When we install a new operating system, we want it to feel responsive right away. Unfortunately, Windows 11 is making that very difficult.
Since its October release, Windows 11 has introduced a whole host of issues. One particularly annoying offender is the missing brightness slider. If you want to change your brightness, you may not find the option anywhere.
The good news: this is an issue you can easily fix yourself. Here are some simple ways to deal with your Windows 11 brightness slider missing.
Here’s How To Fix Windows 11 Brightness Slider Missing / Not Working
1. Check Group Policy Settings
The first thing you should do is check your group policy settings. If a certain setting here isn’t enabled, you won’t see any brightness options.
To get to these settings, right-click Start and select “Run“. Type “gpedit.msc“, press OK,
and select the Group Policy Editor window. Then, go to “User Configuration” > Administrative Templates > Control Panel > Display.
That will lead you to a setting named “Disable the Display Control Panel“.
If it’s enabled, double-click on it and switch the setting to disabled. Restart your computer and see if that fixed the issue.
2. Uninstall TeamViewer
Do you have the TeamViewer app on your PC? TeamViewer handles your monitor drivers, and any errors may cause brightness slider issues.
If this is the case, the simplest solution is to uninstall TeamViewer. Open the Control Panel and select “Uninstall a program“ from the Programs section. This will take you to a list of all apps currently installed on your computer.
Find “TeamViewer” on this list, then double-click on it. Select “Uninstall” and follow the pop-up instructions to complete the operation. Once you’re done, restart the PC—if the issue persists, you can install TeamViewer again.
3. Change Registry Values
Like with the previous Windows versions, your “Registry” settings are the heart of your OS. Some quick tinkering here can solve almost any Windows issue!
To fix the Windows 11 brightness slider not working, go to “Start > Run”. Type in “regedit” and press OK.
Now, go to Computer > HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Policies.
On the right side of the window, right-click NoDispCPL. Select the Modify option and change the “Value Data” here from 1 to 0.
Click “OK” to save changes, then close the Registry and restart your computer.
4. Update Windows 11
Before doing anything else, update to the latest version of Windows 11. Doing so can clear up many issues, including brightness-related ones.
To update Windows, head to Start > Settings > Windows Update. Select “Check for updates“ and see if any updates are available. If there are, download and install them, then see if that fixed the problem.
5. Enable Generic Monitor Driver
The next thing you should try is to enable your generic PnP monitor driver. If these drivers aren’t enabled, many brightness options will disappear as well.
To check whether this is the case, right-click “Start” or press the “Windows+X” key and select “Device Manager“. In the new window, expand the “Monitors” section. Locate the generic driver, right-click it, then select Enable from the drop-down menu.
If it is already “Enabled” then you don’t need to do anything
6. Update Generic Monitor Driver
If the generic monitor driver is already enabled, you may need to update it. Outdated drivers may cause you to miss some display features.
Head to Device Manager > Monitors and select the Generic monitor driver. Right-click the driver and select the “Update Driver” option.
On the following screen, opt to “Browse my computer for drivers“.
Now, select “Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer“.
Click on the generic PnP monitor, select “Next“, and wait for Windows to install the driver. If all goes well, the problem should go away.
7. Reinstall Generic Monitor Driver
If your generic monitor driver refuses to update, it’s likely corrupted. In this case, the only solution is to uninstall it and let Windows reinstall it.
Again, go to Device Manager > Monitors. Right-click the “Generic PnP” driver and select “Uninstall” Device from the drop-down menu. This should remove all driver files related to your monitor from your computer.
Once you uninstall the driver, select the “Scan for hardware changes” icon. That’s the one with a small magnifier at the top-right side of the Device Manager window. Now simply wait for Windows to install the driver again.
8. Change Power Settings
By now, your Windows 11 brightness slider should be visible. If it’s not, there are still a few options you may want to give a shot to.
First, try changing your power settings. Press Windows key + S, then select Power & Sleep settings. Now select the Additional power settings option, which opens the Power Options screen.
On this screen, locate your current power plan and opt to Change plan settings.
Open the advanced settings, then head to Display > Enable Adaptive Brightness. Turn this setting to On (or leave it if it’s already on).
9. Check Graphics Card Software
If none of the previous steps have worked, the issue might lie with your graphics card. More specifically, with its driver software.
All modern graphics cards come with specialized driver software. These apps include the Catalyst Control Center, NVIDIA Control Panel, and more. They allow you to change all kinds of options related to your graphics.
Of course, these options include your brightness settings. If you can’t find the brightness slider on your PC, check your graphics card software and adjust your brightness from there.
10. Update Graphics Card Drivers
In rare cases, outdated graphics card drivers may prevent you from adjusting brightness on Windows 11. Updating these drivers should solve the issue.
Head to Device Manager > Display Adapters. Right-click your graphics card driver, then choose Update Driver.
Select “Search automatically for updated driver software” to get the new driver.
Fixing Windows 11 Brightness Slider Missing
The bottom line: there are plenty of ways to recover a missing brightness slider. As far as bugs go, this is a relatively minor one.
Once you start going down this list, it shouldn’t take you too long to find the solution.
Want to know more about how to fix Windows 11 brightness slider missing? Keep reading our Windows 11-related content!
