Blinking or Flashing Desktop After login - What does it mean?
Upon updating to Windows 10, some users might encounter a blinking or flashing desktop after logging in. This will result in a repetitive restarting of explorer or you won’t be able to make the start menu and shortcut keys work. In addition, the network icon might not appear in your taskbar as well. Other Windows 10 error messages include error code 0xc000021a.
Solution
Error Causes
Your blinking or flashing desktop after logging in might be the result of problems with the bushell.dll shell extension, which is a part of the Norton Security Suite. Another possible cause for this annoying problem is an issue with your display driver since not all systems will use the same display driver and will depend on what graphics card you use.
Further Information and Manual Repair
In fixing the bothersome blinking or flashing desktop after logging in problem, you can do a manual repair method to address the root problem. You need to be familiar with the Windows command line to successfully go through the process. However, if you are not knowledgeable or confident enough to do this on your own, it would be best to seek help from a professional. Or, you might want to consider using an automated tool to solve the issue.
You need to identify first what’s causing the blinking or flashing of your desktop after login to properly address the issue. The following methods can be done if your issue is caused by bushell.dll shell extension issue:
Method One: Forcefully Terminate Process
- Press on Ctrl+Alt+Del then select Task manager
- Start a Command Prompt as an administrator by choosing the File menu then Run New Task.
- Type exe. Make sure to tick the checkbox “Create this task with administrative privileges.”
NOTE: Text input is most probably affected by the explorer restarts so you might need to repeatedly type some letters or to carefully input texts.
- In the Command Prompt, type taskkill /f /im explorer.exe. This will stop the blinking or flashing.
- Type cd “Program Files” afterward, type dir /s bushell.dll to locate where the dll is. (For example, purposes, use c:\program files\Norton Security Suite\Engine6422.5.2.15 as the location)
- If the dll file is not found, you can try repeating step 5 but this time, use “Program Files (x86)” However, you can proceed with the next step if you already located where the bushell.dll is.
- Type cd ”c:\program files\Norton Security Suite\Engine 6422.5.2.15” to change the name of the directory you found the dll in.
- Type ren bushell.dll bushell-crash.dll
- Restart now the system by typing shutdown /r /f /t o in the command line.
Method Two: Uninstall Programs
- Log out then go to the sign in screen
- Press the Shift key as you simultaneously click on the Power button on the screen.
- Continue pressing on the Shift key as you click
- Continue pressing on the Shift key as you wait for the Advanced Recovery Options menu to appear.
- Once the Advance Recovery Options menu appears, click on Troubleshoot then select Advanced options.
- Click on the Startup Settings then select
- Boot on Safe Mode by pressing 4 on your keyboard.
- Log in then press Windows key + X.
- Select the Device Manager then expand Display Adapter.
- On your Display Adapter, right-click then select
- Exit Device Manager
- If in case you also have an older Antivirus utility, you should uninstall it as well.
- Restart
NOTE: You might need to download the latest Video Driver on a working computer. Save it in a thumb drive then copy and install it on your computer. If in case there is no native Windows 10 driver, you can also download the latest Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 video driver. Afterward, install it in compatibility mode.
Method Three: Use Microsoft System Configuration Utility
- Log out then go to the sign in screen
- Press the Shift key as you simultaneously click on the Power button on the screen.
- Continue pressing on the Shift key as you click
- Continue pressing on the Shift key as you wait for the Advanced Recovery Options menu to appear.
- Once the Advance Recovery Options menu appears, click on Troubleshoot then select Advanced options.
- Click on the Startup Settings then select
- Boot on Safe Mode but this time, choose 5 to start in Safe Mode with networking.
- Check if your problem is present or not in Safe Mode. If not, then you are on the right track.
- Press on the Windows key + R then type msconfig to start up your exe file.
- Click on the Services tab then choose Disable All. Afterward, click on
- Once you’re prompted to reboot your computer, go ahead and reboot in Normal Mode. Check if the issue is still present.
- If the blinking or flashing desktop after login is gone, then you can just do a process of elimination.
- Start-up on your exe again then begin bringing up services a few at a time.
- You can turn on all other services except for the following which causes the blinking or flashing desktop after login problem: Problem Reports and Solutions Control Panel Support •Windows Error Reporting Service.
Restart graphic driver
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