How do I stop the screen from dimming while gaming?

Walter Wakeman 0 Reputation points
2026-09-03T21:10:58.24+00:00

I'm using a Lenovo laptop. I use my laptop for many things, but when I play games, I have an issue with the screen. It dims after 15 minutes of "inactivity", even though I'm using a bluetooth controller. I've checked the battery saver and auto-brightness settings, but the issue is when I'm not gaming, I want the screen to auto-dim and save my battery. I just want the settings to change when I'm playing games. How do I fix this? Can I enable a setting to not auto-dim the computer when certain apps are running? - This would be ideal.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Gaming
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  1. Emma1-N 11,450 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-09-04T06:41:29.8233333+00:00

    Welcome Walter Wakeman,

    Thank you for posting in Microsoft Q&A.

    When the screen dims, does it happen only when using the Bluetooth controller, or does it also happen if you play the same game using the laptop keyboard and mouse?

    In the meantime, please check these settings:

    • Open Settings > System > Power & battery and temporarily turn Battery saver off while testing.
    • Open Control Panel > Power Options > Change plan settings > Change advanced power settings
    • Expand Multimedia settings > When sharing media and set it to Prevent idling to sleep
    • If your Lenovo laptop has Lenovo Vantage, open it and check whether any Smart Power, Intelligent Cooling, Adaptive Brightness, or Eye Care features are enabled. Temporarily disable them for testing.

    Windows does not currently provide a built-in setting to automatically disable screen dimming for specific games only. However, identifying whether the controller input or a Lenovo power feature is causing the inactivity detection will help narrow this down.

    Looking for your update.

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