Windows 8: Black screen on login to secondary user account.

[DJGM]

So ... I've recently acquired a (nearly) new laptop from a friend/colleague, and I've got Windows 8 Pro installed.

A decent selection of desktop programs are installed, plus a handful of "Modern UI" apps on the Start Screen.

Everything seems to be working fine on my user account, which is connected to my main Microsoft Account,

all seems well, except one rather troubling issue. My user account is the only one that seems to work at all.

Creating any other user account, either connected to a Microsoft Account, or just a standard local account

with no online credentials in the Microsoft eco-system is possible, but logging on is not possible.

I can log on to the primary user account using my Microsoft Account credentials without a problem, but any

other user account, no such luck. All I get after the login screen, is a black display with the mouse pointer.

Doing the three finger salute (Ctrl-Alt-Del) and bringing up the Task Manager, shows that explorer.exe is

not running. Attempting to run explorer.exe manually using the Run command box does nothing.

So, there's no desktop or taskbar, no Start screen, nothing. Only a solitary mouse pointer sitting in the dark!

Any ideas?

Oh, and before I sign off this post, could I just politely request that we get no responses that suggest I just

reinstall Windows or Refresh My PC. Those are last resort options, when all other options are exhausted.

Suggesting a system reinstall/refresh as a first or only option is unhelpful, and quite lazy!

Thanks for your attention.

[Piggy]

Do you have a second monitor or a TV connected?

[Shane Nokes]

The only suggestion I have at the moment is to run SFC /scannow and see what it reports.

BTW, telling people what things not to suggest is not a good way to start out a post asking for help as that may end up being the only option in the end. :p

[mrdeezus]

There is an option to REPAIR windows when installing. Did you try that? Its a new feature I think...

[Shane Nokes]

There is an option to REPAIR windows when installing. Did you try that? Its a new feature I think...

Repair has actually been an option for quite some time now. I think it first popped up in 2000, but it might have been XP. It's been quite some time since I played with them.

That's why I recommended the SFC /scannow first...it often will point out issues if any exist at which point I would then recommend the repair option. However the repair option can sometimes cause some issues with certain things...which is why I consider it even more of a last resort than a refresh or fresh install. :)

[DJGM]

You've earned yourself a virtual pint of the cold stuff ... sfc /scannow did the trick! The simplest fixes often eliminate

some really frustrating issues ... which is why I politely requested no responses to just reinstall/refresh Windows.

One simple command, wait a few (or several) minutes, a quick reboot ... job done! Alternatively, I could've ended

up spending/wasting several hours reinstalling/refreshing Windows, reinstalling/reconfiguring apps ... etc.

No more lonely mouse pointer sat in the dark!

Cheers!

[Shane Nokes]

You've earned yourself a virtual pint of the cold stuff ... sfc /scannow did the trick! The simplest fixes often eliminate

some really frustrating issues ... which is why I politely requested no responses to just reinstall/refresh Windows.

One simple command, wait a few (or several) minutes, a quick reboot ... job done! Alternatively, I could've ended

up spending/wasting several hours reinstalling/refreshing Windows, reinstalling/reconfiguring apps ... etc.

No more lonely mouse pointer sat in the dark!

Cheers!

Glad it worked. That's usually my first goto for things...when it's something that appears to be an OS issue I recommend that first...and then a refresh/fresh install second...and a repair last if it's a case where someone REALLY needs to keep things just as they are and doesn't mind doing some cleanup afterwards.

BTW if that showed some errors, but fixed the issue (and you haven't really played with the OS much) I would recommend running a scan using your hard drive makers utilities. That way you can see if there's an issue with the drive itself. After that I'd check the system memory to make sure things are good, if the HDD scan comes up clean.

Just some tips to possibly help avoid a bigger issue later on down the road. :)

[LGS-Gaasp]

Hi evereryone

 

I have the same problem as DJGM

 

" I can log on to the primary user account using my Microsoft Account credentials without a problem, but any
other user account, no such luck. All I get after the login screen, is a black display with the mouse pointer.
Doing the three finger salute (Ctrl-Alt-Del) and bringing up the Task Manager, shows that explorer.exe is
not running. Attempting to run explorer.exe manually using the Run command box does nothing.

So, there's no desktop or taskbar, no Start screen, nothing. Only a solitary mouse pointer sitting in the dark!  "

 

I have created several users, no one does work  except the first one I created during the installation.

(The hidden admin also works, bur even if i create another user in this admin mode I get the black screen)

 

I have already tried the sfc /scannow but this didn't solve the problem...

 

 

Windows 8.1 on a DELL INSPIRON 3000 8GB  with NVIDIA