How to Fix Screen Flickering on Windows 11

A bad display driver or an incompatible app in Windows 11 can cause an annoying screen flickering issue. You may notice this effect more often when you drag an app or work with the taskbar.

Fortunately, fixing the issue is relatively straightforward and you can do it by yourself. Let's explore how to troubleshoot the screen flickering issue in Windows 11.

1. Check If the Task Manager Flickers

To determine whether the problem lies with a drive or an app, you can use the Task Manager to perform a little diagnostic. If it does flicker, you can use this information to better identify what's causing the issue on your system.

To open Task Manager:

1. Press Win + X to open the WinX menu.
2. Select Task Manager from the context menu.

Now, see if the Task Manager flickers like everything else on the screen. If yes, you may have a bad display driver to fix. However, if the Task Manager is not flickering, an incompatible app is probably causing the flickering display issue.

2. Install Windows and Firmware Updates

Display-related issues are a common issue on newly-installed Windows systems. When you perform a clean install, your system might require additional updates from your laptop or hardware manufacturer before it works properly.

If your PC is brand new, installing pending updates is one of the many things to do before using a new computer.

To update Windows 11:

1. Press the Win + I to open Settings.
2. In the left pane, open the Windows Update tab.
3. Click the Check for updates button. If available, download and install all the important updates, including the firmware updates from your computer manufacturer.
4. Restart your PC to finish installing the update and check for any improvements.

3. Roll Back Your Display Driver

If you have recently installed new drivers for your graphics card, roll back your display driver. This will undo the changes and restore the previous version of the driver.

To roll back display driver:

1. Press the Win + R to open Run.
2. Type devmgmt.msc and click OK to open Device Manager.
3. In Device Manager, expand the Display adapters section.
4. Right-click on your display adapter (GPU name) and select Properties.
5. In the Properties window, open the Driver tab.
6. Click on the Roll Back Driver button.
7. Click Yes to confirm the action.

Restart your PC once the rollback is complete and check for any improvements.

If the Roll Back Driver button is grayed out, Windows doesn’t display driver's previous version ready, and you cannot perform a rollback at the moment. However, you can try updating the display driver to see if that helps fix the issue.

4. Update Display Drivers

Updating to the latest version of the display driver can help if the existing driver is corrupt or buggy. To update your display driver, do the following:

1. Open the Winx menu by pressing Win + X.
2. Click on Device Manager to open the app.
3. Expand the Display adapters section.
4. Right-click on your Display adapter and select Update Driver.
5. Select Search automatically for driver option.

Windows will search for new drivers and install them if available. If not, look for driver updates through Windows update or on your GPU OEM’s website. For information, explore our guide on how to upgrade graphics drivers in Windows.

5. Uninstall the Display Driver

If the display flickering issue occurs due to a corrupt driver, you can uninstall the display driver from your system and see if that does the trick. To uninstall the display driver, do the following:

1. Press Win + R to open the Run dialog.
2. Type devmgmt.msc and click OK to open the device manager.
3. Next, expand the Display adapter section.
4. Right-click on your graphics device and select Uninstall Device.
5. Click Uninstall to confirm the action.
6. Restart your PC, and Windows will automatically scan and install the missing display driver.

6. Tweak Your Personalization Settings

Another way to fix the screen flickering issue in Windows 11 is to set the background to Solid color instead of Slideshow. While this is more of a workaround than a fix, it should help you to ward off the problem temporarily.

To change your personalization settings:

1. Press Win + I to open the Settings app.
2. Navigate to Personalization > Background.
3. Click the drop-down for Personalize your background and select Solid color. You can also select Picture if you prefer an image as a background.
4. Next, go to Personalization > Colors.
5. Click the drop-down for Accent color and select Manual.

That’s it. Monitor your system to see if the screen flickering problem in Windows 11 is resolved.

7. Turn Off Animation Effects

You can also temporarily fix the screen flickering issue by turning off animation effects in Windows 11. Since the Animation effects is part of the new design language, this is again more of a workaround than a fix.

To turn off Animations effects, navigate to Settings > Accessibility > Visual Effects > Animation effects. This will turn off every animation effect on your system.

If you don't want to turn off every animation effect, do the following:

1. Press the Win + S to open the search bar.
2. Type adjust performance and then click on Adjust the Appearance and Performance of Windows.
3. In the Performance Options window, select the Custom option.
4. Next, uncheck Animate controls and elements inside windows. Leave other options as it is.
5. Click Apply and then click OK to save the changes.

This will turn off animation effects for control and other elements. But retain other animations, including minimizing and maximizing and taskbar animation effects.

8. Check for App Incompatibility

App incompatibility is a common cause of screen flickering issues. Uninstalling the incompatible app may fix this problem for good. However, how do you determine if an app is causing your issues, and which app is the troublemaker?

To fix this, you can perform a clean boot in Windows 11 to determine if an issue is triggered due to a third-party app. In clean boot mode, Windows restarts the system with only the necessary drivers and services to get Windows running.

If the flickering screen problem does not occur in clean boot mode, a third-party app is likely the culprit here. Make sure to turn off the clean boot mode and restart your PC.

To identify the problematic app:

1. Sort through the recently installed apps under Settings > Apps > Apps & features.
2. Here, try to determine if a recently installed app may have caused the problem and uninstall the ones you suspect may cause the issue.
3. Also, scan the startup apps list in the Task Manager and disable any suspicious startup app to see if they're causing troubles.

Fixing the Screen Flickering Problem in Windows 11

You can often fix your flickering screen through a display driver update, reinstalling your drivers, or performing a driver rollback. However, if it is a glitch in the OS, look for available hotfixes in the Windows update section.

Third-party apps are another common cause, so removing any such tricky app can help you resolve the problem. If nothing works, tweak your accessibility and personalization settings to see if that helps.