Windows Brightness Control slider is one of the very important utilities for Windows users. If it is not working properly, that needs to be fixed immediately. The brightness control lets you prevent your eyes from unnecessary strain and saves battery life while working on a PC for long hours. You can always change the brightness settings as per your needs. However, sometimes you aren’t able to modify the brightness. If you are facing the same problem, this guide is for you.
Usually the brightness control not working error arises because of the display drivers or the Windows power settings. Also, the first trick to apply when you aren’t able to control windows brightness includes restarting your PC or checking for Windows update.
Using troubleshoot for Windows in an easy way to diagnose and resolve your PC or Laptop issues. You can fix brightness when the function keys are not working by troubleshooting. Step 1: Go to settings. Step 2: Write “Troubleshoot Settings” in the search bar. Sep 16, 2020 Change brightness settings Go into “Control Panel” and then “Power Options” Or Right-click on the Power icon on the taskbar and select Power Options. Click the “Change plan settings” link next to whichever plan you are currently using and then click “ Change advanced power settings “. Under the Advanced tab look for and toggle Function Key Behavior and then try FN and F5 again and see if it makes any kind of difference. Right click and if you have the option choose Intel Graphic Properties, click the Display button and click the color tab and try moving the slider bar for brightness. Outdated, incompatible or corrupted drivers are usually the cause of Windows 10 screen brightness control problems. A device driver is software that informs the operating system and other software how to interact with particular hardware. Click Change advanced power settings link. Scroll down until you see Display. Click on the plus icon to expand the section. Click the plus icon next to Enable adaptive brightness, then switch the setting to On.
Even after trying these basic ways, you can’t use a brightness control slider, check out the ways explained below.
Brightness Setting Not Working Iphone
How To Fix: Windows 10 Brightness Control Slider Not Working!
In this section, we’ll cover:
- Update Display Adapters Drivers
- Enable Adaptive Brightness
- Enable PnP Monitor
- Update The Registry
Method 1: Update Display Adapter Drivers
The first and the foremost ways to fix the brightness control not working on Windows 10 is by updating the Display Adapter. Here’s how to do this manually:
- Open Device Manager from the Start Menu.
- Head to Display Adapters and click the arrow beside to expand the menu.
- Now right click on the available driver and choose to Update Driver.
- You’ll see a dialog box asking you to choose one option out of two.
- Select Automatically search for the updated driver software.
- Wait for the process to finish. Once done, restart your PC to apply changes.
Alternatively, we always recommend you to have an automatic Driver Updater installed on your PC so that you get timely updates of any outdated or corrupted drivers that need to be fixed. This will prevent you from such random errors. We suggest using Smart Driver Care, a robust driver updater utility for your Windows PC. It takes utmost care of your system drivers and lets you fix all the corrupted or outdated ones in a single click. Here’s how to use Smart Driver Care:
- Download and Install Smart Driver Care from the link below.
Click Here to Download Smart Driver Care
- Launch the application on your system.
- On the first screen, you’ll see a Scan
- Click on it and wait for the scan to finish.
- You’ll then see a list of corrupted and outdated drivers.
- Click on Update All to update all of them at once.
- Or you can choose any particular driver and click on Update Driver located beside it.
- Restart Your PC to apply changes.
Not only this, Smart Driver Care gives you the ability to backup and restore backed up drivers in case something happens accidentally.
To know more read the full review of Smart Driver Care
Method 2: Enable Adaptive Brightness
To enable Adaptive Brightness on Windows, follow these steps below:
- From the Start menu or Search box, open Control Panel.
- Navigate to Hardware and Sound.
- Click on Power Options.
- On the next screen, you’ll see Change plan settings highlighted in blue colour. Click on it.
- Then, click on Change advanced power settings.
- On the new window, click on Display to open further options.
- Change the available options to the desired settings.
- Click Apply and then OK.
Method 3: Enable PnP Monitor
If the last method doesn’t work, you can try enabling the PnP monitor. Here’s how to do this:
- Open the Run window by pressing Win+R key together. Now, type in devmgmt.msc to open the Device Manager on Windows.
- Click on Monitors and expand the menu.
- You’ll see a Generic PnP monitor. Right-click on it to check if it is enabled.
- If not, click on Enabled device. If it is enabled, disable it.
- Now, head to the Action tab at the top of the Device Manager.
- Then select Scan for hardware changes.
- Run the scan.
That’s all.
Method 4: Update the Registry
Last method in our guide to fix brightness not working on Windows is through Registry update.
Note: Please note that updating Registry involves serious changes to your PC. If not done correctly, serious problems may occur.
To continue updating the registry, follow the steps below:
- Open Run window using Win+R keys together. Type in regedit to open Registry Editor.
- Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
- Click System > ControlSet001 > Control.
- Now, Select Class{4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}000.
- Then set FeatureTestControl DWORD’s value data to 0000ffff.
This should solve your problem of brightness not working.
Conclusion:
Although updating the display driver using either manual method or using Smart Driver Care will fix the error of brightness not working. If in case, this doesn’t fix, there are other ways listed in the article. You can try them out and let us know if you have any queries or suggestions.
Keep reading Tweak Library for more such content.
Recommended Readings:
Can't Adjust Windows 10 Screen Brightness, Windows 10 Brightness Control Is Not Working. How To Fix It?
In Windows 10, depending on the local environment and lighting, you can increase or decrease screen brightness to make content more visible or comfortable to view. Adjusting screen brightness can also be useful to save batteries (in the case of laptop use). In Windows 10, you can adjust screen brightness settings manually or let Windows do it automatically, depending on whether the computer is plugged in or unplugged.
Some users have reported that screen brightness started to change automatically (when it was not supposed to) or the screen brightness control was not working at all. This can be frustrating, especially if screen brightness is too low and you need to work on documents, watch movies, etc. If the screen is too bright, it will consume battery power at a faster rate. This problem is common and often occurs after users upgrade the Windows operating system to Windows 10. Fortunately, you do not need to reinstall Windows or make other major/complex changes. This problem is usually caused by incorrect, incompatible, outdated or faulty drivers. In this guide, various methods are outlined to solve the brightness control problem.
Table of Contents:
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Update Your Display Adapter Driver
Outdated, incompatible or corrupted drivers are usually the cause of Windows 10 screen brightness control problems. A device driver is software that informs the operating system and other software how to interact with particular hardware. It is rather like a translator between software and hardware, since they often are created by different manufacturers, companies, or people. The driver facilitates smooth communication between hardware and software. In most cases, computers are unable to send and receive data correctly without drivers. If the appropriate driver is not installed, the device might not function properly, if at all. We recommend that you update the display driver first and see if this solves the problem. To do this, open Device Manager by right-clicking the Start button and selecting the 'Device Manager' result from the contextual menu or type 'device manager' in Search and click the 'Device Manager' result.
In Device Manager, find 'Display adapters', expand it, right-click the display adapter and select 'Update driver' from the drop-down menu.
You will be asked if you want to search for updated driver software automatically or to browse the computer for driver software. If you select the first option, Windows will search your computer and the Internet for the latest driver software for your device. If you select the second option, you must locate and install the drivers manually. Using this option requires having previously downloaded the driver on your computer or USB flash drive.
Another way to update or install new drivers for devices is to do it by using third-party software such as Snappy Driver Installer. You will need a computer with a working internet connection to download it.
Snappy Driver Installer (SDI) is a powerful free driver updater tool for Windows that can store its entire collection of drivers offline. Having offline drivers gives Snappy Driver Installer the ability to have access to fast driver updates, even if there is no active Internet connection on your computer. Snappy Driver works with both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and also works with Windows XP. Drivers are downloaded through Snappy Driver Installer in 'driverpacks', which are simply collections (packs) of drivers for various hardware such as sound devices, video cards, network adapters, etc. It can also show duplicate drivers and invalid drivers. It separates the updates that require you to restart your computer so that they are easier to distinguish. You can download Snappy Driver Installer from here.
Update drivers manually (by using downloaded driver from the display adapter manufacturer's website) or automatically and see if this solves the Windows 10 screen brightness control problem
Reinstall Your Display Adapter Driver
Another way to fix the Windows 10 screen brightness control problem is to reinstall the display adapter driver. Go to Device Manager and find 'Display adapters', expand it, right-click the graphics device and select 'Uninstall' from the drop-down menu to uninstall it.
In the popped-up window, click 'Uninstall'. Ensure that you check the 'Delete the driver software for this device.' checkbox. Restart the computer. Windows will automatically install the missing graphics drivers the next time you start Windows.
If for some reason Windows will not install the missing graphics drivers, go to Device Manager and right-click your computer name. Select 'Scan for hardware changes'. This should detect missing drivers and install them.
Use Microsoft Basic Display Adapter
The Microsoft Basic Display Adapter is built-in Windows driver software usually employed when the driver from the display adapter manufacturer is not installed or unavailable. Using Microsoft Basic Display Adapter might solve the screen brightness control problem, however, drivers from the manufacturer usually provide a faster performance, higher screen resolution and other additional graphical features. To use Microsoft Basic Display Adapter, go to Device Manager, find 'Display adapters' and expand it. Right-click the display adapter and select 'Update driver' from the drop-down menu.
You will be asked if you want to search for updated driver software automatically or to browse the computer for driver software. Select the 'Browse my computer for driver software option'.
Brightness Setting Not Working
Now select the 'Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer' option.
Ensure that the 'Show compatible hardware' checkbox is ticked and select 'Microsoft Basic Display Adapter'. Click next and follow the instructions. Restart the computer and see if this fixes the screen brightness control problem. If this does not solve the problem, try to update the display drivers again by selecting the 'Search automatically for updated driver software' option.
Run Windows Troubleshooters
Windows includes a number of troubleshooters designed to quickly diagnose and automatically resolve various computer problems. Troubleshooters cannot fix all problems, but they are a good place to start if you encounter a problem with your computer, operating system or connected devices. To start troubleshooting, go to Settings and type 'troubleshoot', and then select 'Troubleshoot' from the list.
Find 'Hardware And Devices' under 'Find and fix other problems', select it and click 'Run the troubleshooter'. The troubleshooting process will start. Follow the instructions and see if it finds and fixes any problems. Restart the computer and see if this fixes the Windows screen brightness control problem.
If this does not solve the problem, try to run the Power troubleshooter, which finds and fixes problems with computer power settings to conserve power and extend battery life. Find 'Power' troubleshooter under 'Find and fix other problems', select it and click 'Run the troubleshooter'. See if it fixes the screen brightness control problem.
Disable Adaptive Brightness
Adaptive Brightness is an automatic display adjustment feature that changes the brightness of the computer screen using light environment information provided by the ambient light sensor. Disabling the Adaptive Brightness feature could solve the screen brightness control problem. To disable it, type 'edit power plan' in Search and click the 'Edit power plan' result.
In the Edit Plan Settings window, you will be able to edit the settings of the power plan you are currently using. If you want to edit another plan, you will be able to do it it the next window. Find and click 'Change advanced power settings'.
Now find 'Display', expand it and find 'Enable adaptive brightness'. Expand it and ensure that both 'On battery' and 'Plugged in' are set to 'Off'. If you want to customize another plan, simply select the plan from the list of plans available above all of the additional settings. In our example, you can see that we selected the 'Parallels [Active]' power plan. Click 'Apply' and 'OK'. Restart the computer and see if this solves the screen brightness control problem.
We hope this guide was useful and solved the screen brightness control problem. If you know of other solutions to this problem, not mentioned in our guide, please share them with us by leaving a comment in the section below.
Video Showing How To Fix Screen Brightness Control:
PC Risk you are the best! I have tried at least 4 other websites and nothing has worked remotely as well as your instructions. My brightness is now back and running, thanks!
I wasn't expecting it was something as simple as updating a driver; this fixed my issue, thank you!
This happened on my brand new pc and i was shit scared.Thanks for the help,saved me a lot of trouble!
none of these worked for me i checked and updated all the drivers on my laptop tried all of these restarted many times but still the same. now im trying the sfc/scannow cmd thing if this one does not work either im gonna factory reset my laptop i hope at least resetting works i dont wanna pay someone to find the problem ive been trying for 3 days nonstop. :/
Thanks Bro it helped me so much. I was just worried that I had lost my laptop because I accidently deleted my radeon graphics without knowing how to install it again. You saved me dude
Thank you so much! For me, on my laptop, the Generic PnP Monitor under Monitors was mysteriously disabled. I just needed to enable it to make all of my brightness/contrast options and function keys work again.
My computer doesn't have the option to enable adaptive brightness and none of the other suggestions helped. What can I do?
didnt work too well. If i set a brightness before enabling, it stays on that brightness but not up or down.
I tried both options and they both didn't work. Also now my computer pops up an error message that says 'Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file' whenever I try to open device manager or troubleshoot something.
From a chat with microsoft:
Please click on start and search for cmd. Then open the command prompt as administrator. Then type 'sfc /scannow' (Without the quotes ') there and hit enter. Let the scan be 100% and completed.
Then: Again click on start and search for cmd. Then open the command prompt as administrator. Copy and Paste 'DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth' (Without the quotes ') Hit Enter Let the scan be 100% and completed.
After that restart your pc.
Then please try updating from this https://www.microsoft.com/e... link manually. You will be updated.
Hope it will resolve the issue.
Thanks so much... It's worked like magic
All I did was troubleshoot and restart my PC and all went well
This steps really help... The first step work out for me 100%
Thanks but none worked for me. However, I was able to fix it after deleting the monitor driver and scan for hardware changes.
I followed your driver uninstall/reinstall and it worked! At first when I scanned for hardware changes as you said, nothing happened. Then all of a sudden a few minutes later my computer made a weird noise then the brightness control just worked! Thank you so much.
I had to uninstall the Display driver like you said and then it did not reinstall, so I did the scan for hardware changes that you recommended. At first it seemed like nothing happened... then a few minutes later all of a sudden the computer just made a new noise and then now the brightness control works!!! Thank you so much!
I disabled the Intel Graphics driver and replaced it with the 'Microsoft Basic Display Adapter'. Finally worked!!!!!
So, something weird happened to my laptop. When I increase my brightness, it scales to max after 1 interval, but if I increase it, it goes back to the lowest setting, and my screen has a slight flickering. What do you suggest. I don't think its a hardware issue.
life saver!
bruh, i dont usually login in forums to upvote.. but your answer has solved my huge problem ! thanks a millioon!
None of the things worked for me, but I was finally able to adjust brightness after completely resetting my computer. It takes a while, but it's worth it once it finally works!
even after doing this all it didint work...
BUT IF YOU GO AGAIN TO DISPLAY ADAPTER (AT PRESENT IT IS IN BASIC MODE) AND THEN UPDATE ONLINE...<it worked!!!!='>
this one worked the best thank you for solution your sharing very much appreciate so great thanks
Thank you!
I was tired from crazy 'Enable adaptive brightness' for several years.
This helped so much, thank you! Second way is the one that worked
FYI there is a Display adapter setting as well as a Monitor screen setting. I totally didn't see the monitor screen setting at first and recommend trying to enable and disable both as well as updating and reinstalling if necessary.
This problem often occurs (sometimes). Whenever this happens, go to Device Manager > Display Adapter > Disable and enable the listed device.
I restarted my Intel Graphics driver and it worked ^^
Thanx a ton ♥