Top 7 Useful Ways to Fix Windows 10 Photos Black Screen Error

Windows 10 understood a lot, but the Photos app was not one of them. I found it slow and buggy, but that’s not all either. Several users complain that the Photos app opens on a black screen when they try to open an image. Note that Microsoft recently changed the name of Windows Photos to Microsoft Photos.

Opening the Microsoft Photos app on a black screen is an old issue. Recent updates to Windows 10 haven’t done much to correct the error. They brought their own problems. My speakers have stopped working. Anyway, let’s focus on the topic at hand and understand what we can do with the Photos app.

1. Run the troubleshooter

Windows 10 comes with a built-in troubleshooter that can help resolve many errors with Microsoft Store apps.

Step 1: Press Windows key + I to open settings and search for and open “ Find and fix problems with Windows Store apps ”.

2nd step: Click Apply repairs automatically in the pop-up window that follows and click Next.

Follow the onscreen instructions and see if the Windows operating system can find and repair the Photos app.

2. Reset / Repair Photos app

Step 1: Open settings again and click Apps. Find the Microsoft Photos app in the search bar. Click the name to display more options and select Advanced options.

2nd step: Scroll down a bit to find the Reset button. Click on it.

Resetting will delete the app’s data, giving you a fresh start. Sometimes the data gets corrupted resulting in errors like blank or black screen. This should fix it.

Have you noticed that the Uninstall button is grayed out? This is a system application and Microsoft does not allow you to uninstall it. Typical.

Note that some users will also witness the repair option. Try this and see if the Photos app is working now or not.

3. End photos

Use this option if the app is late or just hangs. You will see “Not working” in the application status bar. You launch the Photos app and it opens on a black screen, then you can’t close it. There are two ways. You can either end it from settings by going back to the same menu as above where you reset it. Or, you can press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager and right click on Photos app to complete the process from there.

Relaunch the app to see if the app is working properly now.

4. Update the drivers

Displaying images on your computer involves graphics drivers, which may help resolve the issue. The link I just shared explains everything you need to know about drivers. Try updating and reinstalling the graphics card drivers to see if that fixes the problem.

5. Uninstall updates and restart

There is no recent update to the Photos app at the time of writing. However, it is worth a try.

Step 1: Open settings again and click Update & security> Show update history.

Click Uninstall Updates to remove recently installed updates and restart your computer to check if the Photos app still opens on a black screen. If the issue is resolved, do not update until a fix is ​​released. You can delay updates but cannot stop them.

6. Reinstall the Photos app

There is a command that works.

Step 1: Open PowerShell from the Start menu with administrator rights.

2nd step:
Run the command below and restart your computer after the command is executed. The Photos app will be reinstalled automatically upon restart.

Get-AppXPackage
 -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register 
"$($_.InstallLocation)AppXManifest.xml"}

If the Photos app is not reinstalled, you can download and install it from the link below.

Download Microsoft Photos

7. Third party applications

You’re not the only one who hates the Photos app. We’ve shared a list of Photos alternatives that you should check out. These apps are relatively stable and offer more functionality than Microsoft’s Photos app.

Photographic memory

It would solve so many of my problems, including the one helping me get good grades. Microsoft Photos got better with Windows 10, but it’s still not there. There are so many image viewers and editors that put the default Photos app to shame. They gave it a facelift for Microsoft’s defense, but I guess it was too little too late. Most users have already moved on to better alternatives. Those who didn’t do it slowly. Welcome to the club.

If you’ve found another way to fix the issue, please share it with us in the comments section below. It may help some of our other readers who are facing the same error. We hope that our solutions will help you and that you will now be able to view the images properly instead of having to witness a black screen instead.