WindowShade is a collection of color calibration tools written in PowerShell. It currently features support for installing and applying color profiles from a built-in database, external *.icc or *.icm files, or restoring defaults if the applied calibration is no longer desired. Support for modifying profiles is planned.
WindowShade also supports a custom *.icz file package which comprises multiple color profiles for use at different brightness levels. This can be used to offset natural display tinting at different levels, or to intentionally alter display color for different viewing conditions (e.g. red filter for low light, high gamma for outdoors, etc). This is handled through a background service, also written in pure PowerShell, which is generated on-the-fly.
Windows includes built-in tools for calibrating display color and gamma, but many users may never realize it. These tools are old and increasingly buried beneath layers of legacy menus. Plus, applying a calibration profile persistently is not obvious and can be confusing.
WindowShade removes this unnecessary complexity and makes it easy for anyone to install calibration profiles tailor-made for their displays. Proper calibration is not simple and requires lots of time, so it is WindowShade's goal to facilitate easy sharing of profiles for all kinds of Windows devices.
WindowShade currently includes two separate installers, but many behaviors are shared between them. However, cross-compatibility is not guaranteed, so you should always use the same installer to install and uninstall a particular profile. Each installer serves a different purpose, so choose the one that's best for you.
- Use the Standard Installer to setup a single *.icc or *.icm profile to remain permanent until uninstalled.
- Use the Responsive Installer to setup an *.icz package with an always-running service to adjust display calibration dynamically based on brightness (does not apply to desktop monitors)
- Download the latest version of WindowShade from releases.
- Run
WindowShade Installer.bat. - Enter a number corresponding to the desired menu option and press
ENTER. - Follow the prompts to complete setup--it's easy!
- Run
WindowShade Installer.batagain. - Enter the number corresponding to the "uninstall" menu option and press
ENTER. - All changes to your system will be reverted.
Just run the installer again--uninstalling first isn't necessary!
Did you know? Both installers also support command-line profile installation!
- Open PowerShell or CMD and navigate to the directory where
WindowShade Installer.batis stored - Enter
WindowShade Installer.batfollowed by the fully qualified path to your custom profile (no relative paths). Example:".\WindowShade Standard Installer.bat" "C:\Users\Me\Downloads\MyCustomProfile.icc" - Run the command to apply your custom profile
- Turn your display up to 100% brightness
- Search for and run
dccw.exe - Proceed through the Windows calibration process until you are satisfied with the results, but do not click "Finish"!
- Open File Explorer and navigate to
%WINDIR%\System32\spool\drivers\color - Locate the temp calibration profile created by
dccwand copy it to a safe location. Rename it "100.icc" for 100% brightness - Return to the calibration window and click back until you reach the gamma adjustment screen
- Turn your display down to 75% brightness
- Repeat steps 3-7, reducing your display brightness by 25% each time. When finished, you should have 5 profiles: "0.icc", "25.icc", "50.icc", "75.icc", and "100.icc"
- Run
WindowShade Responsive Installer.batand choose to create a new *.icz package - Proceed through the installer prompts to locate your profiles
- An *.icz package will be created, ready for installation
- Console window briefly flashes at startup if WindowShade Service is installed