE and open Task Manager.

- Right click on one of the Apps in 'Processes' or 'Details 'tab and click open file location. This should open Windows Explorer. (You could try doing File > Run New Task > explorer.exe - but that didn't work for me)

- In Windows Explorer, click Computer > Open Control Panel and go to "Program and Features" (alternatively, you could open it directly from Task Manager by doing File > Run New Task > Appwiz.cpl)

- On the left-hand side, click on "view installed updates". Sort them according to 'Installed On' (if you can't see this column, right-click on one of the columns to enable it.)

- Uninstall all the latest updates that were installed since your previous Windows update. Keep selecting 'Restart later'.
[Edit: It was discovered that it was the kb3035131 update that was causing the black screen issue, so you can try only uninstalling this update and restarting and see if it fixes the issue. Otherwise remove all the latest updates and continue below...]

- Once all the latest Windows updates are removed. Press CTRL+ALT+DELTE and Sign out.

- Restart Windows.

This got me back into Windows. Hope it helps.

The problem now is finding the culprit Windows Update and disabling it from updating. I will wait for news on resolution of this issue before updating Windows 8.1 again. Maybe Microsoft will address this issue soon.