Windows Mobility Center

Windows Mobility Center is a recently introduced application in Windows Vista, with the help of which you may easily access all the settings related to your mobile PC (laptop, notebook, Tablet PC). By using these settings you can improve the battery lifetime or system performance while working, without being connected to a power supply. In this article I will show you how to access this tool and how to work with it.

NOTE: the Mobility Center is installed by Windows Vista only on laptops, notebooks, tablet PCs and other ‘mobile’ devices. You will not find it on a normal desktop.

How to start Windows Mobility Center

The Windows Mobility Center can be found using several methods. The easiest way is to press ‘Windows logo key + X’ keys on your keyboard. Also, if you go to the Control Panel you will find an applet called Mobile PC. Click on it.

Windows Mobility Center

Next, you will see the Windows Mobility Center applet with several links below. Click on it and Windows Mobility Center will start.

Windows Mobility Center

Another method is to click on the small battery that is usually being displayed in the taskbar.

Windows Mobility Center

Then click on the Windows Mobility Center link.

Windows Mobility Center

How to use the Windows Mobility Center

Depending on your system, the Windows Mobility Center window will look like in the screenshot below.

Windows Mobility Center

You have several options and settings which you can customize:

    • Brightness – allows you to adjust the brightness of your display. Moving the slider to left will lower the brightness of your display and help you win additional battery life.
    • Volume – you can customize it by moving the slider from left or right. Also, you can set the volume on Mute.
    • Battery Status – here you will see how much battery time you have left. Also, you can select different power plans from the list, so to help you save even more battery power. This will increase the amount of time during which you can work on your laptop.

Windows Mobility Center

    • Wireless Network – you can see if your wireless adapter is turned on or off. Also, if turned on, the coverage of the wireless connection will be displayed and continuoulsy updated. If you want to save some battery power and you do not use a wireless connection, it is advisable to turn off the wireless adapter by clicking on the ‘Turn wireless off’ button. NOTE: if the ‘Turn Wireless On’ button is unavailable, you may need to use the hardware switch on your laptop to turn the wireless adapter back on.
    • External Display – helps you manage external displays attached to your laptop. When clicking on the Connect display button a wizard will pop-up helping you manage the desktop on your displays.

Windows Mobility Center

  • Sync Center – is basically a shortcut towards the Sync Center. It allows you to see the status of any in-progress file sync, define new sync partnerships, etc.
  • Presentation Settings – allows you to turn on or off the presentation mode. However, in order to adjust presentation settings, you need to go back to the Windows Mobility Center applet in Control Panel and click on the ‘Adjust settings before giving a presentation’ link.Windows Mobility Center

    In the Presentation Settings window you can turn off the screen saver, set the volume to a specific level, change the background, etc.

    Windows Mobility Center

    Once you turn on the presentation mode, all these settings will be applied automatically.

NOTE: In our screenshots, the Screen Rotation settings are missing. This is due to the fact that they show up only on Tablet PCs where you can change the rotation of the screen from portrait to landscape or reverse.

Related articles:
Tips and tools for saving battery power

16 thoughts on “Windows Mobility Center”

  1. Presentation Settings Tile missing
    Widows Mobility Center does not display the Presentation Settings tile on my Fujitsu Siemens V5535 lap top. Is this a hardware, or Vista Home Basic limitation? Would it appear if I upgraded to Home premium?

    Any advice would be welcome before spending on an upgrade.

    • Same problem but i got an acer
      i am using a windows 7 home premium 64bit, and i have seen other laptops that have the presentation setting applet present but the common thing on them was that they had 32bit OS, so i don’t think its directly relevant but it was worth mentioning

  2. windows mobility center
    In Windows Mobility Center, my wireless connection icon is gone. Now my computer will not, or does not have the ability to recognize wireless internet. I had the icon and ability to connect to the internet. How can I get the icon/program back onto Windows Mobility Center? Thanks for any help you can offer.

    Kevin Westerhold

  3. brightness on windows mobility center
    I had adjusted the brightness using the windows mobility center and shut the lid on my laptop and came back and the brightness was set back to normal. Now I can’t find the icon/program. I can’t change the brightness at all even using the keys on my keyboard, How do I get that back?

    • If the brightness setting disappears from Mobility Center
      If the brightness setting fdisappears from Mobility Center, then close the lid for a few seconds, and on re-opening the brightness setting should have returned.

      Just another bug on the Windows.

  4. Adjusting Screen Brightness
    The tile to adjust the screen brightness is missing from my Windows Mobility Center. It was there yesterday and today it is missing. Is there any way I can get this tile back. Thank you.

  5. Windows mobility network icon
    My wireless icon is gone. I note that a post for a similar situation states to check if wireless card was disabled. How do I check ?

  6. My presentation settings are
    My presentation settings are ALWAYS on whenever my computer starts. I don’t understand why – this happened after my little brother clicked some buttons. How do I make this go away?

  7. windows mobility brightness
    the adjust brightness is not in my mobility center anymore i changed it last night and set my computer to sleep and now its gone and i can not change the brightness. Fn=up doesn’t also wont work.

  8. Wireless netwirk
    Whenever I shut down the laptop the wireless network button always resets to off so each time I turn on again I have to go into Mobility settings and switch it on again. Is there a setting to change so that its default poistion is on?

  9. Windows Mobility Center
    Windows Mobility Center (WMC) is perhaps the most problematic, non-malware related, feature native to Windows Vista and 7. The reason for this is there are various access points to it and the settings are saved in different places, even for the same setting. All settings for the same thing are presumed valid by Windows and when one save setting is different from the save setting for the same thing located in a different place, Windows doesn’t know what to do and this causes internal inconsistencies and eventually disappearance of one or more WMC tiles. Microsoft will not admit this and would rather save face than help its customers on this issue (and many more).

  10. brightness option in mobility centre
    i am using toshiba laptop with windows 7
    The brightness tile is missing in my mobility centre and hence i cant change the brightness of my screen
    please helpme

  11. Windows Mobility Center
    Each time I try to make a presentation, I get an error message that a plug-in to Mobility Center has stopped working. I have an acer 4720Z. Right now, I cannot use my notebook for a presentation.

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