Brightness Control has disappeared.

Does anyone know how to get it back. It disappeared from Taskbar popup and Settings menu after restarting my laptop after lunch.

Thanks in advance.

Hi, have you tried a Google search for
restore missing brightness slider
yet?

Googe AI offers some suggestions and a video.... here's the text:

Key Solutions to Restore Brightness Slider:

• Enable Monitor Driver (Most Common):
  1. Right-click the Start button and select Device Manager.
  2. Expand Monitors.
  3. If your monitor (e.g., "Generic PnP Monitor") is disabled, right-click it and select Enable device.
• Update/Reinstall Display Adapters:
  1. In Device Manager, expand Display adapters.
  2. Right-click your graphics driver (e.g., Intel, NVIDIA, AMD) and select Update driver.
  3. If that fails, select Uninstall device, then restart your computer to force Windows to reinstall the driver.
• Restart Display Enhancement Service:
  1. Press Windows Key + R, type services.msc, and hit Enter.
  2. Locate Display Enhancement Service.
  3. Right-click it and select Restart. If it's not running, double-click it and set Startup type to Automatic.
• Run Windows Updates:
  1. Go to Settings > Windows Update and check for updates. Missing drivers are often provided through mandatory system updates.
• Check Action Center Settings:
  1. Click the Quick Settings icon (network/sound) in the taskbar.
  2. Click the pencil icon (Edit quick settings).
  3. Select Add and choose Brightness if it is missing.

Additional Tips:

• Restart the Computer: A simple restart can resolve temporary service failures.
• Toggle Power: Unplug your laptop or toggle the Battery Saver mode

Click to expand...

Suggest you start there and advise what you find. Thanks.

@Critical Mass


If you're talking about the Nvidia part...

These, I believe:

It might be possible for such a symptom to be caused by corruption in the user account so try using a different user account to see if the problem affects that as well.
If the fault affects another user account then I suspect the display driver.

This really sounds to me like you have had display driver corruption, a corrupt display driver update or a generic display driver installed in place of the proper one.
Check the display driver entry in Device manager.
Get & install the latest display driver directly from Dell's support site using your Dell Service Tag to ensure that you select the correct driver.

I avoid Windows update installing incorrect driver updates -
Enable or Disable Include Drivers with Windows Updates - ElevenForumTutorials
and I back up installed drivers
Backup and Restore Device Drivers - ElevenForumTutorials


Denis

My Settings/System/Display Menu looks like this. Note no Brightness (should be first/top on list)

Nvidia control panel looks like this.

Brightness doesn't appear when clicking on any of the normal Taskbar Icons (Volume/ Wifi etc). In fact the popup looks like the Win 10 not Win 11)

@Try3 My Windows Driver updates are disabled.
I've reinstalled (clean install) latest available Nvidia driver for my GPU after uninstalling with DDU
I can't find adaptive brightness controls anywhere (to switch off).

Thank you for your reply.

Await comment on your experience with ideas in my post #2

Please confirn you don't have and haven't had an external monitor attached as your screenshot seems to suggest.

Also quote your full build number.

PROBLEM SOLVED.
Thanks everyone. I rolled back the Intel driver that I'd installed yesterday and It solved the problem. Thanks again.

Good. Why did you install that driver? Surely not via a driver updater tool...?

It disappeared from Taskbar popup and Settings menu after restarting my laptop after lunch.

Click to expand...

The obvious thing to try if you didn't know what changed in those circumstances is to use a System Restore point. Try that next time.

Critical Mass said:

I rolled back the Intel driver that I'd installed yesterday

Click to expand...

I'll make an appointment at the optician's tomorrow as I could not see that crucial fact stated in the OP at all.


Denis

It was via Windows updates. I'd checked for updates and windows had reinstalled an old Intel driver for my Intel GPU. I rolled back to the latest driver. I couldn't understand why this affected Nvidia GPU.
Thanks anyway.

Ok sounds like you need to block it (hide the update).

Critical Mass said:

It was via Windows updates

Click to expand...

Do consider:-

Try3 said:

I avoid Windows update installing incorrect driver updates -
Enable or Disable Include Drivers with Windows Updates - ElevenForumTutorials
and I back up installed drivers
Backup and Restore Device Drivers - ElevenForumTutorials

Click to expand...

Denis

Critical Mass said:

I couldn't understand why this affected Nvidia GPU

Click to expand...

If your Dell is like mine, it uses the built-in Intel display adapter almost all the time and it automatically switches to the Nvidia one just for those applications that need its enhanced capabilities. So I don't know why you say the problem was affecting your Nvidia GPU as that might not have been in use.
I disabled my Nvidia one because I do not do anything that needs sophisticated display control.

I used Dell updates while it was in support then switched over to Intel ones -
How to Use Intel Driver & Support Assistant, contains download link
- It just sits in my system tray and checks for new Intel updates for my specific Intel hardware.
- When it finds new updates, its SysTray icon's tiny indicator 'light' turns from green to red [both illustrated below].

- When it finds new updates, it would let me then download-install them all in one action.
- But, instead, I always click on its link for more info so that I get taken to a different page that allows me to download the update without installing - I can then install it when I feel like it and I can copy it to other computers to install on them when appropriate.
Example of Intel Driver & Support Assistant SysTray icon's context menu:-

Example of Intel Driver & Support Assistant SysTray icon & the webpage it takes me to when there are updates:-



Denis

Thanks dalchina and Dennis. I'd somehow switched off blocking updates; it installed an older driver. I rolled back to a newer driver that allows security improvements in Windows. My laptop is a 4th Gen chip so shouldn't be on Win 11 anyway, but it works and is improving as Win 11 matures; although it's best to wait a few months before using the latest Feature update. All current drivers are backed up and are easy to reinstall.
Display is Intel. All apps use the NVidia.
I've got Intel Driver Support assistant but it no longer supports my CPU (to old).
Thanks again