Hi,

Please try to update or reinstall the display driver for a test.

Open Device Manager, scroll down to display adapters, right click, choose update the driver software or choose uninstall, then restart your computer.

Regards,

Yolanda

Hi, Kasper

Have you tried to manually set the brightness in the right-side charm bar Settings to adjust the brightness? And  can you manually adjust the brightness with the key on your Laptop?

I also doubt that there might be some sort of incompatibility between the display driver and your computer, please check if there is a suitable driver from the manufacture website of Samsung. Or you can contact Samsung, check if they have an appropriate display driver for win 8.1.

Regards,

Yolanda

Same problem here. On an HP laptop.

Mine is way to low. It is as if the display is off. Looks like a bug in Windows 8.1 rather than the display drivers.

Instead of asking each customer to reinstall their driver, it might be worthwhile if Microsoft have a look at their display/graphics system. Apparently, Windows 8.1 is setting it to very low values. And there doesn't seem to be any way for user to control the brightness.

• Edited by VishnuSuresh Saturday, October 26, 2013 9:28 AM

This doesn't work. It is clearly a windows bug. I have reinstalled drivers, installed old versions, reinstalled the new one... Windows isn't having it. 

Please propose a real solution. 

was there ever a solution because i have the samsung series 7 also?

I dont see a solution.   Updating and re-installing drivers does not. work.

Also I am sick of you blaming others for the problems with the update you asked us to install. 

This makes no sense.  If you guys want us to install your updates please make sure they won't up my whole work session. 

Please fix this asap. 

this is necessary! 

• Edited by Jessica_DeenMVP, Moderator Wednesday, January 08, 2014 8:24 PM removed profanity

I dont see a solution.   Updating and re-installing drivers does not. work.

Also I am sick of you blaming others for the problems with the update you asked us to install. 

This makes no sense.  If you guys want us to install your updates please make sure they won't up my whole work session. 

Please fix this asap. 

this is necessary! 

• Edited by Jessica_DeenMVP, Moderator Wednesday, January 08, 2014 8:24 PM removed profanity

I dont see a solution.   Updating and re-installing drivers does not. work.

Also I am sick of you blaming others for the problems with the update you asked us to install. 

This makes no sense.  If you guys want us to install your updates please make sure they won't up my whole work session. 

Please fix this asap. 

this is necessary! 

Me too, what a nightmare, what are Microsoft doing to address this????????

Some good news for Samsung users.  Use the Samsung SW Update facility.  I just did.  Right now there is an update for the graphics driver and it fixes the Windows 8.1 brightness (actually dullness) bug.  Full marks to Samsung, I am relieved, I can see my screen again.  Best of luck to the non-Samsung users, maybe try your manufacturer's website.  It's quite probable that the hardware manufacturers have resolved this ahead of Microsoft.........

• Edited by Jessica_DeenMVP, Moderator Wednesday, January 08, 2014 8:25 PM removed profanity

I have this bug for a couple of months now. It's about time this gets solved...

Dell Precision with AMD Radeon  HD 6700M

for pads, you need a keyboard

press windows+x and this should bring up the mobility panel and from there you should be able to manage all options

I too have upgraded my Windows to 8.1 on my Lenovo Idea-pad. I can't seem to adjust my screen brightness, I literally have to be right in front of my laptop to see what is happening. I have tried everything, shutting it down, going to settings, restarting it, etc... Please please please find a solution to this problem, I am going back to school on Monday 6 (University of Phoenix).

Ive tried all the suggestions above and more this is the only thing that has worked so far!

Try this....

Go to device manager - click display adapters - right click the windows driver (intel graphics 4000 or whatever) - update driver software - click search for update myself - then on the next window click "let me pick from a list of drivers on my computer - then select microsoft basic display adapter

• Edited by realityproof Friday, January 03, 2014 10:31 PM
• Proposed as answer by shurn Wednesday, January 08, 2014 9:47 PM
• Marked as answer by David WoltersModerator Friday, March 21, 2014 2:06 PM

Right clicking on display adapter only shows scan for hardware changes or properties.  Does not give the choice to update the driver software.

You need to expand Display Adapters and then right-click the actual display adapter. You're right-clicking on the *Display Adapters* node, not on the actual display adapter itself.

In any case, this isn't a real fix as reverting to the basic inbox display adapter means that you're using a generic display adapter and not one that is specifically designed for your adapter.

Ive tried all the suggestions above and more this is the only thing that has worked so far!

Try this....

Go to device manager - click display adapters - right click the windows driver (intel graphics 4000 or whatever) - update driver software - click search for update myself - then on the next window click "let me pick from a list of drivers on my computer - then select microsoft basic display adapter

Edit..... come on microsoft this shouldnt be this hard computers should be getting more user friendly not less sort your s*** out!!

• Proposed as answer by ITeraOnline Thursday, February 13, 2014 4:54 PM

Thank you very much 

i had the same problem and its working now

but i have Q i use now "icrosoft basic display adapter "

it means "intel graphics 4000" not working !!

thanks

Edit..... come on microsoft this shouldnt be this hard computers should be getting more user friendly not less sort your s*** out!!

I recently upgraded to Windows 8.1 on my Lenovo Ideapad and noticed my screen brightness wasn't as bright as it had been when I had run Windows 8. I keep trying to adjust my screen brightness, but no matter how low or high I set it, my screen's brightness remains at what I would imagine a 50% brightness would be. Can anyone help me?

I am experiencing the same problem but I have a Sony Vaio and wondering if the solution will be the same as for other laptops or if I should contact the manufacturer?

P.S. this is BS Microsoft--if in fact, it's a bug from upgrading to Windows 8.1. This is annoying to no avail and should be rectified promptly!

The challenge is that when Windows Update runs, the display drivers coming from Microsoft overwrite the drivers from Lenovo.  With the display drivers coming from Microsoft via Windows Update, brightness controls and multiple monitors don't work. With the (older) display drivers coming from Lenovo, brightness controls and multiple monitors work, but Windows media player and newer rendering schemes don't work.

I feel caught between a rock and a hard place here - would like to be able to keep my display driver up-to-date from Windows Update, but these two bugs (brightness control & no multiple monitors) are painful.

i'm an idiot. today is march 20th. I wanted this laptop because I thought maybe Samsung would get it right. the sales person assured me they did not. now I have to pay a 20% restocking fee cause I Am taking this piece of garbage back! I should have listened. what an idiot I am.

dullness is obvious! imagine the bugs you don't see. .... W O W

This really worked on my lenovo ideapad

thank you

This happened to me this evening! Super frustrating. Anyways, after trying this process above, my computer told me all of my drives were already up to date and wouldn't let me proceed further. So I tried something a bit different, and it worked!

http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloads/detail.page?DocID=DS031547 (< The site won't let me post a direct link, so copy & paste)

Yes, it told me that I was installing an older version, but it worked and nothing has changed on my PC!

(I got this tip from a forums.lenovo discussion group) and hope it helps! 

Thank you so much!!! The same thing just happened to me on my Samsung laptop. Just installed an update to BIOS and Settings. After doing so, couldn't get my screen brightness back despite my advanced performance settings, keyboard, etc. Fortunately, I was able to find your answer here as quickly. Who knows how long I would have spent troubleshooting this! I've screwed up my computer many times trying to "fix" things that didn't need fixing when trying to problem solve one minor setting. I would think that there should have been a note alerting people that the microsoft basic display adapter would need to be updated after downloading the new BIOS update. Geez! Thanks again!

I also have this problem with my Asus N71.

Found out by accident.

Adjust the brightness with Fn + F5 (down) or Fn + F6 (up). It does not change then and there, but when you pull out the power plug from the PC the brightness changes. Every time would change ther brigtnes I use Fn + or -, pull out the plug and the put it in.

For me this is a good solution and a better alternative than using a Microsoft basic display adapter. I now use the latest available driver for my graphic card.

OMG Thank you this help me out lots it fix it for me 

Thank you agen x

I just hope Microsoft actually read these blogs!!!

The whole problem started because I updated my laptop (a Lenovo ideapad Z500 touch) to the latest version of Windows 8.1 'upgrade' so that I would be completely up to date with developments.

I then went to dim the brightness of the screen which I did and that's when the problems started. 

The screen would not change but remained constantly dark, being barely able to be seen.

Try as I would I was having no success in brightening it so I finally did a factory 'refresh' which put the laptop back to as it was when I bought it which solved the problem. 

Of course this now meant that I then had to reload all my additional programmes as well as get all the Microsoft updates which took 'quite some time'!

Finally I then downloaded and installed Windows 8.1 'upgrade' once again, thinking that the problem was solved - but again, when I pressed the brightness key, the screen went dark and stayed dark. 

Thanks to the advice in this blog I went into the Device Manager and changed the display settings to 'Microsoft Basic Display Adapter'.  I'm pleased to report that solved the problem.

Later, I further downloaded and installed updates from Microsoft and was then unable to adjust the screen brightness. 

I checked in Device Manager and found that it had selected ' Intel(R) Graphics 4000 Version 10.18.10.3412 (22/01/2014)' so I changed it back to 'Microsoft Basic Display Adapter' and I'm now pleased to say that it works once again. 

I'm amazed that such a problem occurred, a problem that Microsoft had itself created.  I sincerely hope that a fix is forthcoming asap

'We wait in hope' ....................

• Edited by Roochie Sunday, April 13, 2014 8:32 PM

Thank you!!! I have been trying to fix this for DAAAAYS! This actually worked! Thank you!!

My computer just updated yesterday and i had this same issue. THANKYOU so much for posting this! It worked wonders!

This "sort of" worked for me on my Samsung Series 7. The first time I "upgraded" to Windows 8.1 I encountered this dim screen issue, and now it seems to happen again every time I update 8.1. My resolution so far has been to switch back to the generic driver, BUT then I lose my second monitor which I use in extend mode for my work. Returning back to my regular driver restores my extended monitor and leaves my screens on BRIGHT, but now I have NO control over brightness. This is where I am today since bright all of the time beats DIM all of the time, but obviously this is frustrating since it happens on EVERY 8.1 UPDATE.

Also - This does not appear to be a VENDOR problem as someone suggested since it seems pretty widespread among different units with one common denominator Microsoft Windows 8.1.

Microsoft - Please tell me this is going to be resolved SOON!!!!!!

GDB

• Proposed as answer by Egbert de Waal Tuesday, May 27, 2014 8:44 AM

I had exactly the same thing with Teamviewer. Uninstalled the driver for teamviewer and installed the driver for a generic PNP monitor. And now the FN + Up/Down works like never before.

Thnx for your helpfull answer!

SOLUTION

In your keyboard hold fn + f5 or f6 to highest or lowest brightness

If youre done u can edit the power plan to balance or etc..

works for me

• Edited by Gamehacker143 Saturday, June 07, 2014 1:15 AM

I had the same problem and Ijust worked it out.

1.Right click on the MY COMPUTER icon on the desktop.

2.Select the Manage option.

3.Now select the Device Manager from the left pane on the screen.

4.Select the Display Adapters pane from the list on the center of your screen.

5.It will show you the installed display driver on your system. Right click on the driver and select the option update drivers.

6.Select the second option i.e Browse my Computer for driver Software and then choose the option of selecting the driver from a list.

7.From the list choose Microsoft Basic Adapter.

8.After it is installed repeat the same procedure except now choose the driver that you previously had installed before you chose the Microsoft Basic Adapter.

  Worked like a charm for me.My Screen Brightness flexibility is back.

Guys, I've had this problem with the brightness for nearly 3 years now. The 'solution' you're all so thankful for isn't a solution. It's a bodged work around. All you're doing is using Microsoft's generic driver. By using that and not the one intended for your specific graphics adapter you're likely to lose certain features and improved performance.

In 20 years of PC use I don't think I've ever encountered such a glaringly obvious bug that has remained unsolved for so long. The thing is I'm not sure if it's Microsoft or AMD that are responsible for fixing it.

If you do any gaming or graphics work on your PC you really should use the latest driver provided by AMD or Nvidia and not the generic one. If your brightness is too high without having any adjustment, I suggest going into your graphics control panel and reducing the contrast slightly (~%85). This will reduce the overall luminance of the display and ease the pain on your eyes.

I have been looking at this issue a lot and I have worked with several machines to see whats up.

I use a 2011 vintage netbook that has a GMA 3150 graphics, turns out the graphics are purely emulated, there is no real hardware logic. 

Small wonder video card oriented programs failed or ran poorly.

now I have the intel driver installed with Windows 8.1 on the machine and the panel brightness does work as expected with the keyboard controls. My machine has 2 keys to control brightness.

so I am suggesting that if the brightness is not working, check the driver and post specifics about your rig. Here is my netbook for all to consider. I upgraded it from Windows 7 to 8.1

http://hardcore-games.azurewebsites.net/hr/netbooks/compaq-mini-cq10-450ca.php

hi 

u can easily do that in caliberate display colours in control pannel menu thats worked for me 

I updated my driver and it worked.
Go to Device Manager and then select 'Display Adapters'. There you will see your driver. Right click on it and choose 'Update Driver Software'.

Thank you so so much!!!!!! :)

Hi,

Please try to update or reinstall the display driver for a test.

Open Device Manager, scroll down to display adapters, right click, choose update the driver software or choose uninstall, then restart your computer.

Regards,

Y

Ive tried all the suggestions above and more this is the only thing that has worked so far!

Try this....

Go to device manager - click display adapters - right click the windows driver (intel graphics 4000 or whatever) - update driver software - click search for update myself - then on the next window click "let me pick from a list of drivers on my computer - then select microsoft basic display adapter

Edit..... come on microsoft this shouldnt be this hard computers should be getting more user friendly not less sort your s*** out!!

It WORKED!! Yayiii :-)

Thank you life-saver! :)

Hi

It works BUT! it causes a new problem - inability to connect the laptop to the TV!

What can we do??

IT WORKED! DEVICE MANAGER ABOVE.

the best way to fix is, while u r connected to the internet. open command prompt (cmd) and enter as below:

C:\>shutdown -t 0 -s -f

it automatically gets updated and shuts down. now switch on the system. i hope ur problem is solved. it worked fine for me.