On Raspberry Pi OS Trixie, Control Centre is the desktop app for many everyday settings, including appearance, display layout and screen blanking. Open it from the Raspberry Pi menu under Preferences > Control Centre. If your system runs Bookworm, you will see the older Raspberry Pi Configuration app instead. A headless or Lite installation has no desktop Control Centre; use raspi-config or the command line.
What Control Centre does
Raspberry Pi OS Trixie brings several settings applications together in one place. In Raspberry Pi’s Trixie release article, Simon Long described the change as replacing “all the old preferences applications — Raspberry Pi Configuration, Appearance Settings, Mouse and Keyboard Settings, Screen Configuration, Printer — with a single new Control Centre application.” The app’s lightweight core loads functionality from plugin libraries, which allows additional tabs to be added.
This is a Trixie-era change, not a promise that every Raspberry Pi OS release has the same interface. The consolidated app is software; you do not need to buy a new display to use it.
Where to find it—and why your menu may look different
On a Raspberry Pi OS desktop running Trixie, select the Raspberry Pi icon, then choose Preferences > Control Centre. On Bookworm, the corresponding application is called Raspberry Pi Configuration, so Bookworm instructions may use that name instead.
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Control Centre covers many desktop settings, but it is not the only place to configure the system. For example, connect to Wi-Fi using the wireless icon in the system tray. Some advanced settings are available only from the command line.
Settings you can change from the desktop
Choose a desktop style
Raspberry Pi OS documents three desktop styles: Taskbar (the Trixie default), Taskbar/Dock and Dock. Use the appearance controls in Control Centre to select the layout you prefer.
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Set display resolution, refresh rate, orientation or scaling
Open the desktop Screens settings to adjust resolution, refresh rate, orientation and scaling. The modes available depend on your Raspberry Pi model and connected monitor; a setting shown on one combination may not be available on another.
Adjust screen blanking
Control Centre can turn desktop screen blanking on or off. When blanking is enabled, the documented default inactivity period is 600 seconds (10 minutes). This applies to the desktop session. Text-console blanking is separate and is governed by the kernel command-line parameter consoleblank.
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Change Touch Display 2 brightness
If you use the optional Raspberry Pi Touch Display 2, open Preferences > Control Centre > Screens, right-click the display representation and choose Brightness. The touchscreen is one use for the screen controls, not a requirement for Control Centre.
Choose the right configuration route
| Route | Best fit | Important limit |
|---|---|---|
| Control Centre | Desktop users changing common visual settings | Unavailable on headless or Lite-only installations; some settings are elsewhere or have no GUI control. |
sudo raspi-config |
Lite or headless systems, or anyone who prefers a terminal-based menu | Some configuration still requires direct command-line or file edits. |
| Direct CLI or configuration-file edits | Advanced settings and console-only environments | Requires care with the relevant file, syntax, hardware and OS version. |
For the standard visual workflow on a desktop, start with Control Centre. For Raspberry Pi OS Lite or a headless Pi, use sudo raspi-config for its menu-based terminal interface. Use direct CLI commands or configuration files when the setting is not exposed in either interface, and follow instructions written for your OS release and hardware. Raspberry Pi’s documentation distinguishes desktop display controls from console-only display configuration.
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Blanking the desktop is not blanking the console
If the graphical desktop goes dark, check its screen-blanking setting in Control Centre. If a text console blanks instead, changing that desktop option will not address it: console blanking is controlled separately by consoleblank on the kernel command line. Treat them as distinct settings and use instructions for the session you are actually using.
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