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 sensors to automatically adjust screen brightness.

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, 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 are the same.

Since that feature is not available on all laptops, most users prefer using the brightness setting available in Windows. If you upgraded your laptop from Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, you will know that in previous Windows versions, adjusting the display brightness manually was fairly easy and more importantly, users had more control while manually adjusting the brightness level.

In Windows 10, when you click on the batter/power icon in the system tray area of the taskbar, you get the new flyout which shows current status of the battery along with battery saver and brightness tiles. Clicking the brightness tile changes the brightness by about 25%.

That is, if the current brightness level is set at 50%, clicking the brightness tile increases the brightness to 75%. Likewise, if the current brightness level is at 100%, clicking the tile will bring down the screen brightness to 25%.

Manually adjust screen brightness using slider

Luckily, Microsoft has not dropped the classic screen brightness adjuster from Windows 10. But before you follow these instructions, make sure that the auto or adaptive brightness is disabled on your PC.

To manually adjust display brightness:

Method 1

Step 1: Right-click on the power/battery icon in the system tray and then click Adjust screen brightness to open Power Options window.

Step 2: At the bottom of this window, 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

Like its predecessors, Windows 10 also allows you set brightness level for power plans. In other words, if you have configured power plans to have different brightness levels, the screen brightness will be automatically changed as soon the power plan is changed.

To set screen brightness for power plans:

Step 1: Right-click on the battery/power icon and click Power Options to open the same.

Step 2: Here, click Change plan settings option next to the currently active power plan.

Step 3: Next, move Adjust plan brightness sliders to the left or right to set the screen brightness for your device when on battery and plugged in. Click Save changes button.

Likewise, you can assign different screen brightness level for all power plans.

Method 3

Adjust screen brightness using graphics control panel

Your graphics driver might also help you manually adjust the screen brightness more accurately. For instance, 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 display and then click color settings to adjust screen brightness.

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