Northwestern University incident

Blank Desktop Background Fix - Reboot Computer

Resolved after 7 minutes, affecting Active Directory (Directory Services), on October 9, 2026.

identified Oct 09, 2026, 04:02 PM UTC

If you are experiencing a black or solid color desktop background, please reboot your computer, and if you are off campus, please make sure you are first connected to the VPN. There was an issue with the domain policy that has since been resolved, but it may take time for it to reach all computers.

Started
Oct 09, 2026, 04:02 PM UTC
Resolved
Oct 09, 2026, 04:10 PM UTC
Duration
7m
Detected by Pingoru
Oct 09, 2026, 04:02 PM UTC

Affected components

Active Directory (Directory Services)

Update timeline

  1. identified Oct 09, 2026, 04:02 PM UTC

    If you are experiencing a black or solid color desktop background, please reboot your computer, and if you are off campus, please make sure you are first connected to the VPN. There was an issue with the domain policy that has since been resolved, but it may take time for it to reach all computers.

  2. resolved Oct 09, 2026, 04:10 PM UTC

    This incident has been resolved.

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