How To Manually Adjust Screen Brightness In Windows 10

In one of our previously published articles titled how to disable auto or adaptive brightness in Windows 10, we discussed how to prevent Windows 10 from using ambient light sensors to adjust screen brightness automatically.

In this guide, we will see how to manually and accurately adjust screen brightness using the classic screen brightness adjuster in Windows 10.

Screen brightness on Windows 10 devices

Almost all notebooks out there include dedicated keys to adjust screen brightness. As you might have experienced by now, these dedicated keys are not ideal for setting the brightness that you are looking for. Most dedicated keys increase or reduce the brightness by 10%. That said, on some laptops, it’s possible to adjust the brightness level by 2% to 5% by holding the Shift key while changing the brightness using dedicated keys, but not all laptops offer the same.

Unlike the early versions of Windows 10, the recent versions of Windows 10 offer multiple options to accurately adjust the screen brightness. In this guide, we will see how to manualy adjust the screen brightness in Windows 10.

IMPORTANT: Windows 10 might automatically change the manually set screen brightness if the auto or adaptive brightness feature is enabled. Make sure that the auto or adaptive brightness is disabled on your PC.

Method 1 of 3

Manually adjust screen brightness using the slider

Luckily, Microsoft has added a brightness slider to the action center, which you can use to adjust the screen brightness quickly.

Step 1: Click on the Action Center icon on the taskbar to reveal the Action Center.

Step 2: At the bottom of the Action Center, you will see the slider to adjust screen brightness. Move the slider to the left to reduce the brightness and to the right to increase the brightness. That’s it!

Method 2 of 3

Change screen brightness via Settings

The Settings app also offers an option to accurately adjust the screen brightness. You can increase or reduce the brightness by a percentage.

Step 1: Open the Settings app. Navigate to System > Display.

Step 2: Use the slider in the Brightness and color section to adjust the screen brightness.

The same page also offers options to turn on or off the Night light feature and change the display resolution.

Method 3 of 3

Adjust screen brightness using the graphics control panel

Your graphics driver might also help you manually adjust the screen brightness more accurately. For instance, the Intel HD Graphics Control Panel allows the user to adjust brightness, contrast, and gamma using sliders.

Intel HD graphics users can open up the HD Graphics Control Panel by clicking Graphics Options in the desktop context menu, click the display, and then click color settings to adjust screen brightness.

One can also change the screen resolution via Intel HD Graphics Control Panel.