Simple FIX for Rotation Lock Greyed Out Problem in Windows 10

No matter which laptop you are using, if the rotation lock is greyed out in Windows 10, here are the steps to fix it.

By default, Windows supports both landscape and portrait orientations. This allows you to use Windows 10 either in horizontal (landscape) or vertical (portrait) modes. From the Settings app or the Notification Center, you can change screen orientation with a single click. In detachable or convertible laptops like HP Envy x360, Lenovo Yoga, HP Specter x360, Surface Laptop, Surface Pro, Asus VivoBook, etc., Windows 10 can auto-rotate the screen using built-in sensors.

If you are satisfied with the current screen orientation or don’t want the screen to auto-rotate, you can engage the Rotation Lock in Windows 10. Using the Rotation Lock option, you can allow or disallow screen orientation change depending on your use case.

Under certain circumstances, the Rotation Lock is greyed out in both the Notification Center and Settings app. With the greyed-out Rotation Lock, you cannot turn on or turn off the option. For example, if you don’t want the screen to auto-rotate, you can prevent it by turning on the Rotation Lock feature. However, with the greyed-out option, you cannot make the necessary change.

The good thing is, it is effortless to fix greyed-out Rotation Lock option. Let me show you how to fix this odd problem in simple steps.

Fix greyed out Rotation Lock in Windows 10

When the Rotation Lock is greyed out, simply rotating the laptop to portrait mode (vertical mode) will fix it.

Follow these steps to solve greyed-out rotation lock problem in Windows 10.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Click on “System.”
3. Select the “Display” on the sidebar.
4. Rotate the laptop to portrait mode.
5. Rotation Lock option should activate itself.
6. Enable or disable the Rotation Lock.
7. Rotate back the laptop to landscape mode.
8. With that, Rotation Lock is fixed.
9. You can access it in the Notification Center.

First, open the Windows 10 Settings app. To do that, either press the “Windows key + I” keyboard shortcut or press the “All Settings” button in the Notification Center.

After opening the Settings app, go to the “System -> Display” page. This is where you will all the display-specific options.

Now, hold your laptop and rotate it to portrait mode if it is in landscape mode or rotate it to landscape mode if it is in portrait mode. Rotating the laptop will automatically activate the Rotation Lock option. Once activated, you can either turn on or off the option.

From now on, you can access the Rotation Lock option in the Notification Center. In the Settings app, the option might still appear greyed out. However, since you can access it in the Notification Center, it shouldn’t be a big deal.

If the above steps did not work for you, restart the system and try again. If it still did not work, it might be a graphics driver issue. I recommend you uninstall and reinstall the graphics driver in Windows 10.

I hope that helps.

If you are stuck or need some help, comment below, and I will try to help as much as possible.