After setting up GCPW, black screen after logging in

[Daniel_Koenig]

Hello,

I'm facing the issue when setting up GCPW on Windows 10, after logging in the screen turns black.

Not just that this is happening with the Google Workspace user, also my regular user produces a black screen. This means now I can't log in any longer with my regular nor to my Workspace user.

I'm able to reproduce this issue on 2 normal PCs and even in a VirtualBox environment.

Does this sound like a bug, or is this simple a wrong setting?

Thanks for any hint.

[Jan-Carlos]

Hello!

Can you send us the version of the GCPW installed?
Go to all programs in the windows setting and it will show the version.

[Daniel_Koenig]

Hi @Jan-Carlos ,

As the screen is black, I can't log in to check the installed programs.

But when checking the exe file I used, I see the following details:

Get-AppLockerFileInformation -path E:\gcpwstandaloneenterprise64.exe | format-list

Path : %HOT%\GCPWSTANDALONEENTERPRISE64.EXE
Publisher : O=GOOGLE LLC, L=MOUNTAIN VIEW, S=CALIFORNIA, C=US\GOOGLE CHROME INSTALLER\,128.0.6537.0
Hash : SHA256 0xDD442EBD2C966CEEA3B051F0E84AB1C1F47AA33C2212D5C2D33B969096A9EC81
AppX : False

I downloaded the exe from the admin console 2 days ago.

[SergioAlvarez]

Try logging into safe mode and check if the problem is still happening there, after that try logging into VGA mode. 

[Daniel_Koenig]

Okay, I can restart the PC in "Safe Mode" and log in with my normal user and my Workspace account.

I can confirm that GCPW 128.0.6537.0 is installed.

One thing that surprised me was that, when I logged in with my Workspace account, the GCPW policies didn't apply in safe mode. One of my rules, which worked before, blocks the Edge browser. It doesn't matter if I boot in safe mode with or without network, the Edge browser opens.

Is this normal?

Furthermore, as soon as I boot the PC normally again, the screen turns black after logging in. Any idea?

[SergioAlvarez]

I am not 100% sure if it is still the same thing in Windows 11 but back when it was Windows 7, IE and File Explorer was the same so when you block IE you couldn't use the GUI, there is a possibility that if you block edge it could hinder the GUI, try all other rules but the edge limitation and if it works it could be worthy of reaching out to MS and check if they are tied. 

[Daniel_Koenig]

Thanks for getting back to me.

Well, I removed now all custom rules now, but still, even after 1 day my computers show a black screen. It is quite frustrating. The process, to me, looks quite simple:
> Instlal Chrome and GCPW
> Setup some rules
> Wait for GCPW to sync them

But in reality, it takes quite some time to get the rule synced, not all rules are working, the rule configuration troubleshooting is not even supported by Google (it is MS), and now 3 of my PCs produce a black screen after installing GCPW.

If this was one PC, I would say it was a coincidence, but 3 freshly from scratch installed PCs, sharing the same behavior after installing GCPW and getting the first sync done — no, there is a pattern.

I guess I need to format all of these PCs again to see if a GCPW sync without Edge blocked triggers the same problem.