If you’re having issues with your video or graphics, try inputting CTRL+Shift+Windows+B to force Windows to take action. This shortcut will force a quick restart of your driver in Windows 10 and 11. However, before the reset is complete, the screen will go dark and a single beep will sound.

This keyboard shortcut alerts the system to a possible graphics problem, prompting Windows to restart your graphics or video driver.

If you’re experiencing graphical corruption, this could help you fix it without having to restart your computer.

 

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Exactly What is a Video or Graphics Driver?

A graphics driver is a piece of software that mediates communications between your computer’s graphics hardware and the operating system. The visual card’s functionality would deteriorate without a driver.

Updates to graphics drivers are often released to fix issues and boost system performance. In order to play the latest games without any hiccups, you’ll need to update your drivers.

Possible Problems Caused by a Faulty Graphics Driver

There are a broad variety of visual difficulties and general performance drops that can occur when your graphics card fails. Here are some computer problems that could arise:

Visual defects are a typical graphics driver-related issue. Tears or flickering on the screen may appear. Additionally, it is possible that the app icons could disappear or that other graphical user interfaces will stop functioning.

Failure to launch, problems, or crashes in any software requiring graphical components to function. In particular, games won’t launch, and those that do may display graphical distortion.

Totally Blank Display: If your graphics driver or card is malfunctioning, you can potentially see a completely black screen.

When Your Video Card Needs a Restart

A graphics driver restart may be required in rare cases. Some examples of this are as follows:

  1. There has been a total breakdown in processing.
  2. Problems with the screen’s presentation, such as a complete loss of colour or flickering.
  3. Crashing occurs during certain phases of running GPU-intensive software.
  4. Inadequate video quality.
  5. Broken or intermittent Taskbar/Cursor

What a Restart of Your Graphics Driver Can Do For You

The graphics driver is likely to blame if your computer’s display is acting up (freezing, flickering, etc.). Thus, if you are experiencing these issues, restarting your video driver may help.

For What Reason should I Restart the Graphics Driver?

When Windows 10 or Windows 11 detects that your graphics driver is having serious problems, it will immediately reset the driver to reinitialize it and fix the issue on its own.

Unfortunately, Windows’ flaws mean that resetting the graphics driver isn’t always possible in such a situation.

Since Windows isn’t automatically restarting the video drivers, doing so will help you resolve the issue.

What to Consider Before Resetting Your Graphics Driver

For optimal system performance, you should take these measures and follow these best practises.

  1. You shouldn’t make it a habit to uninstall and reinstall your graphics driver. If you only utilised it in dire situations, that would be ideal.
  2. If there’s a chance, you should always make backup copies of your files and work. The same is true for establishing Backup and Restore Points.
  3. The process of resetting drivers typically results in more malfunctions. The risk exists that you will become flawed, just like other motorists. Therefore, they will eventually require your care as well.

When I Press CTRL+Shift+Windows+B, What Happens?

It causes the screen to go black for a while and make a beeping noise when you use this shortcut. The desktop external buffer is discarded and the video driver is restarted. Fix the budget and get rid of the blank screen.

  1. It acts similarly to a Windows accelerator in that it boosts the operating system’s performance. It has the potential to update the system’s visuals and provide an option to revert to its original, genuine state. If you want to restart your driver but don’t have access to the administrative console, here is the method for you.
  2. Use this key combination to unfreeze your computer and fix any issues or strange visual effects you may be seeing.
  3. By resetting the graphics driver, the graphics card’s settings are returned to their factory defaults. Also, if you’re having issues with the display on your machine, you can fix them by resetting the graphics driver.
  4. When you press CTRL+WIN+SHIFT+B while playing a computer game, the system will break the process into smaller chunks and end the game.

Using the Keyboard Shortcut CTRL+Shift+Windows+B and Its Consequences

It helps release any cached data that may have become locked, allowing your device to run more smoothly. Utilize this and observe your system periodically freeze while working long hours.

When you experience issues with your display, resetting your video driver may solve the problem.

If you press and hold the combination, the graphics driver will be reset without having to close any other applications. If this happens to you when you’re working or playing a game, you won’t lose any work or progress because of the freeze.

Conclusion

To reset your system’s video drivers and correct any graphical errors without restarting your computer, press the CTRL+Shift+Windows+B key sequence.

Regular usage of this key combination, however, is not advised because it may cause your system to brick and damage other drivers on your computer.