how to change the brightness of my laptop when i am unable to change it in the setting

Question

i am unable change the brightness of my laptop. how can i fix this issue?

Answer 1

Hi orfa mewan,

Thanks for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A Forum. I understand that you are unable to change the screen brightness on your laptop using Windows settings.

Please make sure you already tried the Q&A Assist steps. In addition, I’d like to narrow this down a bit to better understand the scope of the issue:

1. Does the brightness change when you connect an external monitor, or does the issue only affect the built-in screen?

In the meantime, you can try these steps:

1, Restart the graphics driver

• Press Windows key + Ctrl + Shift + B
• The screen may flicker briefly, then check if brightness control works

2, Check Display adapter status

• Press Windows key + X and select Device Manager
• Expand Display adapters and confirm no device shows a warning icon

3, Disable adaptive brightness

• Open Settings and go to System then Display
• Turn off any option related to automatically adjust brightness or lighting changes

4, Update Windows

• Open Settings and go to Windows Update
• Install all available updates, including optional driver updates

5, Check power plan brightness settings

• Open Control Panel and go to Power Options
• Select Change plan settings for the active plan
• Make sure display brightness is not set to minimum for both battery and plugged in

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".  

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.  

Answer 2

Greetings!

This is Tin, I'll do my best to help you. Looks like you can't adjust the laptop's brightness on its settings.

Please send the make and model of your device. (Please press Windows key + R and type msinfo32 and hit enter, look for system model)

Kindly check and follow the steps below:

1. Please try to use the FN keys for brightness, please look at the upper part of your keyboard and on the F keys, please look for a logo with the brightness or sometimes it shows sun icon, please press it to adjust the brightness.
2. Update or Reinstall the Display driver Please press the Windows key + X Then click Device manager Kindly expand the Display Adapters Right click and choose "Update Driver" Select "Search automatically for drivers" If the issue persists Choose "Browse my computer for driver" instead and click " Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer" Choose the older version. If it will still the same, please uninstall the driver and restart your device. Please check if you will see the option from the settings now.

Please let me know how it goes.

Thanks,

Tin

Answer 3

If you're unable to change the brightness of your laptop through the settings, there are a few steps you can take to troubleshoot and potentially fix the issue:

1. Check for Automatic Brightness Adjustment: Sometimes, the Ambient Light Sensor (ALS) may not be functioning correctly. You can temporarily restore auto-brightness by performing one of the following actions:
   • Adjust the brightness slider manually or use the brightness hot key (like F5 or F6).
   • Plug or unplug your device to switch the AC/DC power state.
   • Turn Battery Saver on or off.
   • Put the device to sleep while on battery power.
2. Modify Power Settings: You can manually adjust the power settings to set the brightness level. For example, you can use the command prompt to set the brightness for when the computer is plugged in or on battery power:
   • For AC power: powercfg -SETACVALUEINDEX {guidPlan-New} {guidSubgroup-Display} {guidPowerSetting-Brightness} 100
   • For battery power: powercfg -SETDCVALUEINDEX {guidPlan-New} {guidSubgroup-Display} {guidPowerSetting-Brightness} 75
3. Registry Settings: If you're using a Surface device, you can adjust the Surface Brightness Control settings in the Windows Registry. Make sure to follow the correct paths and modify the necessary values to enable or disable brightness control.

If these steps do not resolve the issue, it may be necessary to wait for a Windows update that addresses known issues with brightness adjustment, as Microsoft is aware of some conflicts affecting this functionality.

---

References:

• My laptop no longer adjusts screen brightness - Microsoft Q&A
• Surface Brightness Control
• Fine-Tune a Custom Power Plan