My 4K monitor color profile just vanished and it took 8 hours to fix

I was getting ready to post a new piece and my whole screen looked washed out, like someone turned the saturation to zero. The custom profile for my Asus ProArt monitor was just gone from the system. I thought it would be a quick reinstall, but Windows kept blocking the .icc file. I had to dig into registry edits and safe mode, which I am NOT good at. The whole mess ate my entire Saturday. Has anyone else had Windows Defender just delete a color profile out of nowhere? What's the safest way to lock it in place?

3 comments

3 Comments

mileslane7d ago

Yeah Windows Defender quarantined my Dell UP2718Q profile last month. I had to add the ICC file's folder to the Windows Security exclusion list, then reinstall from safe mode. Now I keep a backup of the profile on a USB drive just in case.

ray_sullivan7d ago

Backing up to a USB is smart, but I just set the profile and then uninstalled the monitor software so Windows can't mess with it again.

miasanchez7d ago

Wait, does uninstalling the monitor software actually stop Windows from messing with the color profile later? I tried that once and Windows Update still wiped my settings during a big feature update, lol. @ray_sullivan, you might want to keep that USB backup idea from mileslane anyway, just as a safety net. I've had to redo my calibration too many times because Windows just does whatever it wants.