Display driver failed to start on Windows 10 – Black Screen displayed

Display driver failed to start

An error reported when attempting to launch graphics applications, such as video games, on Windows computers is The display driver could not start. If you encounter this error, this article will help you solve the problem.

The display driver could not start

The problem may be caused by a corrupted graphics driver or system-related issues. Before you begin, update your Windows copy. If that does not help, try the following solutions sequentially:

  1. Restart the graphics driver
  2. Perform Hardware and Device Troubleshooting
  3. Update the graphics driver
  4. Configure your system for maximum performance

1) Restart the graphics driver

If the display driver or graphics driver hangs, Windows 10 can recover it by itself. If this is not the case, you can always restart the graphics driver in Windows 10 manually.

Use the key combination Win + Ctrl + Shift + B on your Windows 10 keyboard. The screen flickers and goes black for a second and will be back in less than a second.

2) Perform Hardware and Device Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting hardware and devices

The hardware and device troubleshooting utility can detect issues related to drivers and related hardware. If possible, the troubleshooter will solve the problem. The procedure for running the hardware and device troubleshooting utility is as follows:

Click the Start button and navigate to Settings> Updates and Security> Troubleshoot.

In the Troubleshooter list, select and run the Hardware and Devices Troubleshooter.

Restart the system after troubleshooting.

2) Update the graphics driver

Update the graphics card driver

The main cause of the problem under discussion is that the driver of the graphics card is out of date. In this case, we can update the graphics card driver by doing the following:

Press Win + R to open the Run window and type the command. devmgmt.msc. Press Enter to open the Device Manager.

Develop the list of Screen shots.

Right click on the graphics card driver and select Update the driver.

Restart the system after updating the driver.

You can also consider reinstalling the graphics drivers. Select Uninstall Device from the context menu and, once the uninstallation process is complete, reboot the system.

If that does not solve the problem, you can consider downloading graphics drivers from the Intel Download Center and installing it.

3) Configure your system for maximum performance

Windows 10 allows users to select the effects they wish to activate on their system, thus adjusting the appearance / performance ratio. This could be done via a certain parameter on the system. You can set this parameter to "Maximum Performance" to counter the "Failed to start the display driver" problem.

Look for the word "performance" in the Windows search bar.

Select the option to Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows.

Move the radio button on Adjust for better performance.

Click Apply and then OK to save the settings.

I hope these solutions will help you solve your problem.

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