- Occasionally, your screen brightness might drop during or after a Remote Desktop session.
- This is primarily a graphics problem, the biggest offender being Adaptive Brightness.
- You can disable this in a few ways, but you should also ensure your drivers are up to date.
It’s the little things that become irritating quickly, and the little things you need to solve become irritating even quicker. If you’ve had your screen brightness low for remote PC access, or directly after it, you’re definitely going to want some solutions.
That’s what we’ll be providing you with in this article:
What Causes Screen Dimming?
It’s not just Remote Desktop responsible for screen dimming. In fact, most screen brightness problems are related to the following areas:
- Problems with Adaptive Brightness settings
- Power Plan Management (on notebooks and laptops)
- Graphical driver issues
Thankfully, this gives a clear roadmap for fixing the problem.
Is Your Screen Brightness Low for Remote PC? Here are the Fixes
Below we’ve assembled four solutions to address the above issues and get your screen back to regular brightness before, during, or after a Remote Desktop access session:
Disable Adaptive Brightness
Let’s start with the most likely offender. Adaptive Brightness is a handy feature that adjusts your screen based on your surrounding environment, much like many smartphones do. Remote Desktop access may play havoc with this feature, as two devices are involved. To fix the remote PC access lowers brightness issue, start by disabling Adaptive Brightness:
Step 1. Open the Control Panel via the search bar.
Step 2. Navigate down to “Power Options” and click it. If your Control Panel view is category-based, this option will be under “Hardware and Sound.”
Step 3. Click “Change Plan Settings.”
Step 4. Then click “Change advanced power settings.”
Step 5. In the new window that pops up, scroll down to “Display” and click it to expand.
Step 6. Look for “Enable Adaptive Brightness” and click it to expand.
Step 7. Disable the feature for both “On Battery” and “Plugged In.”
Step 8. Click “Apply” and “OK” and see if this resolves the issue.
You can also disable Adaptive Brightness via Settings:
Step 1. Open Settings (Win + I), and select “Display” from the sidebar.
Step 2. If your PC has it, uncheck the “Change brightness automatically when lighting changes.”
Create a Remote Desktop Configuration File
Communicating between two devices can cause havoc with resolution, image quality, and yes, brightness. If you create your own configuration file (“.rdp”) beforehand, you can minimize the impact. To do this:
Step 1. Open “Remote Desktop Connection” via the search bar.
Step 2. Click the “Show Options” button and click “Save as” under “Connection Settings” to save a new “.rdp” file.
Step 3. Once saved, open the file with Notepad.
Step 4. Ensure the resolution matches that of your own desktop width and height.
Step 5. Save any changes and exit.
Update Your Graphics Drivers
Outdated graphics drivers might also be causing the issue. You should ensure you’re running the latest version either by the driver app or in Device Manager. Here’s how:
Step 1. Open the Run dialog (Win + R) and type “devmgmt.msc” and click “OK.”
Step 2. Navigate to “Display Adapters” and then right-click your graphics card.
Step 3. Select “Update driver.”
Step 4. Choose “Search automatically for drivers,” and your machine will scan. Any new drivers will be displayed, and you can click them and follow the installation steps.
Disconnect and Reconnect Your Power Cables
On laptops, especially older ones, your laptop screen may dim at certain times. A very quick solution (and hopefully an effective one) is to disconnect and reconnect the power cable. This has the benefit of reminding your machine to return your power profile to “Plugged In,” which it can sometimes forget.
