September 13, 2017

Fix Can’t adjust screen brightness in Windows 10

Fix Can’t adjust screen brightness in Windows 10: If you have recently upgraded to Windows 10 then you may be facing this annoying issue where you can’t adjust the screen brightness, in short, screen brightness settings stopped working. If you try to adjust the brightness using Windows Settings apps, you won’t be able to change anything, as dragging the brightness level up or down will do nothing. Now if you try to adjust brightness using the brightness keys on the keyword then it would display the brightness level going up and down, but nothing would actually happen.

Fix Can't Adjust Screen Brightness in Windows 10 [SOLVED]

Why I am unable to adjust screen brightness on Windows 10?

If you have enabled automatic battery management then if the battery starts to become low the brightness will be automatically changed to dim settings. And you won’t be able to adjust the brightness again until you will change the battery management settings or charge your laptop. But the issue can be a number of different things for example corrupted drivers, incorrect battery configuration, ATI bug, etc.

This is quite a common issue which a lot of Windows 10 users are facing right now. This issue can also be caused because of the corrupt or incompatible display driver and thankfully this issue can be easily resolved. So without wasting any more time let’s see how to actually fix can’t adjust screen brightness in Windows 10 with the help of below-listed steps.

Fix Can’t Adjust Screen Brightness in Windows 10

Make sure to create a restore point just in case something goes wrong.

Method 1: Update Display Adapter Drivers

1. Press Windows Key + R then type devmgmt.msc and hit Enter to open Device Manager.

devmgmt.msc device manager

2. Expand Display adapters and then right-click on the integrated graphics card and select Update Driver.

Need to update the display driver

Note: The integrated graphics card would be something like Intel HD Graphics 4000.

3. Then click Search automatically for updated driver software and let it install the driver automatically.

Note: Make sure you have a good internet connection in order for Windows to automatically download the latest drivers.

search automatically for updated driver software

4. Reboot your PC and see if the issue is resolved or not.

5. If not then again select Update Driver and this time click on Browse my computer for driver software.

6. Next, click on Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer option at the bottom.

Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer

7. Now checkmark “Show compatible hardware” then from the list select Microsoft Basic Display Adapter and click Next.

select Microsoft Basic Display Adapter and then click Next

8. Let it install the basic Microsoft display driver and reboot your PC to save changes.

Method 2: Adjust the brightness from Graphics Settings

1. Right-click in an empty area on the desktop then select Intel Graphics Settings.

Right-click in an empty area on the desktop then select Intel Graphics Settings

2. Now click on Display from the Intel HD Graphics Control Panel.

Now click on Display from the Intel HD Graphics Control Panel

3. From the left-hand menu, select Color Settings.

4. Adjust the Brightness slider according to your liking and once done, click Apply.

Adjust the Brightness slider under Color Settings then click Apply

Method 3: Adjust screen brightness using Power Options

1. Right-click on the Power icon on the taskbar and select Power Options.

Right-click on the Power icon and select Power Options

2. Now click Change plan settings next to currently active power plan.

Click on Change plan settings next to your selected power plan

3. Click Change advanced power settings at the bottom.

Click Change advanced power settings at the bottom | Fix Can't Adjust Screen Brightness in Windows 10

4. From the Advanced settings window, find and expand Display.

5. Now locate and click each of the following to expand their respective settings:

Display brightness
Dimmed display brightness
Enable adaptive brightness

From the Advanced settings window find and expand Display then change Display brightness, Dimmed display brightness and Enable adaptive brightness settings

5. Change each of these to the settings you wish, but make sure “Enable adaptive brightness” is turned off. 

6. Once done, click Apply followed by OK.

7. Reboot your PC to save changes.

Method 4: Enable Generic PnP Monitor

1. Press Windows Key + R then type devmgmt.msc and hit Enter to open Device Manager.

devmgmt.msc device manager

2. Expand Monitors and then right-click on Generic PnP Monitor and select Enable.

Expand Monitors and then right-click on Generic PnP Monitor & select Enable device

3. Reboot your PC to save changes and see if you’re able to fix can’t adjust screen brightness in Windows 10 issue.

Method 5: Update Generic PnP Monitor Driver

1. Press Windows Key + R then type devmgmt.msc and hit Enter.

devmgmt.msc device manager

2. Expand Monitors and then right-click on Generic PnP Monitor and select Update Driver.

Expand Monitors then right-click on Generic PnP Monitor and select Update Driver

3. Select Browse my computer for driver software.

browse my computer for driver software

4. Next, click on Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer option at the bottom.

Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer

5. Now select Generic PnP Monitor and click Next.

select Generic PnP Monitor from the list and click Next | Fix Can't Adjust Screen Brightness in Windows 10

6. Reboot your PC to save changes and see if you’re able to fix unable to adjust screen brightness on Windows 10 issue.

Method 6: Update Graphics Card Driver

If the Nvidia Graphics drivers are corrupted, outdated or incompatible then you won’t be able to adjust screen brightness in Windows 10. When you update Windows or install a third-party app then it can corrupt the video drivers of your system. In order to resolve this issue, you need to update your graphics card drivers in order to fix the underlying cause. If you face any such issues then you can easily update graphics card drivers with the help of this guide.

Update your Graphics Card Driver | Fix Can't Adjust Screen Brightness in Windows 10

Method 7: Delete hidden devices under PnP Monitors

1. Press Windows Key + R then type devmgmt.msc and hit Enter.

2. Now from Device Manager menu click View > Show hidden devices.

In the Views tab click on Show Hidden Devices

3. Right-click on each of the hidden devices listed under Monitors and select Uninstall Device.

Right-click on each of the hidden devices listed under Monitors and select Uninstall Device

4. Reboot your PC to save changes and see if you’re able to adjust screen brightness in Windows 10.

Method 8: Registry Fix

Note: This method is only for users who have ATI graphics card and have Catalyst installed.

1. Press Windows Key + R then type regedit and hit Enter to open Registry Editor.

Press Windows Key + R then type regedit and hit Enter to open Registry Editor

2. Navigate to the following Registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE  SYSTEM  ControlSet001  ControlClass  {4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}  0000

3. Now double-click on the following Registry keys and set their value to 0 then click OK:

MD_EnableBrightnesslf2
KMD_EnableBrightnessInterface2

4. Next, navigate to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE  SYSTEM  CurrentControlSet  Control  Class {4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}  0001

5. Again double-click on MD_EnableBrightnesslf2 and KMD_EnableBrightnessInterface2 then set their value’s to 0.

6. Close everything and restart your PC to save changes.

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I hope the above steps were helpful and you were able to fix Can’t Adjust Screen Brightness in Windows 10 but if you still have any questions regarding this post feel free to ask them in the comment section.