14 DAY TRIAL // The experience with Windows 10 April 2018 Update has been far from flawless, and now we’re seeing reports of a new bug pushing systems to a black screen after completing the upgrade.
At first glance, it looks like the issue is caused by Avast Antivirus, and an in-depth description of the problem posted on reddit indicates that more systems have experienced the same symptoms in the last couple of days.
This could be living proof that a recent Avast update might have broken down compatibility with Windows 10 April 2018 Update, eventually causing errors that users can only resolve with a complete Windows reinstall.
Systems running Avast antivirus are presented with three boot options after upgrading to Windows 10 April 2018 Update from Windows Update: Windows Rollback, and Windows 10 on Volume appearing twice. While the first option triggers a reboot, the other two attempt to complete the boot, only to end up on a blank, black desktop with no icons, and a desktop loading error message.
Uninstall Avast antivirus before the upgrade
Reddit user gcdrm, who says is working at a small computer repair shop, reveals that multiple systems upgraded on May 20 and May 21 experienced the same issues.
“Thus far, the only solution we have found is a Windows reinstall,” they posted. “It appears that everyone that has fallen victim to this problem has been using Avast Antivirus. However, this problem has only occurred on systems that attempted the 1803 upgrade in the last two days. This infers that a very recent update to Avast is interfering with the upgrade process. It appears to be damaging read/write permissions on the problem computers.”
While neither Microsoft nor Avast acknowledged the issue, users who are being offered the upgrade to Windows 10 April 2018 Update are recommended to uninstall the antivirus before beginning the process. No action is required for users who have already completed the switch successfully.