Windows photo viewer changes picture tint when moved between monitors (not monitor calibration problem).

Adam 20 Reputation points
2025-09-06T13:41:46.2733333+00:00

Hello,

I've noticed that the default photo viewing app experiences a weird issue of changing the tint of a picture to a warmer one when moving it between monitors (the exact moment the icon jumps from one bottom task bar to another).

While the icon is on the taskbar of my main monitor the colors are fine

User's image

but if it moves to the second monitors taskbar the entire picture in the window changes tint

User's image

(if you click to edit the picture, the colors appear accurate).

These monitos do not utilise HDR.

I've seen a similiar issue of reddit but did not find a solution in the comments. The problem seems to not be resolvable by rebooting. It is not a very important issue but it definitelty is annoying.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Apps
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Answer accepted by question author
nobuko c 125.1K Reputation points Independent Advisor
2025-09-06T17:11:24.0066667+00:00

Hello,

1

If the “Automatically manage app colors” setting is turned ON in Display Settings, photos may appear with unusual colors—especially in multi-monitor setups.

Is this setting currently enabled?

If so, try turning it OFF:

Press Windows key + I to open Settings

Go to System > Display, select the affected display

Choose Color Profiles to access the relevant settings

2

If the issue isn’t related to the above, try the following:

Press Windows key + R, type colorcpl.exe, and click OK

Select the affected display

Check Use my settings for this device

Click Add, select sRGB Virtual Device Model Profile, click OK

Add the profile, select it, and set it as the default profile

3

Although it's unlikely, try updating your graphics driver. It may not be related, but just to be safe.

Thank you.

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  1. Haien-L 7,725 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2025-09-06T18:15:37.5733333+00:00

    Dear Adam

    Thanks for reaching out! Welcome to Microsoft Q&A. I'm Haien from Microsoft Q&A.  

    Based on the symptoms you've described, this sounds like a color profile issue with your monitors. The most probable cause is that one of your monitors is using a different or incorrect color profile, and the Photos app is correctly applying that profile to the image, while other apps (like the photo editor) may be ignoring it or defaulting to a standard profile like sRGB. The good news is, we can usually fix this by making a few adjustments to your display settings.

    Could you please confirm the following?

    • Are both of your monitors from the same manufacturer and model?
    • Do you have any third-party display calibration software installed?

    In the meantime, I've outlined some general steps you can try below that often resolve this problem:

    • Go to Settings > System > Display > Advanced display > select your display and toggle off "Automatically manage color for apps."

    For additional information about similar situation, please visit this article to know more: Enable Color Management - Windows drivers | Microsoft Learn and Change display brightness and color in Windows - Microsoft Support

    Please keep me updated with anything new that you were try to each option.

    To assist others who might have similar questions and to help us improve our support system, we kindly encourage you to "Accept the answer" if it successfully addressed your concern. Accepting an answer lets other users know that this solution worked for you, and it also helps us track the effectiveness of our support efforts.

    We appreciate your patience and look forward to resolving this quickly for you.

    Warm regards

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