160

I'm using Windows 10 and today I accidentally hit the key combination: Ctrl+Shift+Win+B.

As a result, the screens went black for about a second and I heard a beep.

This is reproduceable; every time I hit the aforementioned key combination, the same behavior occurs.

Searching on the web I could find nothing about this except a reddit thread in which a user said he observed a similar behavior in Windows 8 by pressing Ctrl+Win+B (no Shift).

So, what is this key combination used for?

Improve this question
3

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
153

The Ctrl+Shift+Win+B key sequence will restart your graphics driver.

Improve this answer
8
  • 3
    I think that's it. After seeing your answer I found this: betanews.com/2016/11/14/how-to-restart-graphics-driver which confirms it.
    – Cristian Lupascu
    Nov 14, 2016 at 12:54
  • 1
    If you have a Surface like I do, you probably also get to use this key combo every time you want to wake the machine from sleep... If you don't do this, the monitors refuse to come back on!
    – Brian Knoblauch
    Aug 28, 2017 at 18:30
  • 1
    @GolfWolf ah - it says the key combo only works on Win 10. I confirm that on Win7 Pro it doesn't do anything.
    – bgmCoder
    May 4, 2018 at 18:57
  • 1
    Can this be done with a console command too?
    – fritzmg
    Feb 14, 2019 at 11:42
  • 22
    From a discussion with an AMD Radeon driver engineer, it does NOT restart the graphics driver. It does appear to discard the desktop surface buffer and re-create the allocation from DWM (on a healthy system the desktop goes black for a second).
    – Kevin
    Dec 5, 2019 at 1:31
67

Official from Microsoft: "Windows logo key + Ctrl + Shift + B = Wake PC from blank or black screen"

From a discussion with an AMD Radeon driver engineer, it does NOT restart the graphics driver. It does appear to discard the desktop surface buffer and re-create the allocation from DWM (on a healthy system the desktop goes black for a second).

Improve this answer
1
  • 8
    For what it's worth, Microsoft also recommends using it in this situation: when troubleshooting external monitor setup, when external monitor was working before but then suddenly stopped. support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/…
    – RyanQuey
    Mar 31, 2021 at 2:05
5

About a year and a half after OP asked their question, "SurfaceDockGuy" posted in reply to a similar Reddit question in /r/sysadmin,

This keycombo actually saves out part of the dispdiag circular log and queues up the data to upload through telemetry indicating the customer had a black screen. That's what the "B" is for. Blackscreen.

The key combo was added to help diagnose instances where the machine is churning along but there is nothing on screen. Pressing it when you don't have a blackscreen just adds noise to the system. A driver reset is a possible side-effect but not the intent of this key.

Source: I worked on the team at MS.

https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/6l7cyk/comment/djua1pi/

Improve this answer
1

Have only found this one, please take a look:

Ctrl+Win+B -> Switch to the program that displayed a message in the notification area.

Improve this answer
3
  • 2
    Yes, I ran into that while searching. I even use Win+B occasionally (although not with the CTRL version). However, if I add shift on top of that I get the totally weird behavior I described in the question.
    – Cristian Lupascu
    Sep 23, 2016 at 9:31
  • 6
    While not the best answer, spreading this handy tip is still useful. +1
    – Rubellite Fae
    Aug 9, 2019 at 2:24
  • 1
    Your answer has no relation to the original question which was "What does Ctrl+Win+ SHIFT +B do in Windows".
    – Thorsten Albrecht
    Mar 29, 2023 at 13:14

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .