Having to reload colour calibration each time on start-up, Help?

Question

Hi,

I am having an issue with my colour calibration settings in windows 11, every time I shut off my laptop and turn it back on again, my colour calibration has turned off, thankfully I can just press the reload calibration button and its not completely gone, but it's getting on my nerves having to each and every time go and press that button, especially when I connect it to a second monitor and I still have to reload my calibration.

I have attempted to follow several of the instructions online on how to fix this, eg updating graphics driver, messing with the calibration loader in the schedular etc. I have even tried to use cpulock, non of which has resolved this issues.

Thank you very much

Answer 1

Hello, buns

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A

Thank you for your feedback. Based on your description, the root cause is usually that multiple “programs” in the system are competing for control of the screen colors. They overwrite each other when they start up, ultimately causing your custom ICC profile to fail to load. Here are some troubleshooting solutions:

1. Type colorcpl.exe in the Windows search bar and press Enter to open the “Color Management” panel.

In the “Devices” tab, select your laptop screen from the “Device (V):” dropdown menu (if an external monitor is connected, perform the same steps for it as well).

Check the box next to “Use my settings for this device.”

In the profile list below, select the color profile (ICC profile) you want to use.

Click “Set as Default Profile.”

Now comes the most critical step: click the “Advanced” tab.

In the bottom-left corner, click “Change System Defaults...” This will open a new, nearly identical window, but this window sets the system-level default values.

In the “Device” tab of the new window, select your display again and ensure that the desired profile is set as the “Default.”

Click the “Advanced” tab again.

Check the box at the bottom labeled “Use Windows Display Calibration.”

Close all windows and restart your computer (do not select “Shut Down” and then “Start Up”; select “Restart” to ensure that the system is completely refreshed).

 

2. Disable the graphics card driver's color control

If the first step does not work, it means that your graphics card driver is still “dominant” and overrides Windows settings at startup. We need to make it “stop.”

For NVIDIA graphics cards:

Right-click on the desktop and select “NVIDIA Control Panel.”

Navigate to “Display” > “Adjust desktop color settings.”

Select “Other applications control color settings.”

Click “Apply.”

For AMD graphics cards:

Open AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition.

Click the “Settings” (gear icon) in the top-right corner, then select “Display.”

Find “Custom Colors” or a similar option and disable it. Ensure all color adjustment sliders are set to their default values.

For Intel graphics cards:

Open the “Intel® Graphics Control Center.”

Go to “Display” > “Color.”

Disable all color enhancement features, such as “Brightness Enhancement” and “Contrast Enhancement,” and restore them to their default settings.

After completing these steps, restart your computer again for testing.

 

3. You mentioned you were “messing with the calibration loader,” so let's ensure its settings are correct or create a more forceful alternative.

Type taskschd.msc in the Windows search bar and press Enter to open the “Task Scheduler.”

Navigate to Task Scheduler Library > Microsoft > Windows > WindowsColorSystem.

On the right side, there will be a task named Calibration Loader.

Double-click it and go to the “Triggers” tab. Ensure there are two triggers here: “At logon” and “When connected to user session,” and both are set to “Enabled.” If the status is incorrect, edit and enable them.

I look forward to your feedback.

Best Regards, 

Ami | Microsoft Q&A Support Specialist