How to Turn on the Keyboard Light on Lenovo Laptops

Plus, troubleshooting tips if your backlit keyboard doesn’t work

Co-authored by Megaera Lorenz, PhD Reviewed by Luigi Oppido

Last Updated: June 22, 2026 Fact Checked

Turning on Backlight

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Turning on ThinkLight

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Troubleshooting

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Video

If you use your Lenovo ThinkPad or IdeaPad laptop in dark environments, you may want to enable the keyboard light to see your keys. Newer Lenovo devices have a Backlight icon, which looks like a horizontal bracket with arcing rays on top. This can usually be found on the spacebar or Esc key on your keyboard. Older ThinkPads usually come with a ThinkLight, which is located at the top of the display and shines a small light on your keyboard. This wikiHow will show you how to turn on your Lenovo device's backlight or ThinkLight using keyboard shortcuts. We’ll also guide you through troubleshooting solutions in case your keyboard light isn’t working.

Enabling Your Lenovo’s Keyboard Light

If your Lenovo laptop has a backlight, you'll see the Backlight icon on your Spacebar or Esc key.
To turn on the backlight, press the Function (Fn) key and Backlight shortcut key at the same time.
Models with a ThinkLight have a light icon on the Page Up (PgUp) key.
To turn on the ThinkLight, press the Function (Fn) key and Page Up key together.

Section 1 of 3:

Turning on Backlight

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Locate the Backlight shortcut key. In most cases, this will be located on your keyboard's Spacebar or the Esc key.^{[1]
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- According to Lenovo Support, the Backlight shortcut key is always either Spacebar or Esc.^{[2]
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  Research source} If you don’t see the backlight symbol on one of these keys, your Lenovo laptop model does not have a built-in keyboard light.
  - Some ThinkPad laptops have a ThinkLight instead. This light is built into the top edge of your display and illuminates the keyboard from above. See Turning on ThinkLight to learn how to use this feature.^{[3]
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  - You can use this Lenovo Support page to find your computer’s manual and find out for sure if your model has keyboard backlight or ThinkLight support.
- The icon looks like a horizontal bracket with arcing rays above it.
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Press Fn+Spacebar or Fn+Esc to turn on your keyboard backlight. Fn is the abbreviation of Function. The Fn key is located at the bottom right side of your keyboard, to the left of your Spacebar. Press Fn and the backlight key (either Spacebar or Esc) at the same time to turn on your backlight.^{[4]
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- Similar to taking screenshots on Lenovo, you'll need to press these keys at the same time.
- To adjust your brightness, press Fn and Backlight as many times as needed to cycle through your laptop's brightness presets. Most models have three light modes (Off, Low, and High), although some models, like the Ideapad Slim 3 15AMN8 and Ideapad 3 15 IAU 7, have only two modes.
- To turn off your backlight, press Fn and Backlight as many times as needed until the backlight turns off.
- Backlight not working? Skip to Troubleshooting for tips on how to fix it.

Section 2 of 3:

Turning on ThinkLight

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Locate the ThinkLight shortcut key. The ThinkLight is an alternative to the keyboard backlight that’s available on the ThinkPad R, T, X, and Z series. This light is located on the top of your laptop’s display and illuminates your keyboard from above. In most cases, the shortcut key will be located on your keyboard's Page Up button. This is abbreviated as PgUp on your keyboard.^{[5]
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- The icon looks like a half circle with rays extending below it.
- If you don’t see a ThinkLight icon on your Page Up key, your system probably does not support ThinkLight. Find your manual here to check if your computer has ThinkLight and what the correct key combo is to use it.
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Press Fn+⇞ PgUp at the same time. Fn is the abbreviation of Function. Your ThinkLight should turn on.^{[6]
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- To turn ThinkLight off, press Fn and Page Up together again.
- If you’re having issues, such as your ThinkLight flickering or not turning on at all, skip to Troubleshooting for potential solutions.

Section 3 of 3:

Troubleshooting

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Make sure your keyboard has a backlight or ThinkLight. Not all Lenovo models have a keyboard illumination option. If you don’t see a backlight symbol on your Spacebar or Esc key, or a ThinkLight icon on your PgUp key, your computer likely does not support either of these features.
- You can find out for sure if your Lenovo computer supports keyboard illumination by checking your user manual. Use this guide from Lenovo to find the manual online.
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Check Lenovo Vantage. If you have a backlight option but the keyboard controls aren’t working, you might be able to activate the backlight in Lenovo Vantage. This is a built-in application that helps your Lenovo device run properly.^{[7]
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- Open your taskbar and search for Lenovo Vantage. Select the top result and click Open.
- Click the ☰ menu icon in the top right corner of the Lenovo Vantage window.
- Click Device, then select Input & Accessories under the DEVICE SETTINGS header.
- Select your desired setting under the Keyboard backlight header (Low, High, or Off). On some models, there’s also an Auto setting that adjusts the keyboard backlight automatically depending on environmental light conditions.
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Check if you need a BIOS update. If you are able to turn the backlight on in Safe Mode or when booted up in BIOS, but not when your computer is booted up normally, then a BIOS update might fix the issue.^{[8]
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- Boot up in the BIOS or in Safe Mode.
- Try again to turn on the backlight using the keyboard shortcut described in the first section.
- If you can control the backlight in BIOS, boot up into normal mode and update your BIOS. You can find the latest BIOS version for your computer model at pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en.
  - If you’re not able to turn on the backlight in Safe Mode or BIOS, you might need to perform a System Restore.
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Update your drivers if your ThinkLight isn’t working. Unlike the keyboard backlight on most Lenovo keyboards, the ThinkLight on select ThinkPad models has drivers that need to be updated occasionally. See if there are any system or driver updates available, and install them if so.^{[9]
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- The easiest way to update your system and all your drivers at once is through the Advanced options menu in Windows Update. See this article from Windows for detailed instructions.
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Power drain the built-in battery. Newer laptops will have a built-in battery. Draining the battery and restarting may help resolve issues with your backlight.^{[10]
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- Unplug the AC adapter.
- Press and hold your device's Power button for 10 seconds.
- Reconnect the AC adapter and turn the device on.
- Try turning on the backlight again.
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Power drain the detachable battery. Older laptops will have a detachable battery. Draining the battery before rebooting may help fix problems with your backlight not turning on.^{[11]
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- Unplug the AC adapter.
- Remove the battery from your computer.
- Press and hold your device's Power button for 10 seconds.
- Put the battery back in, reconnect the AC adapter, and turn the device on.
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Do a System Restore as a last resort. If you’re not able to get the keyboard light working at all, restoring your computer to a previous restore point can sometimes fix the problem. To restore your computer:^{[12]
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Microsoft Support
Technical support and product information from Microsoft.

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- Press Windows key + R. In the Run dialog, type rstrui.exe and press Enter.
- In the window that pops up, click Next.
- Select the restore point you want to use. If you don’t see it, select Show more restore points and see if it’s in the expanded list.
- Once you’ve selected a restore point, click Next > Finish.
- Wait for the process to restart. Windows will reboot when it’s done. Try turning on the backlight again.