Apple Studio Display Brightness Control for Windows

Control Apple Studio Display brightness on Windows using a PowerShell CLI, a lightweight WinForms GUI, or a single-file EXE. This project talks directly to the display over USB HID feature reports (no DDC/CI dependency).

If you searched for terms like studio display brightness windows, apple studio display windows brightness control, or studio display brightness powershell, this is the tool.

Preview

Why this tool

• Direct HID brightness control for Apple Studio Display on Windows 10/11.
• Multiple ways to use it: CLI, .cmd wrappers, or GUI.
• GUI can be bundled into a distributable EXE with embedded backend logic.
• Auto-detects Apple HID endpoints and handles common Studio Display revisions.

Quick start

# List detected displays and current brightness
.\tools\studio-display-brightness.ps1 list

# Set brightness to 55%
.\tools\studio-display-brightness.ps1 set 55

# Open the Windows GUI
.\tools\studio-display-brightness-ui.ps1

Requirements

• Windows 10 or Windows 11
• PowerShell 5.1+ or PowerShell 7+
• Apple Studio Display connected by USB-C / Thunderbolt

Supported monitors

Known supported:

• Apple Studio Display (27-inch) over USB-C/Thunderbolt
• Apple Studio Display hardware revisions that expose Apple HID brightness report support (VID_05AC, commonly PID 0x1114..0x1117)

Compatibility-based support (detected automatically):

• Newer or variant Apple displays that expose the same HID brightness feature report
• Listings/search terms such as "Apple Studio Display XDR 2026" if the connected device reports compatible Apple HID brightness endpoints

Not yet verified in this repository:

• Apple Pro Display XDR (community testing welcome)

Repository layout

• tools/studio-display-brightness.ps1 - Core CLI backend.
• tools/studio-display-brightness.cmd - CMD launcher for CLI.
• tools/studio-display-brightness-ui.ps1 - WinForms GUI.
• tools/studio-display-brightness-ui.cmd - CMD launcher for GUI.
• tools/build-ui-exe.ps1 - Build script for standalone GUI EXE.

CLI usage

# List detected Studio Displays (serial + pid + interface + brightness)
.\tools\studio-display-brightness.ps1 list

# Get brightness
.\tools\studio-display-brightness.ps1 get

# Set brightness (0-100, optional % suffix)
.\tools\studio-display-brightness.ps1 set 55
.\tools\studio-display-brightness.ps1 set 55%

# Increase/decrease by step (1-100)
.\tools\studio-display-brightness.ps1 inc 10
.\tools\studio-display-brightness.ps1 dec 10

# Target by serial (recommended when available)
.\tools\studio-display-brightness.ps1 get -Serial "YOUR_SERIAL"
.\tools\studio-display-brightness.ps1 set 65 -Serial "YOUR_SERIAL"

# Target by list index (useful for automation/UI mapping)
.\tools\studio-display-brightness.ps1 get -Index 0
.\tools\studio-display-brightness.ps1 set 65 -Index 0

CMD wrapper equivalents:

tools\studio-display-brightness.cmd list
tools\studio-display-brightness.cmd set 60

Windows GUI

Launch GUI from PowerShell:

.\tools\studio-display-brightness-ui.ps1

Or from CMD:

tools\studio-display-brightness-ui.cmd

GUI includes:

• Display picker
• Startup brightness sync (read + apply current display brightness on launch)
• Brightness slider (0-100)
• Refresh button
• +/-10 quick step buttons
• Apply button

Build standalone EXE

Run on Windows PowerShell:

.\tools\build-ui-exe.ps1

Build output:

• dist/StudioDisplayBrightnessUI.exe

The backend script is embedded during build, so distribution can be a single executable.

Technical details

HID behavior follows the same approach used by himbeles/studi / asdbctl:

• Vendor ID: 0x05AC (Apple)
• Product ID/interface auto-detection with preference for known Studio Display combos (for example PID 0x1114, MI_07)
• HID report: 7 bytes (report id 1 + 4-byte little-endian brightness + 2 padding bytes)
• Raw brightness range: 400..60000 mapped to 0..100%

Troubleshooting

• Generic monitor names in Windows settings are expected and do not block control.
• list shows pid and mi to help identify hardware/interface variants.
• If no display is found, test a direct connection (some docks/adapters block required HID paths).
• If execution-policy prompts appear, use the included .cmd launchers.

Discoverability keywords

Apple Studio Display, Windows brightness control, Studio Display brightness tool, PowerShell HID monitor control, USB HID brightness CLI, WinForms Studio Display GUI.