Dim Display Automatically - Turn On or Off in Windows 8

How to Turn On or Off Automatic Dim Display Brightness in Windows 8 and 8.1​

   Information

The display can use more power than any other part of a PC. Reducing the display brightness level can help extend your battery life before needing to recharge.

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off to automatically dim display brightness after X amount of inactive minutes and by what percentage in Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows 8.1, and Windows RT 8.1.

This will affect all users on the PC.

This setting does not apply to desktops. It's only available on PCs (ex: laptop or tablet) that use battery power.

   Note

If you did not originally have the Dim the display and Dim display after options available, then it means that it is not supported on your PC.

Instead, your display(s) will automatically dim by the percentage set in "Dimmed display brightness" exactly 15 seconds before what is set in "Turn off display after".

OPTION ONE

To Turn On or Off Dim Display in Power Plan Settings

NOTE: This option is good to quickly turn off or set how many inactive minutes to dim display brightness.

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1. Open your Power Plan Settings, and do step 2 or 3 below for what you would like to do.​

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2. To Turn Off Dim Display​

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A) Set Dim the display to Never for when you are On battery and/or Plugged in for what you want, click/tap on Save changes, and go to step 4 below. (see screenshot below)​

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3. To Turn On Dim Display​

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A) Set Dim the display to how many minutes you want the PC to be inactive when On battery and/or Plugged in before the display brightness is automatically dimmed, click/tap on Save changes, and go to step 4 below. (see screenshot below)​

NOTE: To specify the brightness percentage level for when the display dims, you will need to use step 3B in OPTION TWO below.​

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4. You may also wish to turn on or off adaptive brightness if applicable.​

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5. When finished, you can close the Edit Plan Settings window if you like.​

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OPTION TWO

To Turn On or Off Dim Display in Advanced Power Settings

NOTE: This option is good to quickly turn off dim display, or set how many inactive minutes to dim display brightness and by what percentage to dim the display by.

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1. Open the Advanced Power Settings for your power plan, and do step 2 or 3 below for what you would like to do.​

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2. To Turn Off and Adjust Dim Display Brightness​

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A) Expand Display and Dim display after, set On battery and/or Plugged in to 0 Minutes, click/tap on OK, and go to step 4 below. (see screenshot below)​

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3. To Turn On and Adjust Dim Display Brightness​

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A) Expand Display and Dim display after, and set On battery and/or Plugged in to how many Minutes you want the PC to be inactive before the display brightness is automatically dimmed. (see screenshot above)​

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B) Under Dimmed display brightness, set On battery and/or Plugged in to specify what brightness percentage level you want for when the display dims, click/tap on OK, and go to step 4 below. (see screenshot below)​

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4. You may also wish to turn on or off adaptive brightness if applicable.​

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5. When finished, you can close the Edit Plan Settings window if you like.​

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

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• How to Add or Remove "Dim display after" in Power Options in Windows
• How to Adjust Display Screen Brightness in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Turn On or Off Adaptive Brightness in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Change Power Plan Settings in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Set to Turn Off the Display after Specified Time in Windows
• How to Restore Default Power Plan Settings in Windows 7 and Windows 8

 

[ICit2lol]

Ok my power options don't want me or rather let me dim or close the screen at all would this be something to do with it being an upgrade from seven? I have set the screen to dim at 1 minute and close in 1 in both plugged in and battery but nothing happens.

I really don't know what to do because if it means a clean install or something then I am between a rock and a hard place.

My control panel views are slightly different from the tutorial ones too.

 

[Brink]

Hello John,

Double check to make sure that you also set the Dimmed display brightness percentage (step 3A Option Two) to be lower than your current "Adjust plan brightness" percentage (step 2 Option One) or you may not notices a difference when it dims.

Go ahead and post screenshots showing what is different in your views to see if it may also help ID the issue.

 

[ICit2lol]

Ok Shawn this is two shots of my set up when a I first go to the options the control does not work. Then after a while it springs into life.

Now you can see that my brightness control work sin reverse but this machine ahs always been like that even with just seven on it.

When it was just seven the screen used to cut out but now it blazes away non stop.

I did try running a sfc but it would not do it and chkdsk that is totally alien to me now runs so fast it surely doesn't have chance to check the disk??

Oh dear it isn't letting me upload snips but my settings are never and never 10 mins and 5 mins and never and never

 

[Brink]

John,

I noticed that you have your "Dim the display" set to "Never" for both "Plugged in" and "On battery" instead of the 1 minute "On battery" you said.

What do your screens look like with OPTION TWO?

What error message did SFC give you?

It may be late before I'm able to reply back, so I apologize now.

 

[ICit2lol]

No worries Shawn I am just on my way out to the graveyard shift so I might not get it done until tomorrow

 

[JazzNemesis]

I've tried everything you've suggested

Shawn I've found four or five threads that you've posted/commented on and I've tried everything that you've suggested but my computer still dims the display at random every other minute or so and it's driving me insane.

First, I went to the Power Plan settings (I actually did this several weeks ago as my first attempt at fixing the problem). I changed Dim the Display to Never when the computer is plugged in and set the plan brightness to max (see screenshot below).


That didn't work and about a week or so ago I finally got annoyed enough to try again so I went back and had a look at the advanced power settings. I checked under "Dim the Display After" to make sure it said "Never" here like it does on the previous page. Check. Next I looked at Display brightness > Plugged In and it was set to 74% so I changed it to 100% and clicked Apply then went to Dimmed display brightness > Plugged In (just because I'm thorough like that) and set it to 100% also. Clicked Apply then Ok etc. (see screenshot below)


The didn't work so tonight I went hunting once and for all to find answers on the all mighty internet. I found your threads suggesting the precise actions that I'd already taken so I went back and double checked them because I know that 99% of computer problems are user error (I do tech support, ironically enough). Imagine my somewhat irritated surprise to discover that Display brightness > Plugged In was back to 74%. I mentally kicked myself, set it back to 100% clicked Apply and the screen lit up for about 2 seconds then went dim again. I went back to the Display brightness > Plugged In and it was back to 74%. I repeated these last few steps about 8 times before I decided that there must be some other unholy possession that is turning my computer against me and went searching for yet more wisdom on the subject. (see screenshot below)


Next I found a thread where you had suggested the services.msc run command to disable the Sensor Monitoring Service so I followed those step-by-step instructions, gleefully positive that this would solve the issue once and for all. I disabled the service completely (it was on manual to begin with but oh well, disabled sounds more finite and promising for what I'm trying to accomplish). Went back to my power saving options and double checked to make sure the screen brightness was at max ... and the screen dimmed itself on me yet. again. I rebooted the computer, went back in to adjust 74% back to 100% clicked Apply then Ok and ... it dimmed itself back to 74%. (see screenshot below)



Either I'm going insane (afore posted screenshots are hopefully sufficient evidence to the contrary) or there is something else amiss here. Help before I feed my brand new laptop to my husband's brand new wood chipper?

Specs:
Sony Vaio SVE14A27CX
Intel Core i7-3632QM CPU @ 2.20GHz
64-bit OS, x64-based processor
Full Windows Touch Support with 10 Touch Points
Windows 8

Most recent updates: (checked windows update, nothing available)
Definition Update for Windows Defender - KB2267602 (Definition 1.161.994.0) - 10/29/13
Definition Update for Windows Defender - KB2267602 (Definition 1.161.808.0) - 10/26/13
Update for Window 8 for x64-based Systems (KB2883201) 10/26/13

(there are, of course, a lot more but those are the three most recent)

 

[Brink]

Hello Jaz, and welcome to Eight Forums.

Since this is an OEM PC, you might check to see if Sony may have some sort of power management software of their own installed on the PC that may be resetting your display brightness settings in Windows.

Hope this helps for now,
Shawn

 

[HoneycombAX]

I don't have "Dim the Display" after installing Windows 8.1. Is there a fix for this?

 

[Brink]

Hello Honeycomb, and welcome to the flip side at Eight Forums.

Check to make sure that you have the latest video driver for Windows 8.1 installed. The driver may have been removed during the update to 8.1 if it wasn't compatible with 8.1.

Afterwards, see if you may have this option available again.

 

[HoneycombAX]

Tried installing the updated drivers and they still did nothing. In fact some of the updates broke more features, such as scrolling down pages with the trackpad. I tried to install driver updates to my WiFi but it failed, every time! Also, I had to manually fetch a compatible video driver from Intel's site rather than use one provided by Dell because that wouldn't install.

This laptop uses the Dell Extended Battery Life settings, which I can't get off simply using Programs and Features.

I also applied a BIOS update in there.

Some of the driver updates were date stamped ​10/9/2013

 

[Brink]

Honeycomb,

Please go ahead and post a screenshot of your settings for this to see if it may help to ID the issue.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2598-screenshots-files-upload-post-eight-forums.html

 

[HoneycombAX]

See what I meant? There are settings for "Dimmed display brightness" but there are no settings for "Dim the Display".

And for the same reason that seconds before the screen turns off, the display finally gets dim and then it goes dark.
I would assume that a registry key that handles screen brightness is missing.

The Sensor Monitoring Service is set on Manual on this laptop as well, but this laptop doesn't have ambient light sensors.

It used to be, that on the Balanced power plan, the screen would get darker at 5 minutes when plugged in, and 2 minutes while on battery power.

 

[Brink]

Hmm, I must admit that I'm not sure why "Dim the Display" is missing in your plan settings.

Usually this is related to an incompatible video driver. You might try different versions.

 

[HoneycombAX]

Look, this is all I could get installed from back here: Intel HD Graphics Driver for Windows 7 and 8 x64 Version:
15.28.18.64.3223 (Dell's version is: 15.33.1.64.3277). When I tried to install the Dell drivers it gives me an error:



I even ran it in compatibility mode and it still wouldn't work. That update was date-stamped August 23rd, 2013.

Now it tells me I need to have a special Intel Core processor to run this update. Readme file enclosed.
View attachment Installation_Readme.txt

 

[Brink]

You might see what the Intel Driver Update Utility may find for you.

 

[HoneycombAX]

Well, I can't fix it, even with new drivers. I just hope a Patch Tuesday tames this bug. But sometimes what fixes one thing breaks many others.

 

[TBolt]

Honeycomb is not alone. I came here because of the same issue; the dim option is gone (for some) in Win 8.1. I do hope that MS (or NVIDIA in my case) resolves the issue soon -- I liked the feature a lot.

 

[Brink]

Hello TBolt,

What options do you have under "Display" from the screenshots in OPTION TWO?

If you have Dimmed display brightness, then you'll be able to at least partially set it.

 

[TBolt]

Honeycomb is not alone. I came here because of the same issue; the dim option is gone (for some) in Win 8.1. I do hope that MS (or NVIDIA in my case) resolves the issue soon -- I liked the feature a lot.

Hi, Brink!

Oddly, I have an option for 'Dimmed display brightness' but I have no setting to say WHEN the display should dim.