• The Windows 11 Insider Build 25295 features lighting controls for a number of peripherals no matter the brand.
• Users are seemingly able to customise a number of features for each peripheral.
• There is no guarantee that this will make it to the final release of Windows 11.

The RGB lighting space is incredibly fragmented. While buying within one brand may seem like a safe bet, it’s quite the opposite as software can differ vastly for RGB strips, fans, peripherals and case lighting.

Microsoft looks to be changing that as per the latest iteration of Windows 11 for Insiders. As reported by Engadget at the weekend, a Windows 11 Insider spotted lighting control in Windows 11 Insider Build 25295.

The screenshots in the tweet embedded above feature lighting controls for a keyboard, mouse, headset and a Steam Deck. While we don’t see controls for fans Microsoft could add this at a later date.

As the user mentions, Microsoft has had this idea in its back pocket since 2018. In the paper regarding lighting and illumination control and how it would accomplish this, Microsoft lists an array of components and peripherals which have “controllable lamps.” This isn’t to say that Microsoft will support lighting control for every component in a PC but we are hopeful.

This is despite the fact that Microsoft doesn’t even list this feature in its update notes for build 25295 and importantly, not all features that appear in Insider ship to the final release version.

There are some apps which claim to unify RGB lighting but in our experience, many fail to work as advertised or overcomplicate the matter.

This could be a rather important feature for Windows 11 as it struggles to gain critical mass. According to Stat Counter, Windows 11 has a market share of 18.13 percent compared to Windows 10’s 68.75 percent. This is rather concerning considering that Windows 10’s end of life is scheduled for 14th October 2025.

The operating system is still missing the ability to run Android apps natively. While this is available in the US, the rest of the world is still patiently waiting for a feature Microsoft boasted about at length when revealing the operating system.

One way Microsoft is likely to get more users moving is the fact that it stopped selling Windows 10 licenses at the end of January. This coupled with an incessant push to get users to upgrade to Windows 11 could help but the requirements of the OS may simply not be tenable for many users.

[Image – Ali Yılmaz on Unsplash]