If you are continuously encountering the White Screen of Death error, follow each of the methods below to find the appropriate solution that corresponds to your situation and resolves your issue.
1. Restart Windows Explorer.exe.
Since Windows Explorer.exe plays a significant role in providing the Graphical User Interface (GUI), we will begin by restarting Windows Explorer, which could resolve your issue. To do so, please follow these steps:
2. Edit the Shell entry in the Registry Editor.
It is possible that the Shell entry, which is responsible for starting Explorer.exe, has been changed or deleted by a virus, malware, or any third-party application. Shell is a Windows program or component that is responsible for providing the interface of the start menu, desktop, and taskbar after login. Hence, try configuring the Shell entry correctly to fix this issue.
3. Reset the graphics driver.
Resetting the graphics driver often helps when the screen freezes and displays a white or black screen. Resetting the GPU driver means you are going to reload the graphics driver from the RAM, which can fix the White Screen of Death issue. To do so, press the Win+Ctrl+Shift+B keys simultaneously. This is the easiest way to restart the GPU driver. Once you press all the keys at the same time, you will hear a beep, which indicates that your GPU driver has been reset.
4. Run ‘sfc /scannow’.
SFC, or System File Checker, is a command that is used to repair or restore corrupted system files. If corrupted system files are causing this issue, running this command can fix the error. Follow the instructions to run the SFC command.
5. Press Alt + Enter, or lower the graphics settings.
If you are getting a white screen while playing a specific game, you can try changing its graphics settings to low or try pressing Ctrl + Enter to exit from full screen. If Alt + Enter does not work, then manually go to the graphics settings and change them to low. Once done, check if your issue is resolved. If not, then follow the next methods.
6. Reinstall the graphics driver using DDU.
If the issue persists, you can reinstall the graphics driver, as the white screen of death issue can be a result of a corrupted graphics driver. There are two methods that you can use to reinstall graphics drivers: one is uninstalling drivers using DDU, and the other is uninstalling GPU drivers from the Device Manager.
6.1 Uninstall Drivers Using Device Manager.
You can use the device manager to uninstall GPU drivers.
6.2 Uninstall drivers using DDU.
This method requires access to Safe Mode to uninstall GPU drivers using DDU. Display Driver Uninstaller is an application that allows users to remove drivers completely from the computer, along with the associated registry files. Follow the steps to access safe mode and proceed to wipe out the GPU drivers. However, if you cannot access safe mode, it means this issue is not occurring due to corrupted GPU drivers, as safe mode does not allow any GPU drivers to run or function. Therefore, try other methods to fix this issue.
6.3 Install the GPU drivers.
7. Use a System Restore utility.
The System Restore utility allows users to restore the previous state of Windows. It is a troubleshooting utility that saves the current state into a restore point. If something adverse occurs with Windows files, drivers, and registry files, the user can revert to the previous version when everything was functioning properly. To use a system restore utility, you need a restore point. If you have created one in the past, follow these steps. Otherwise, proceed to the following methods.
8. Check for RAM.
Before we move on to resetting or reinstalling Windows, try checking the RAM connected to your computer. Resetting or reinstalling Windows might become complicated if you have a large amount of data to back up first. So, if the white screen of death issue is caused by faulty RAM, changing or removing it will fix your problem. If you have multiple RAM modules connected, remove all except the last one, then check if you are still facing this issue. If not, connect the other RAM module and check for the issue. Repeat this process until you find the faulty RAM. If all the RAM modules are working properly, the issue must be due to a fault in your Windows or another hardware component.
9. Reset or reinstall Windows.
In the event that all solutions have failed to fix the white screen of death issue, you may need to try resetting or reinstalling Windows. You can visit the article to learn how to reinstall Windows. However, if you decide to reset Windows, which is essentially the same as reinstalling, follow these steps.
