After Enabling HDR in Windows, the Colors Are Washed Out. How do I fix it?

Enabling High Dynamic Range (HDR) in Windows* 10 or Windows* 11 can reduce the color saturation, and sometimes the brightness, of the image on some displays including laptops, monitors, and TVs. The display reports that it operates in HDR mode, but the image is less color-saturated (washed out) and potentially dimmer than it previously was in SDR mode.

Solution:

Right-click the Desktop and select Display Settings.
Select the HDR-capable display under Rearrange your displays. Move the Settings window to the HDR display that you’re adjusting.
On the Display settings screen, select Windows HD Color settings.
Under HDR/SDR brightness balance, drag the slider to get the right balance for brightness between HDR and SDR content.

1. Download the Windows HDR Calibration tool
2. Run the tool and set the sliders as instructed until you don't see the bars, I set the black slider to the minimum and the brightness slider to a value of the max luminance of your monitor in HDR which you can find on the specs sheet if you Google your monitor model

After it's done, the tool will create a calibrated color profile for you. Watch this video for more detailed guidance = https://youtu.be/9h1YeYzV9Jc

Next, Open the nVIDIA Control Panel (if your computer has an nVIDIA Graphics card)

1. From the left pane, click on "Adjust desktop color settings"
2. Set the brightness slider to 55% or to whatever value that looks good to you
3. Set the contrast slider anywhere from 80 to 100%
4. Set the Digital Vibrance to 60 or 70%

Now the colors and brightness should look way better even in desktop mode so you can leave HDR enabled all the time