Screen Brightness - Adjust in Windows 8

How to Adjust the Display Screen 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 adjust the brightness level of the display screen in Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows 8.1, and Windows RT 8.1.

This setting 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.

   Tip

Some keyboards (ex: notebooks) may have shortcut keys that you can use to adjust your display brightness with like the example below. Please refer to your keyboard's or PC's manual for what they are for it if available.

OPTION ONE

To Adjust Screen Brightness in Settings Charm

   Note

This sets the (Default) DWORD value in the registry key below.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Brightness

1. Open the Charms bar, and click/tap on the Settings charm.

2. Click/tap on the brightness icon and move the slider up (brighter) and down (dimmer) to adjust the screen brightness to what percentage level you like. (see screenshots below)

   Tip

If you like, you could also click on Brightness, then use the up and down arrow keys to make fine adjustments.

   Tip

OPTION TWO

To Adjust Screen Brightness in Power Options

1. Click/tap on the power system icon in the notification area on the taskbar, and click/tap on the Adjust screen brightness link. (see screenshot below)



2. At the bottom of Power Options, move the Screen brightness slider right (brighter) and left (dimmer) to adjust the screen brightness to what level you like. (see screenshot below)



3. When finished, you can close Power Options if you like.

OPTION THREE

To Adjust Plan Screen Brightness in Power Plan Settings

1. Open your Power Plan Settings.

2. Move the Adjust plan brightness sliders right (brighter) and left (dimmer) to adjust the screen brightness to what level you like for when your computer is On battery and Plugged in. (see screenshot below)



3. When finished, click on Save changes, and close the Power Options window. (see screenshot above)

OPTION FOUR

To Adjust Plan Screen Brightness in Advanced Power Settings

1. Open the Advanced Power Settings for your power plan.

2. Expand Display and Display brightness, and adjust the screen brightness to what percentage level you like when your computer is On battery and Plugged in. (see screenshot below)



3. When finished, click/tap on OK, and close the Power Options window. (see screenshot above)



That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Turn On or Off Automatic Dim Display Brightness in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Add or Remove "Dim display after" in Power Options in Windows
• How to Turn Adaptive Brightness On or Off in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Change Screen Resolution of Displays 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

 

[Haikgh]

Thank you very much dear Brink. Appreciate all your useful tutorials. Right now I have another question, though, which is somewhat related to this thread.
Is it possible to adjust screen brightness in Windows 8 by assigning a keyboard shortcut to it? If not directly from the windows itself, maybe by using some sort of utility or a hack ?
I have a Sony VAIO VPCEB1S1E/BJ laptop and I installed Windows 8, which is not officially supported by Sony for this laptop and the only problem I have as a comparability is to make Sony brightness control software to work on this Windows!
Would be glad to hear from you, I hope there is some solution for this, thanks.

 

[Brink]

Hello Haikgh,

I posted something in your original thread below for this issue that will hopefully help.

http://www.eightforums.com/software-apps/30156-control-brightness-some-re-assigned-short-keys.html

 

[wilpang]

Hi Brink,

I have recently noticed an issue with my display...

I currently have it set to 50% but noticed when I switched on my laptop today the display brightness was at 15% at start up and seems to do that when I adjust the sleep length but not always...

Do you know there is setting that is causing this?

 

[Brink]

Hello Wilpang,

Here are a few items to check to see if one may be responsible for now.

• If this is still a factory installed Windows, then check to see if the OEM may have their own power management program installed that could be overriding Windows.
• Double check your video driver settings for the same above.
• http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/21702-dim-display-automatically-turn-off-windows-8-a.html
• http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/6042-adaptive-brightness-turn-off-windows-8-a.html

 

[wilpang]

Hi Brink,

This is a clean install from a Clevo reseller and there isn't anything 3rd party power management that I can see.
I'm currently have the latest Intel HD Graphics installed and the settings seem to match the ones set in my power settings.
My dim display is currently set for 5 min and from what I can tell is working fine and adaptive brightness is turned on but I've not noticed if it is working or not, may be it's a subtle change...

Anything else I can try?

 

[Brink]

In the Intel settings, double check to make sure it's not set to maximum power savings.

Turn off adaptive brightness and auto dim display to see if that may help.

 

[ahorn]

Manual brightness controls are not working

Hi. I had problems with the auto-brightness feature in Windows 8.1 not switching off, so I sent my tablet in to the Samsung repair shop. They had my tablet for 3 weeks, and re-imaged my harddrive (wiping off all my programs in the process). The brightness adjusted fine when I got it back, running on Windows 8. Then I updated my operating system to Windows 8.1 and installed all the windows updates, but after doing that I was not able to adjust my screen brightness anymore. I have just disabled the power-saving feature on the Intel graphics driver and it seems as if that has stopped 'adaptive brightness', but I still cannot adjust the brightness manually. I am using the keyboard shortcut, and all of the suggested methods in Power Options.

 

[Brink]

Hello ahorn, and welcome to Eight Forums.

Does your Intel HD graphics settings have an option to adjust the brightness level something like below?

 

[ahorn]

Hello ahorn, and welcome to Eight Forums.

Does your Intel HD graphics settings have an option to adjust the brightness level something like below?

View attachment 60879

Hi Brink.
Yes, it does, but adjusting that slider changes the whiteness of my screen, not the luminosity. I want to be able to manually change the luminosity.

 

[ahorn]

I have found a solution.
Control Panel > Device Manager (opens a window) > Display Adaptors > Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 (double-click) > Driver (tab) > Roll Back Driver.
Spread the word!

 

[Brink]

 

[Emmanuel Joseph]

I read your post brink, but i try changing my brightness i don't see any difference in it can ou please help i'm using in a acer aspire switch 10

 

[Brink]

Hello Emmanuel, and welcome to Eight Forums.

What is the brand and model number of your PC for reference?

For now, double check your other brightness settings below to see if they may be conflicting each other.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/6042-adaptive-brightness-turn-off-windows-8-a.html

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/21702-dim-display-automatically-turn-off-windows-8-a.html

 

[Emmanuel Joseph]

Ok Brink i updated my system specs youcan check them know, but i tryed everything you said me to try pls help

 

[Brink]

It shows that it has Intel graphics. Double check your Intel graphics settings for a brightness option that could be overriding the Windows setting.