What to do if your Windows computer screen turns black and white?

Has your Windows computer screen suddenly turned black and white?There could be several reasons for this, including incorrect accessibility settings, corrupted graphics drivers, and problematic versions of Windows.

Don't worry if you can't seem to pinpoint the exact cause.Below, we share some helpful troubleshooting tips that should help restore your Windows computer's display to its formerly colorful state.

1. Turn off the color filter

Both Windows 10 and 11 include some accessibility features to help users with visual impairments.One of these options is a color filter, which can cause your Windows computer screen to display only black and white.If you have activated this feature unintentionally, follow these steps to disable it:

1. Press Win + I to open the Settings app.

2. Select Accessibility from the left sidebar.

3. Select a color filter from the right pane.

4. Turn off the toggle next to "Color Filter".

5. Disable the toggle key next to the keyboard shortcut for the color filter so you don't accidentally enable the feature.

2. Disable Contrast Theme

Another reason why your computer screen might turn black and white is because you have enabled the high contrast theme on Windows.Here's how you disable them:

1. Right-click the Start icon or use the Win+X keyboard shortcut to open the Power User menu.

2. Select a setting from the list.

3. Navigate to Accessibility > Contrast Themes.

4. Using the drop-down menu next to Contrast Theme, select None.

5. Click Apply.

It's worth noting that if you inadvertently press Left Alt+Left Shift+Print Screen key at the same time, Windows may enable the high contrast theme.If you don't want this, use these steps to disable the keyboard shortcut to enable the contrast theme on Windows:

1. Click the magnifying glass icon on the taskbar to enter the search menu.

2. Type Control Panel in the box and press Enter.

3. Click the drop-down menu in the upper right corner and change the view type to Large icons.

4. Select Accessibility Center.

5. Click the "Make it easier for your computer to see" link.

6. Uncheck the "Turn high contrast on or off when left ALT+left SHIFT+PRINT SCREEN is pressed" box.

7. Click "Apply" to save the changes.

3. Apply common solutions to fix grayscale display issues on Windows

If the tips above didn't help, you can try applying some basic Windows fixes to see if you can get your computer screen to display colors.

Update the graphics card driver: A problem with the graphics card driver on your computer can cause Windows to get stuck in black and white mode.In most cases, you can resolve such issues by updating the graphics card drivers on your Windows computer.

Disconnect and reconnect the monitor: Problems with the connection between the monitor and the computer can also cause this type of problem.To fix this, you can try disconnecting the monitor from the computer and then reconnecting it.Also, if you have access to another monitor, you can try using that to see if the problem persists.

Install Windows Updates: It is possible that grayscale issues are related to a bug in Windows.If so, installing Windows updates and upgrading to a newer version should help resolve the issue.

Reset your PC: If nothing else works, you might consider factory resetting your Windows PC.Don't worry, Windows offers the option to reset your PC without deleting any of your files or personal data.

Bring your Windows computer screen back to life

Seeing your Windows computer screen in black and white instead of the usual colors can be disconcerting.We hope that one of the tips mentioned above has successfully resolved the issue, and that your screen is now displaying colors as expected.