There is a reason why Google Chrome comfortably sits at the top of the browser game. Google’s offering is cross-platform, has huge extension support , comes loaded with features, and it’s pre-installed on the world’s most popular operating system – Android. However, when it comes to desktop OS like Windows 10 and macOS, there are quite a few headaches to deal with. For example, the Chrome browser is infamous for hogging over the system RAM . Another widespread issue is a white or black screen error when you open the Chrome browser on Windows 10.
There are quite a few reasons behind Chrome’s strange behavior. Your Windows 10 device might be short on RAM to load the Google Chrome browser. The Chrome browser might be running in the background already, or it could be due to an outdated theme or extension installed.
If you frequently face the white screen error on the Windows 10 browser, you have come to the right place. This post will talk about the best seven ways to fix the Google Chrome white screen error on Windows 10. Without further ado, let’s get started.
1. Close Google Chrome Completely
Hitting the close button on the menu bar doesn’t really quit the Chrome browser completely. Sometimes, it can continue running in the background, and in such cases, when you try to open the Chrome browser, you may notice the white screen error.
Follow the steps below to close the Chrome browser using the Task Manager on Windows 10.
Step 1: Press the Windows key and open the start menu.
Step 2: Type Task Manager and press Enter to open the program.
Step 3: Right-click on the top-level Google Chrome process and select End Task.
2. Turn off Hardware Acceleration
The hardware acceleration comes into play for Sound cards and Graphics cards. Your PC alone is technically capable of anything that these devices can do, especially if it boasts integrated graphics, but allowing specialized hardware to do the job is typically the better option.
Unfortunately, hardware acceleration doesn’t always work as smoothly as it should. Sometimes, it seemingly makes the browser run much less stable and often causes performance-related problems, including the white screen glitch.
Disabling Google Chrome’s hardware acceleration setting is one way to fix the browser’s white screen error. Follow the steps below to turn it off.
Step 1: Open Google Chrome, and then click on the three-dot menu on the upper right corner of the main page to open the snapshot.
Step 2: Click on the third last option, which is Settings.
Step 3: Expand the Settings tab and scroll down to the system icon.
Step 4: Turn off the Use hardware acceleration when available option.
Step 5: Restart the browser and you are good to go.
3. Empty Cache and Cookies
A corrupted cache can ruin your day. It’s almost always safe to clear the cache, so there’s no reason not to try it.
If there is overburdened browsing data in your Google Chrome, that may make the browser throw a white screen error. Go through the steps below to empty cache and cookies on Google Chrome.
Step 1: Open Google Chrome, tap on the three-dot menu at the top.
Step 2: Navigate to More tools > Clear browsing data.
Step 3: From the following menu, go to Advanced and select Cache and Cookies files to delete.
Then relaunch the Google Chrome browser and inspect if problems with Google Chrome white screen error is fixed or not.
4. Disable Chrome Extensions
Extensions play a vital role in the Chrome ecosystem. Using extensions, one can add more features to the basic Chrome interface and functionality. However, you may not have maintained some of them actively. They could be out of date, or develop incompatibilities with latest Chrome builds.
If you have dozens of Chrome extensions installed, it can be difficult to figure out which one of them is causing the issue. Because of that, the easiest solution is to disable all extensions and then enable only the ones you need one at a time.
Step 1: Open Google Chrome, tap on the three-dot menu at the top.
Step 2: Navigate to More tools > Extensions.
Step 3: It will open the Extension menu. Tap on the Remove button and remove Chrome extensions.
5. Use Google Chrome Malware
Most users opt for Windows Defender to remove any malware from the browser. Many are unaware of the built-in Chrome malware in the browser. Using that, you can identify and remove harmful files from the browser.
Step 1: Open Chrome and go to Settings.
Step 2: Scroll down and click Advanced to open all settings.
Step 3: Scroll down to the Reset and clean up section and click Clean up computer.
That will open a window where you can launch the Chrome malware scan. Just select the Find button to start the scan.
6. Reset All Chrome Settings
It can help because there are times when tweaking the wrong settings can eventually cause issues with Chrome, especially if you’re enabling beta features.
You can fix all of that by resetting Chrome.
Step 1: Launch Chrome and open Settings.
Step 2: Scroll down and click Advanced to open all settings.
Step 3: Scroll down to the Reset and clean up section and click Restore settings to their original defaults.
That will open a window with a warning stating that all Chrome settings will be reset. Just select Reset settings to continue.
7. Reinstall Chrome
Reinstalling Chrome is the complete way to reset Chrome. You should remove Chrome from the Add or remove programs menu.
Once the uninstall process finishes, open the Chrome installer you downloaded. After Chrome has fully reinstalled, it should normally work again.
Start Using Chrome Again
Dealing with the White Screen can be particularly frustrating because no error code or message indicates what caused the problem. Naturally, you’re probably wondering what happened and whether the empty page you see means that your display has been damaged. Don’t worry. It’s just a software glitch. Go through the steps above and fix the white screen error issue on Google Chrome.
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Every keyboard, whether external or laptop, comes with a print screen button abbreviated as PrtScr. Pressing the print screen button will capture the whole screen that you can later paste in an app like Paint . It is one of the fastest ways to take a screenshot on Windows. For some users, PrtScr key is unresponsive or just not working. In that case, you can use a keyboard shortcut or an app for taking screenshots. Why would you do that when you have a dedicated screenshot key on the keyboard?
The print screen is a universal button that’s available on all Windows 10 computers and works the same way. Typically, it is located at the top row after the function keys. Way before browser extensions and third-party apps were available, there was a print screen option, and many people still prefer to use it because it’s quick and works everywhere. So when it stops working, that inconvenience often irks.
Let’s find how we can fix the print screen not working error on your Windows 10 computer.
1. Use Keyboard Shortcuts
There are other ways to take screenshots using a combination of PrtScr buttons. Try using Alt+PrtScr shortcut instead. That will take a screenshot of the currently selected window instead of the whole screen—no need to crop or remove unwanted background now.
When you use the Windows key+PrtScr shortcut, the screenshots of the fullscreen gets saved to the Pictures > Screenshots folder. If you use a keyboard or a laptop with Fn key, then you are in luck. You can use it along with Windows or Alt key combination.
Some keyboards come with an F Lock key instead of the Fn key. If that’s the case, you don’t have to press and hold it. Just press it once to activate it as you do with caps lock.
Pro Tip: Press Windows key+Shift+S to launch a new, flexible way to take screenshots. Your screen will fade, and you will notice a floating bar at the top. Use your mouse to select an area on the screen to take a screenshot of. The feature was earlier part of OneNote, but Microsoft included it with the Windows 10 Creators Update.
2. Taken Over as a Third-Party App Shortcut
The shortcut may have been associated with a third-party app like Dropbox, as noted by one user named gbbay in Microsoft support forums. It could be an app that you recently updated or installed. So, check if any third party app has taken over it.
3. Keyboard Hardware
Did you try with another keyboard? There may be something wrong with your current keyboard, and it needs fixing . Make sure everything is working with keyboard hardware and software. Connect your keyboard to another computer to check or borrow a friend’s keyboard for your computer instead. At times, the USB port may not be able to detect the keyboard properly.
4. Hardware Troubleshooter
All Windows 10 editions come with a hardware troubleshooter that will check for errors in external devices like mice, keyboards, printers, etc.
Step 1: Press Windows key+I shortcut to launch Settings. Once it opens, search for ‘Find and fix keyboard problems’ and click to open it.
Step 2: Select ‘Apply repairs automatically’ option at the bottom and click on Next to continue.
Windows will now look for problems and suggest a solution as required. It will then apply the solution if within its rights.
5. Registry Editor
Unlike Group Policy Editor, which comes preinstalled in Windows Pro and higher versions only, Registry Editor is available in Windows Home.
Step 1: Search for and open it from the Start menu. Make sure you run it with admin rights, as shown in the screenshot below.
Step 2: Drill down to the folder structure below.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
Step 3: Find a file named ScreenshotIndex in the right pane of the window. You don’t have to do anything if the file already exists. If the file is missing, right-click on a space in the right window-pane and select DWORD (32-bit) Value under New. I have the file, as shown in the screenshot below.
Step 4: Name the newly created file as ScreenshotIndex and double-click to open it. The Hexadecimal Value data should be set to 4.
Step 4: Navigate to this folder now.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
Step 5: Locate and open this file.
{B7BEDE81-DF94-4682-A7D8-57A52620B86F}
Step 6: Double-click on the file to ensure that the Value data is set to %USERPROFILE%\Pictures\Screenshots . If the file is missing, create a String Value file instead of the DWORD file as we did above and enter the value as discussed.
If that doesn’t work, try 695 instead of 4 as the value in step 4 and try again.
6. Try Third-Party Apps
There are plenty of apps available that you can use to take screenshots. Microsoft has been offering the Snipping Tool for years now. Then there are browser extensions that you can use with additional built-in features like screen recording.
Put It on the Screen
I continue to use the print screen feature on my Windows 10 laptop. It helps me take screenshots of screens where other apps don’t work. For example, the Start menu. It disappears the moment you click on anything else. The print screen feature solves this issue, but so does some other apps and options discussed above.
Next up: Are you using a multi-monitor setup? Click on the link below to learn how to take screenshots on a specific monitor on Windows 10.
