FIX: Google Chrome Black Screen

How to Fix Google Chrome Black Screen

Despite its popularity, Google Chrome is not perfect, and problems do occur, including the black screen issue. Read the guide below, apply the methods one by one, and check if they solve the black screen problem.

Some users have reported that the Google Chrome window goes black when maximizing a minimized Google Chrome window. Others have reported that they see a black screen when opening a web page.

Many different situations can result in a black screen. To fix this problem, you might need to disable hardware acceleration, disable certain Chrome flags, reinstall Google Chrome, adjust its compatibility, edit shortcut parameters, update Adobe Flash Player, and take other measures.

Obviously, you will not be able to apply all of these methods if the black screen appears when you launch Google Chrome, but some methods do not require Google Chrome to be opened.

Video Showing How to Fix Google Chrome Black Screen:

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• Disable Extensions
• Enable Compatibility Mode
• Delete Local Storage Folder's Contents
• Disable Hardware Acceleration
• Resize Google Chrome Window
• Add No Sandbox Parameter
• Reinstall Google Chrome
• Video Showing How to Fix Google Chrome Black Screen

Disable Extensions

If you can access Google Chrome settings, we recommend that you try to disable any installed and enabled extensions. Some of the installed extensions may be causing the black screen problem.

To access Google Chrome extensions, click the three dots in the top-right corner, select "More tools", and then click "Extensions".

You will see a list of installed extensions, and you can choose whether you wish to disable or remove them. If disabling extensions solves the problem, you will know that one of the extensions (or more than one) is causing the black screen problem.

If this is the case, enable installed extensions one by one to see which one is causing the problem, and then remove it.

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Enable Compatibility Mode

This method does not require Google Chrome to be opened. Compatibility mode allows users to emulate an older version of the software or mimic another operating system to allow incompatible or older software to remain compatible with the computer's current state.

To run Google Chrome in compatibility mode, right-click the Google Chrome shortcut on the desktop and select "Properties" from the contextual menu. Then go to the "Compatibility" tab, tick the "Run this program in compatibility mode for" checkbox, and select the operating system version.

Some users have reported that selecting to run Google Chrome in compatibility mode for Windows 7 solved the issue. Apply this setting by selecting Windows 7 and clicking "Apply". If Google Chrome still shows the black screen, change the compatibility mode options and select another Windows version.

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Delete Local Storage Folder Contents

This method does not require Google Chrome to be opened and includes removing all Local Storage folder contents. The folder is hidden by default, and you will first need to instruct Windows to show hidden files. Type the "folder options" in Search and click the "File Explorer Options" result.

Go to the "View" tab and enable the "Show hidden files, folders, or drives" option, and click "Apply".

Now go to Local Disk (C:) -> Users -> select your user -> AppData -> Local -> Google -> Chrome -> User Data -> Default -> Local Storage and delete all files or folders in the Local Storage folder. Now open Google Chrome and see if the black screen problem is fixed.

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Disable Hardware Acceleration

It is possible to make Google Chrome use (or not use) hardware acceleration (if available). When hardware acceleration is enabled, Google Chrome passes most graphical tasks to the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) and utilizes more hardware. Generally, this is a good thing since the GPU is designed to perform these tasks, making it easier for Google Chrome to perform various tasks.

Despite this, some users had reported that disabling the "Use hardware acceleration when available" feature fixed the black screen issue. To disable this feature, click the three dots in the top-right corner of the Google Chrome browser and select "Settings".

Scroll down until you find the "Advanced" button and click it.

Scroll down to the "System" section and find the "Use hardware acceleration when available" option. Toggle the switch to the "Off" position and click "Relaunch".

This will disable the hardware acceleration option and restart Google Chrome. Check if the black screen problem persists.

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Resize Google Chrome Window

Some users have reported that resizing the Google Chrome window solved the problem, at least temporarily. Move your mouse cursor to anywhere on the window's edge, click and drag to resize, and make Google Chrome bigger or smaller.

Then change the window size to its original size and check if the black screen problem persists. As we mentioned before, however, this solution is only temporary but might be useful for further troubleshooting (to access settings, and so on).

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Add No Sandbox Parameter

Sandbox in Google Chrome is an additional built-in layer of protection. Its main purpose is to keep malware and other security threats from infecting your computer and protect your computer when you are browsing the web using Google Chrome web browser. As mentioned, this is a security feature, and so we would not normally recommend that you permanently disable any features such as this.

Nevertheless, some users have reported that disabling this feature fixed the black screen problem. Despite the risk, you may wish to see if this solution will work for you as well.

To disable the Sandbox feature, you will need to add the "-no-sandbox" parameter. Right-click the Google Chrome shortcut on the desktop and select "Properties" from the contextual menu.

Go to the "Shortcut" tab in the Google Chrome Properties window and find the "Target" line. In our screenshot, you can see that the target is "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe". You may see a different path, but the point is to add the "-no-sandbox" parameter at the end of the target.

In our case, it would look like this: ""C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" -no-sandbox". Add this parameter, click "Apply", and launch Google Chrome. Check if this solves the black screen problem.

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Reinstall Google Chrome

Reinstalling Google Chrome might fix the black screen problem. However, this will remove all your bookmarks, passwords, settings, history, etc.

To uninstall Google Chrome, right-click Start and select Run, or press Windows key + R on your keyboard to open the Run dialog box.

Type "appwiz.cpl" and press Enter on your keyboard. This will launch the "Programs and Features" window.

In the Programs and Features window, locate the Google Chrome program and uninstall it by right-clicking on it and choosing "Uninstall" from the drop-down menu.

Now download and install Google Chrome again and see if the black screen problem persists.

We hope this guide was helpful and one of the methods solved the black screen issue. If you know of other solutions to this problem not mentioned in our guide, please share them with us by leaving a comment below.

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