How to Change Brightness on Desktop Windows 10

Adjusting the display settings on a new computer is easy to do. It's important to know how to adjust the brightness on Windows 10 because if you get eye strain or headaches, the display brightness could be the culprit. Fortunately, you can adjust the levels manually or automatically based on parameters like battery life or the surrounding light.

Whether you want to reduce or increase the light, we're going to show you how to adjust the screen brightness on Windows 10.

1. Change Brightness in Windows 10 in Settings

One easy way to control your Windows 10 brightness is through Settings.

To do this:

1. Press Win + I to open Settings.
2. Go to System > Display.
3. Beneath Brightness and color, use the Change brightness slider. To the left will be dimmer, to the right brighter.

If the slider is unavailable, it will be due to one of two things. If you're using an external monitor, use the buttons on that to change the brightness. Otherwise, you need to update the display driver.

2. Change the Brightness on the Monitor

If you're not using a portable device (like a laptop), you may not be able to adjust your brightness in Windows 10. That's because your external monitor controls the brightness.

If this applies to you, consult your monitor's documentation for guidance on adjusting the brightness because the exact instructions will vary per monitor. You should have buttons on your monitor that bring up an on-screen display, which you can navigate through to alter the brightness.

3. Change the Brightness in the Windows Mobility Center

You can also manually adjust your brightness using the Windows Mobility Center. To access this, press Win + X and click Mobility Center.

Here you can use the Display brightness slider to adjust the screen's brightness.

4. Adjust the Brightness in the Display Driver Control Panel

Your display driver manufacturer will have its own control panel from where you can control brightness. For example, there's the Intel Graphics Control Panel and the NVIDIA Control Panel. Which one you'll use or have depends on what graphics card you have.

If you have the Intel Graphics Control Panel:

1. Click Display.
2. Click Color Settings.
3. Adjust the Brightness slider.
4. Click Apply.

Alternatively, if you have the NVIDIA Control Panel:

1. On the left-hand pane, expand Display.
2. Click Adjust desktop color settings.
3. Beneath Choose how color is set, select Use NVIDIA settings.
4. Adjust the Brightness slider.
5. Click Apply.

5. Automatically Adjust Brightness for Battery Life

Lowering your brightness can help you squeeze more juice from your portable device's battery. Windows 10 has a battery saver feature that limits notifications and background activity, and this can also automatically lower your brightness.

To enable this:

1. Press Win + I to open Settings and go to System > Battery.
2. Beneath Battery saver, set the Turn battery saver on automatically at dropdown to your desired value.
3. Check Lower screen brightness while in battery saver. Unfortunately, it's not possible to set what brightness level is used.

Also, you can manually enable the battery saver at any time from this screen by turning the Battery saver toggle On.

6. Use Adaptive Brightness in Windows 10

Ideally, your monitor brightness should match the surrounding light since this reduces eye strain and unnecessary battery drain. One way to help with this is to have the brightness automatically change based on your ambient light.

This feature is only enabled if your device has a brightness sensor. To enable it:

1. Press Win + I to open Settings.
2. Go to System > Display.
3. If you can see Change brightness automatically when lighting changes, switch it On. If you can't see this, you don't have the sensor.

7. Adjust the Brightness On a PC Using the Keyboard

Your computer keyboard might have shortcuts to turn your brightness up and down. If you're using a laptop, it almost certainly will. Check out the function keys—brightness is commonly represented by a sun icon.

The exact key combination will depend on your keyboard model. For example, you may need to hold down or activate the Fn key and then press the corresponding function key simultaneously.

8. Brightness Adjustment Shortcuts in Windows 10

If you want a quick way to adjust your brightness on Windows 10, rather than fiddling around in menu screens, there are two quick shortcuts you can use.

Adjusting the Brightness in the Action Center

You can quickly adjust the brightness through the Action Center icon in the taskbar (or press Win + A.) Then, use the brightness slider to adjust the level. The further right the slider, the brighter the screen.

If you don't see the brightness slider:

1. Press Win + I to open Settings.
2. Go to System > Notifications & actions > Edit your quick actions. This will open the Action Center.
3. Click Add > Brightness > Done.

Adjusting the Brightness in the Taskbar

Want a good third-party utility? Check out the Windows 10 Brightness Slider. This lightweight utility will add a brightness icon in your system tray, which you can then click to adjust your brightness on a slider, much like how the volume icon works.

Head over to the GitHub project, download the file, and open it. It'll automatically go into your tray. If you want it always to be there, right-click the icon and click Run At Startup.

9. Change the Brightness in Command Prompt

If you want, you can change your brightness using Command Prompt. The other methods listed here are more intuitive, but you can use this if they're unavailable for some reason.

Do a system search for cmd to find and open Command Prompt. Then, input the following:

          powershell (Get-WmiObject -Namespace root/WMI -Class WmiMonitorBrightnessMethods).WmiSetBrightness(1,100)        

Change 100 to whatever percent you want the brightness to be, then press Enter to send the command.

Optimize Your Display for Eye Health and Comfort

Hopefully, you've learned something new here about how to control your brightness settings on Windows 10.

With brightness sorted, you may want to check out your monitor's color temperature. The light from our screens apparently causes sleep problems, and thus you can use programs like f.lux or Windows 10's Night Light feature to help combat it.

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About The Author

Joe Keeley (748 Articles Published)

Joe was born with a keyboard in his hands and immediately started writing about technology. He has a BA (Hons) in Business and is now a full-time freelance writer who enjoys making tech simple for everyone.

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How to Change Brightness on Desktop Windows 10

Source: https://www.makeuseof.com/windows-10-adjust-screen-brightness/

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