Windows 11's RGB Control Software Is Finally Here

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Windows 11 22H2 Update
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

ComputerBase reports that Windows 11's new RGB control software is now available for all Windows 11 users to try with the latest Windows updates. To try it for yourself, all you have to do is activate the "Receive the latest updates as soon as they are available" toggle in the Windows Update settings menu and grab the latest Windows 11 update.

Microsoft announced native RGB controls for Windows 11 back in May during its annual developer conference. Since then, Microsoft's RGB software has been in beta testing with Microsoft Insiders, but apparently, it is now in a mature enough state for everyone to use.

Microsoft's new RGB control software aims to revolutionize the RGB software industry, potentially killing off dozens of 3rd party RGB software variants. With a proper RGB control solution now integrated into Windows 11, we could be on the verge of a completely unified RGB software experience, across multiple RGB manufacturers, which is something we've never seen before. 

Trident Z5 RGB

(Image credit: G.Skill)

Currently, if you want to control all RGB devices from one control panel, you need to buy all of your RGB devices from a single manufacturer or invest in third party RGB software like SignalRGB that can control devices from multiple manufacturers. The problem with 3rd part manufacturers is that they don't get official support like native RGB control software does, which can lead to bugs and issues.

With Windows 11's control software, that could change. Now manufacturers will be incentivized to focus on supporting Microsoft's new RGB software.

We've already seen glimpses of Microsoft's new RGB control software in action. The app will be integrated directly into the settings app, under the personalization menu. The new software will show a list of all your RGB-compatible devices, and enable you to click each one to customize RGB effects, brightness, and color profiles. For now, there doesn't appear to be a way to synchronize RGB behavior across multiple devices, but we suspect that will come in a future update later down the road.

The good news is that the new RGB control software is finally out of beta, and can be used by everyone on Windows 11. Microsoft's compatibility list is pretty short at this time, amounting to just 19 supported Razer peripherals, but hopefully this list expands rapidly once it is automatically integrated into all Windows 11 systems in the future.

Aaron Klotz
Aaron Klotz
Contributing Writer

Aaron Klotz is a contributing writer for Tom’s Hardware, covering news related to computer hardware such as CPUs, and graphics cards.

31 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Crazyy8
    Finally, no more third party software or proprietary software. Gamers can now rest knowing that RGB compatibility with their computer is now (basically) guaranteed.
    Reply
  • helper800
    Crazyy8 said:
    Finally, no more third party software or proprietary software. Gamers can now rest knowing that RGB compatibility with their computer is now (basically) guaranteed.
    I think that is a little premature to say, however, I would love to see it!
    Reply
  • Colif
    Microsoft's compatibility list is pretty short at this time, amounting to just 19 supported Razer peripherals, but hopefully this list expands rapidly once it is automatically integrated into all Windows 11 systems in the future.

    Needs way more than this before its useful. Otherwise its just another choice among too many

    Universal RGB software would be great. Right now I have to use 3 just to have matching colors
    Reply
  • helper800
    Colif said:
    Needs way more than this before its useful. Otherwise its just another choice among too many

    Universal RGB software would be great. Right now I have to use 3 just to have matching colors
    I have everything connected to my Asus motherboard and use Asus Aura to control everything except my graphics card, and that uses EVGA precision. I personally only like static colors so it not too much trouble. Also, since I have to use a splitter for my fans, they are not individually addressable, but this seems like a 'first world issues' kind of thing.
    Reply
  • Colif
    My software is:

    Icue - KB, AIO & RAM
    Devil Zone - GPU
    RGB Fusion - RGB lights on MB (though I just set these once and uninstall software as it messes with Icue)

    Motherboard makers should be easy to get onboard. Corsair would be obvious too. If they can get my GPU it would be amazing but so far Powercolor only lets its software do it.

    Problem is there is no standard. Everyone making an eco system. Corsair Icue LInk, Lian Li uni fans... good ideas, shame they don't play together.

    I had static colors until I added 2 more fake rgb ram sticks. Have more canvas now.
    Reply
  • Colif
    Seems to me Ambient lighting has been renamed to Dynamic lighting as that is what I see in Settings/personalise

    https://www.xda-developers.com/how-configure-rgb-lighting-windows-11/
    Microsoft was testing a new lighting section that offered the option to enable ambient lighting for all the connected devices with RGB lighting. But in build 23466 and above, a new experimental feature replaced the old lighting section. Microsoft rebranded it to "Dynamic Lighting" which offers granular settings to tweak the lighting of connected devices.

    https://www.makeuseof.com/enable-dynamic-lighting-windows-11/
    Reply
  • wakuwaku
    Your articles regarding Dynamic Lighting are lacking a caveat:

    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/component-guidelines/dynamic-lighting-devices
    Microsoft will be implementing a open standard. It is up to the manufacturers to implement the said open standard, either at driver level or firmware level. So far based on the documentation page I linked above, manufacturers are going to release new products that support dynamic lighting. There is no mention of updating existing devices whatsoever. So I would not be too hopeful until a motherboard maker says they are gonna update their existing motherboards, either driver or firmware updates, with Dynamic Lighting support.
    Reply
  • cryoburner
    Microsoft's new RGB control software aims to revolutionize the RGB software industry, potentially killing off dozens of 3rd party RGB software variants. With a proper RGB control solution now integrated into Windows 11, we could be on the verge of a completely unified RGB software experience, across multiple RGB manufacturers, which is something we've never seen before.
    This seems like wishful thinking. At the very least, I suspect the RGB controls built into Windows will be lacking lots of features that other software provides, so there will likely continue to be room for third-party RGB utilities for anyone wanting something more than the bare minimum feature-set. It would be nice if all hardware was able to be made compatible with each company's software though, or at least if they all settled on a single standard moving forward for future hardware. Though I suspect some companies may want to keep people locked into their own hardware ecosystems.
    Reply
  • YSCCC
    It seems don’t support the motherboard headers… my gigabyte board with gskill ram and gigabyte card can’t be controlled there
    Reply
  • Colif
    YSCCC said:
    It seems don’t support the motherboard headers… my gigabyte board with gskill ram and gigabyte card can’t be controlled there
    its all Razer devices now with one Microsoft mouse. If they can reduce need to run Synapse they will have done the world a service. Its only mice and keyboards so far.

    But it is pretty basic. Needs to have more patterns and customisation before it will replace things like Icue or even signalrgb
    Reply