How to change screen brightness in Windows

If your screen is too bright or too dark, then you can adjust this using Windows’ brightness settings. We show you how to find these controls, and what you should do to get things back to an appropriate level of luminescence.

Where are the brightness controls in Windows?

First, if you’re using a laptop you should be able to use a key or a combination of keys to adjust the brightness. Look for a sun symbol. If it’s in a different colour to the main keys, you’ll probably have to hold down the Fn key as well to adjust the brightness. 

However, if you don’t have these keys, or they’re not working, you can adjust brightness in Windows. To reach the advanced display settings you’ll need to use Control Panel rather than the standard Settings app in Windows 10. However, a handy shortcut is to right-click on the Start button (the Windows icon) and choose Power Options. Then click Additional power settings. 

This can also be found by opening the Start menu and typing Control Panel. Select the option that appears at the top of the list, which should be called Control Panel Desktop App.

On the next window, in the search bar you’ll find in the upper right corner, type power and then select Power Options from the main pane.  

Now you’ll see a section with the heading Choose or customise a power plan, underneath which there will be your currently selected option. The default is Balanced (recommended), and you’ll need to click on the Change plan settings option.

The next page will show various settings for how the display behaves, with laptop users seeing different options for when using battery or mains power. These aren’t what we’re looking for though, so look to the bottom of the page where you should see Change advanced power settings. Click this.

A smaller window now appears, with a long list of sections. Scroll down until you find Display, select that, then you’ll see four nested setting options – Turn display off after; Display Brightness; Dimmed display brightness; and Enable adaptive brightness.

You can use these specific controls to solve your brightness issue. If things are too dark, then click on the Dimmed display brightness option and see when Windows is programmed to drop the brightness. On laptops this might be when a certain battery level is reached.

To alter any of the settings, click on the figure you want to change and then enter a new number into the box that comes up.

When you’ve finished with the refinements, click Apply and then OK so that Windows will always follow these guidelines from now on.

For more helpful tips, take a look at our Best Windows 10 tips & tricks.