How to Change Laptop Screen Color in Windows 11

To change your laptop screen color in Windows 11, open Settings > System > Display. From there you can warm the colors with Night light, remap them with a color filter under Accessibility, run the built-in calibration wizard, switch color profiles, or fine-tune HDR. Each control changes something different — this guide shows exactly which to use, in the order we use them on the ESC repair bench.

The five ways to change your screen color

Windows 11 gives you five separate color controls, and picking the right one saves a lot of frustration. Night light shifts color temperature; color filters remap the whole screen for accessibility; the calibration wizard corrects gamma and color balance; color profiles set the color space your display targets; and HDR calibration tunes brightness and saturation on HDR panels.

Method 1: Night light — warm the colors and cut blue light

Night light is the quickest way to change your screen color: it shifts the display toward warmer tones and reduces blue light, which many people find easier on the eyes at night. It does not change color accuracy, so switch it off for photo, video or print work.

1. Open Settings > System > Display > Night light.
2. Turn Night light on (you can also toggle it from Quick Settings).
3. Drag the Strength slider — further right means warmer colors and less blue.
4. To automate it, turn on Schedule night light and choose Sunset to sunrise or Set hours.

If the whole screen has gone orange or yellow unexpectedly, Night light is almost always the cause — turn it off here first.

Method 2: Color filters — grayscale, inverted and color-blindness modes

Color filters remap every color on the screen system-wide. They are an accessibility feature: grayscale for focus, inverted for contrast, and dedicated color-blindness filters that make reds and greens or blues and yellows easier to tell apart.

1. Open Start > Settings > Accessibility > Color filters (or press Windows key + U).
2. Turn the Color filters switch on.
3. Choose a filter from the list and try each one.
4. Optional: turn on the keyboard shortcut, then press Windows key + Ctrl + C to toggle filters on and off.

• Grayscale — removes all color.
• Inverted — reverses every pixel's color (black becomes white).
• Grayscale inverted.
• Red-green (deuteranopia) and Red-green (protanopia).
• Blue-yellow (tritanopia).

Method 3: Calibrate color with the built-in wizard (DCCW)

If colors look off rather than just cool or warm, calibrate. Windows has included a Display Color Calibration wizard since Windows 7; it walks you through gamma, brightness, contrast and color balance, then saves the result as an ICC color profile that Windows loads every time you start up.

1. Press Start, type DCCW and press Enter (or go to Settings > System > Display > Color profile > Calibrate display).
2. Move the wizard window onto the screen you're calibrating, then click Next.
3. Set gamma with the slider to match the sample image.
4. Adjust brightness and contrast against the reference pictures.
5. Set color balance with the Red, Green and Blue sliders — aim for neutral grey with no color cast.
6. Compare the new setting against the previous one, then click Finish to save. The ClearType text tuner may open next.

Method 4: Color profiles and automatic color management

A color profile (ICC profile) tells Windows the exact color space your display should target — for example sRGB or DCI-P3. Loading the right profile is what makes colors accurate and consistent across apps, and it is essential for photo and design work.

1. Open Settings > System > Display > Color profile.
2. Turn on Automatically manage color for apps so colors stay consistent across Windows.
3. Use Add profile to load a manufacturer or custom ICC file, then Set profile to make it the default.
4. Use Calibrate display to build a fresh profile with the wizard above.

Method 5: HDR calibration for HDR-capable laptops

If your laptop has an HDR display with HDR turned on, the free Windows HDR Calibration app improves color accuracy and lets you set how vividly colors appear for both HDR and standard (SDR) content.

1. Install the Windows HDR Calibration app from the Microsoft Store and make sure HDR is turned on.
2. Run the app full-screen.
3. Work through the three test patterns — darkest visible detail, brightest visible detail and maximum brightness — dragging each slider until the pattern is no longer visible.
4. Set the color saturation slider for SDR and HDR content, then save. The app stores a color profile for your display.

Changing screen color in Windows 10

On Windows 10 the tools are the same but the menus are named differently. Night light and Calibrate display sit under Settings > System > Display; color filters live under Ease of Access > Color filters instead of Accessibility; and the DCCW wizard is opened the same way, by searching for it. If you are on Windows 10, follow the steps above and expect the buttons to move, not disappear.

Related: screen orientation and lock-screen password

Two settings people often look for at the same time: orientation and the sign-in password. To change screen orientation, open Settings > System > Display and choose from the Display orientation drop-down (Windows recommends one for your screen). To change your sign-in password, open Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options > Password > Change — you'll need to enter your current password first.

When it's not software: signs your laptop screen needs repair

Software fixes only work when the panel and cable are healthy: a Windows setting cannot fix a failing panel or a broken display cable. On the ESC bench, these are the signs that color trouble is hardware, not a setting:

• A pink, green or yellow cast that stays after you reset Night light, filters and calibration.
• Color or brightness that shifts when you open, close or flex the lid — a classic loose or pinched display cable.
• Vertical colored lines, blotches or a half-tinted screen — a failing panel.
• Color that is wrong on the built-in screen but perfect on an external monitor — the fault is the panel or cable, not Windows.

Don't force a stuck lid or pry at a swollen battery — that can permanently damage the laptop and even risk injury. We confirm with an external-monitor test and a cable reseat before recommending a panel; if the color is right in Settings but the panel itself is failing, that is a repair, so bring it in to a professional — bring the laptop to Esmond Service Centre for a proper diagnosis.

Reviewed and published by Esmond, Founder & CEO of Esmond Service Centre — a hands-on laptop and device repair technician who runs the ESC repair bench in Singapore — on 22 September 2026.