Almost all the devices with screens come with the privilege of configuring their exposure according to the user. But what if, due to some unwanted reasons, it becomes permanent. And doesn’t change when required. It can be so annoying.
So, to help you out in this article, we have brought some effective methods to solve the Windows 10 brightness not working (can’t change brightness). If the brightness won’t change on your Windows 10 PC, there are multiple reasons why. Here’s how to troubleshoot the issue.
Why can’t I change my screen brightness with Windows 10?
There can be various reasons why you are not able to adjust the brightness on your PC while not updating your display adapter driver being one of the causes.
Solutions to Fix When Brightness Is Not Changing on Windows 10
- Update your Display Adapter Drivers
- Update your Drivers Manually
- Update your Driver automatically
- Uninstall and reinstall the drivers
- Adjust the brightness from Power Options
- Re-enable your PnP Monitor
- Delete hidden devices under PnP Monitors
- Fix an ATI bug via registry Editor
Update your Display Adapter Drivers
Checking if your display driver is up to date is one of the things you should do right away if unable to adjust the brightness of your PC.
As windows release New updates for applications, some features might stop working as the outdated drivers on your pc may not be compatible with the latest updates.
In this case, you must update your display drivers right away.
Update your Drivers Manually
For updating display drivers manually, you must download the drivers of your graphic card manually by going to their download page.
For this, you need to check the type of graphic card you’re using.
To check your graphic card information following the steps below:
- Run the Run utility by pressing the Windows and R keys together.
- Type in dxdiag in the search field and press OK. (This will open the DirectX Diagnostic tool.)
- Once the DirectX diagnostic tool window shows up, switch to the Display tab.
- Under Device, you will find the name and manufacturer of your graphic card.
Now that you know the information about your graphic card, you must download the updated driver package from the official website of your graphic card manufacturer.
(You must never download drivers from a third-party application or website since there is a high chance that the files there are malicious and would harm your PC.)
To download drivers follow the steps below:
- Go to the official website of the manufacturer of your graphic card.
- Here, find your graphics card from the list of other graphic cards.
- Now download the driver for your graphics card.
The final step is installing the drivers on your system, which is a pretty simple method. To download it, you can click on the downloaded driver and follow the on-screen instructions.
Update your Driver automatically
Follow the steps below to update drivers on your pc automatically,
- Run the Run utility by pressing Windows and R keys together.
- Type in devmgmt.msc ( shortcut for device manager) in the search field and click OK.
- In the device manager, expand the display adapter section.
- Select update driver after right-clicking on your driver.
Uninstall and reinstall the drivers
Uninstalling and reinstalling your display adapter driver is another way to fix this brightness issue.
For uninstalling your display adapter driver, follow the steps given below:
- Run the Run utility.
- Type in devmgmt.msc in the search field in the run utility window.
- Click on ok and open the device manager.
- Here, locate display adapters and expand the tab.
- Right-click on the graphics device then, click on uninstall to uninstall it.
Now that you have uninstalled your display adapter driver, you must reinstall the driver you uninstalled earlier.
Restart your pc, and it will automatically reinstall the missing drivers of the Display adapter driver.
Adjust the brightness from Power Options
To adjust the brightness through power options, follow the steps below,
- Go to settings. (Press Windows + I key together)
- Go to the system.
- Here, click on display.
- Under the brightness and color section, use the slider to adjust the brightness on your PC.
(Take the slider to the left to dim the brightness while taking it to the left to brighten it.)
If the slider is unavailable, it is most likely because the display adapter driver on your PC is out of date.
Re-enable the PnP Monitors
The term PNP stands for plug and play. PNP monitor allows you to use the device without installing any other drivers and adapters.
Though only users with PNP monitors can use this method if you have a PNP monitor, this should fix not able to adjust brightness issues through this method.
Follow the steps below to enable PNP monitor.
- Press the windows and R key together to run the Run utility.
- Type in devmgmt.msc in the search field and press ok to open device manager.
- Here, Expand the monitor’s tab.
- Now, right-click on your PNP monitor and click on enable devices.
After you are done with all the steps above, try adjusting your brightness after giving the system a restart.
This method is also one of the methods which will only work if you use a PNP monitor. If you are a user who uses a PNP monitor, please proceed if not. You may skip to the next method on this list.
Follow the steps below to delete any hidden devices under PNP monitors.
- Firstly, press the windows and R keys together to run the run utility.
- Here, type in devmgmt.msc in the search field.
- Click ok to open the device manager.
- Here, search for the view option in the upper left area.
- Click on it, then click on show hidden devices.
- Now, expand the monitor tab and uninstall any hidden devices by selecting to uninstall the device after right-clicking on them.
(Be sure to restart your PC after following all the steps above)
Fix an ATI bug via registry Editor
To fix this ATI bug issue by making changes to the registry, follow the steps stated below.
- Press the windows and R key together to run the run utility.
- Type in RegEdit in the search field of the run utility.
- Click ok to open the registry editor.
- In the registry editor, Locate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ ControlSet001 \ Control\Class \ {4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318} \ 0000 by navigating through the folders using the arrows in your keyboard.
- Here, double click on MD_EnableBrightnesslf2 and change its value to 0.
- Now double click on KMD_EnableBrightnessInterface2 and do the same thing. ( Change its value to 0).
- Now, go back and locate HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0001.
- Now, double click on MD_EnableBrightnesslf2 and Chang its value to 0.
- Repeat the same thing with KMD_EnableBrightnessInterface2.
After completing all the steps above, close the registry editor and restart your PC.