Fix: Windows 10 Screen Brightness Control Not Working

Some users complain that after a clean install or upgrade to Windows 10 they cannot adjust the screen brightness on some laptops. When trying to increase or decrease the brightness with the keys Fn+F11/ F12/etc. (depending on the laptop model), nothing happens. All other combinations and functional keys work well. Let’s consider some simple ways to correct it.

As a rule, the problem is connected with incorrect graphic card settings or a wrong graphic card driver version. We have encountered this problem with the laptops having Intel Graphics or AMD Radeon cards.

Generic Pnp Monitor

First of all, make sure that Generic Pnp Monitor is available in the Monitors section of the Device Manager (devmgmt.msc). If it is not, right-click and enable it.

Restart your computer and try to adjust the screen brightness.

Updating the Graphic Card Driver

If the previous method didn’t help, try to update your graphic card driver automatically (if the automatic driver update is not disabled).

In the Device Manager (the same devmgmt.msc console) expand the Display adapters section and find your graphic card. Right-click it and select Update Driver Software. Then select Search automatically for updated driver software and wait till Windows 10 finds and installs the latest driver version (of course, your computer has to be connected to the Internet).

If it didn’t help, try the next method.

KMD_EnableBrightnessInterface2 Parameter in the Registry

The following method implies registry editing:

• Open the Registry Editor (regedit.exe)
• Go to
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0000
• Find the DWORD parameter KMD_EnableBrightnessInterface2 and change its value from 1 to 0
• Since there can be several KMD_EnableBrightnessInterface2 parameters in the registry, open the Find window (F3) and find all other parameters with the name KMD_EnableBrightnessInterface. Change the values of all found keys from 1 to 0
• Restart your computer

Using Microsoft Basic Display Adapter

The last thing you can try, if other methods didn’t help, is to use the standard graphic card driver Microsoft Basic Display Adapter.

• To do it, select your graphic card in the Device Manager, right-click it and select Update Driver Software in the context menu
• Select Browse my computer for driver software-> Let me pick from a list of drivers on my computer
• In the list of drivers, select Microsoft Basic Display Adapter and click Next
• The system will replace the current driver
• Restart your computer and make sure that the screen brightness can be adjusted with the Fn keys