How to Setup Dual Monitors in Windows 7
Posted on November 5, 2009 at 5:46 am
Windows 7 has some neat little enhancements, one of them being how it lets you handle dual monitors. If you’re adding a second monitor to your Windows 7 home or office PC, which is a very good idea, it’s a breeze to configure.
There are actually two ways you can currently setup multiple monitors in Windows 7, either by using a keyboard shortcut or via the traditional system properties.
I really like the first method since it’s new and is way easier than having to go into the Control Panel or anything else.
Simply press the Windows key and P (Windows + P) to bring up a quick menu of options.
Pretty neat! You can pick to show only the computer, make the second monitor a duplicate of the first, extend the desktop to the second monitor or turn off the first monitor and activate the second.
The second way is to right-click on the desktop and choose Screen resolution.
Now you’ll see the familiar 1 and 2 to distinguish which monitor is which. There are several options and under Multiple Displays, you can choose from the same options as when you pressed Win + P.
That’s it! You can also change the orientation of the displays and change the resolution of each display. It’s pretty straight-forward in Windows 7 and a lot easier! Enjoy!
» Filed Under Windows 7
Related Posts
- How to add a second monitor in Windows Vista
- How to split your laptop or PC screen/monitor in Windows XP
- How to hide Windows desktop screen
- Add the “God Mode” Control Panel to Windows 7
- What to do with a blank screen after changing your computer’s display settings?
Hey, so I am planning on setting up my Windows 7 desktop with 3 displays, one large monitor in the middle and two smaller ones on the side.
Is it possible to set the middle screen to Landscape and the side ones to portrait? Thanks for the info!
this is not the correct way. setting up dual monitors in win 7 is totally different. the step above with the two monitor icons will not show in win 7. this tutorial is not correct.
Hi,
I am new to Win7. Have a AGP Nvidia Geforce FX5500. Used to be able to have dual view when I was on XP – watch video on 42″ TV whilst still working on 19″ LCD monitor.
Is this setting still available in Win 7? I vaguely remember that in XP under display properties, there is a tab for Geforce graphics card.
Pls help…
Best regards.
Hi,
I bought a new PC (E7500, 4GB DDR3, Sapphire HD4550) with Win7 and I want to simultaneously display a game on my 24″ LCD monitor and a 42″ LCD TV. My HD4550 card has 3 ports: HDMI, DVI and VGA. I heard that I can only use 1 digital and/or 1 analog display at any one time.
I have tried many times now, with VGA and HDMI connection. The result is strange: HDMI displays fine on my TV, but I can only see the Windows background (cursor and other icons are missing)on my 24″ monitor? What happened? Could anybody comment please ?
yes that’s undoubtedly the correct way of setting up dual monitors in windows 7 and yes microsoft is listening to customers now (as microsoft has made setting up and using dual monitors really easy) and the shortest tutorial i have ever seen on setting up dual monitor and is great (great pictures too)
My prob fixed very simply. Actually, the setting should be “Extend these displays” with resolution 1280×960. I used “Duplicate displays” instead which kept having a black screen where the video was showing. Hope this helps others struggling with video output whilst working on another monitor.
Hey!
Hi!
I need help on something…If I use only one monitor I can display directX8 output on it right (a game RBR). My problem is blank primary screen when I set up two monitors and run it. Primary monitor has a resolution of 1280×960, 60 Hz and the secondary 1024×768, 60Hz. Desktop is extended.
Please advise.
M
what hardware do i need to connect a second monitor to my Windows 7 desktop?
Hi,
I have been hosting karaoke for a very long. I have used many different computers with all of the following OS. 95/98/XP/Vista/ and now Windows 7. All of my other computers would auto detect the aspect ratio when I would extend monitors to the TV’s in the bars that I worked at, except this brand new piece of shit OS. It says it auto detects, it also has a detect button that you can press as it does nothing. The main problem I am having is that when I extent my monitor to put lyrics on the external screens.
I get a black and white flickering hunk of crap image that replicates itself into 3 seperate images. i.e. When I click “identify monitors” I have the number 1 on my laptop and THREE count them THREE rolling and flicker number 2s on my external. I’m certain that this is an resolution issue however, after scrolling through and selecting all and applying there was never a correct resolution. WTF? 10 years with no problems and now this!
thanks man u rock! it was so easy! worked for me with windows 7 updated on 2-24-10
I have an HP Elite HPE, I-7,12gb mem, Windows 7 64 bit. I have a working Samsung display on the VGA. I am trying to set up a second Samsung using the HDMI connection.
I get the set up screen from control panel but as soon as I plugin the HDMI cable to the second monitor, all information on my first screen goes away (just the background picture remains). Result I have no way to detect or make any changes.
Any suggestions out there.
I must be doing something wrong. I choose the extended option and see my desktop background on one of the screens and my usual display on the other, but can’t hover my mouse over to the monitor with just the desktop background…
I have a problem with my second monitor resolution. my display driver is sis651. my monitor is lenovo 19.4 wide screen. It won’t let me increase the resolution to match the other monitor! what do I do? pleas help me!
my mail id is haristpok@gmail.com
Awesome! Thanks! I just got my new computer the other day and had an idea to hook up the old computers monitor in addition. Windows 7 is awesome!
Yeah, seriously, I heard about this new great Windows 7 OS, and how easy and nice it was, and I stuck with Linux. Why? Because 90% of the shit you can NOW do on Windows 7, you could do probably 5 or more years ago on Linux/Gnome. Compiz even makes it better.
Either way, I decided to swallow my pride and work my way over to Windows 7, and it still completely pales in comparison to the options that Linux has. Granted Linux isn’t for every user out there, but seriously, people are actually satisfied with Windows now? How does this crap happen? The OS is still unstable, albeit more stable than previous versions out there.
Windows still only lets you either extend or duplicate, but seriously, I can hold multiple sessions on Linux, and much more. Were I you, I’d be pi**ing off at Windows for the lack of functionality as opposed to praising it.
My mini HP must not support having an extended monitor because that option ins’t available to me. Could it be the graphic card?
I still don’t understand what hardware I need. My computer only has one VGA outlet and I need two if I’m going to hook up two VGA monitors. Any suggestions, anybody?
I have aquired windows 7 and run dual monitors.I play a game called seafight and run 2 boats(1 on each screen).On XP this worked fine,but with 7 i am experiencing alot of lag.I thought i was short on ram so i bought another gig.This has not helped my problem. I am also running 2 video cards.Again this is not helping.Any suggestions?
Hey, everything is getting set up right the only problem is it doesnt give me the option to extend the display. only duplicate it to the other monitor. the option to extend is nowhere to be found. and ideas?
hey i just got windows 7 with two monitors. i can get only one at a time to work, in the settings it detects both monitors but one is black. anyone know what to do?
I’m running Win 7, and have almost successfully installed dual monitors. I have chosen ‘extend’ and have full ability to use both screens, but win 7 doesn’t recognize my second monitor when trying to ‘detect’ and/or ‘identify’. It only identifies and shows 1 in the ‘screen resolution’ menu. The VGA output I have is capable of higher res than the primary monitor (even though I am limited to the primary’s max), but it won’t let me modify the settings for monitor 2 since it doesn’t identify it being there. Please help me fix!
Running Win 7, with a Radeon 5770. I have a Samsung main monitor and have connected an Acer 2nd. monitor. I have followed the above instructions but no matter what,the pc will not recognise the second monitor. What next? Please help before I resort to the hammer!
I´m running Win 7 64 bit with two monitors, both connected via digital ports on docking station. In the display settings it shows me the picture with both monitor icons, left one and right two. But if I press identify the left icon is two and the right icon one. I have to move the mouse out of the left edge of the left monitor to see it on the right monitor. Back out the right edge of the right monitor. I use the right port on docking station. Did this happen to anybody else?
I just installed Windows 7 – and that Windows-P shortcut does nothing. Also – Windows 7 is not recognizing any external monitor I hook up to this thing.
The shortcut worked beautifully! I didn’t know windows 7 could do that. Thanks!
Didi,
I had the problem of my 2nd monitor being to my left and yet having to move my mouse to the right to get to it. I tried swapping the way the cables were connected to my GFX card with no joy.
It turns out, all you do (in Windows 7 anyway) is go to the Control Panel, select Appearance and Personalization, select Display, select Change Display Settings, and then just drag and drop the monitors into whatever order you want.
I’ve got a three-screen configuration and I did have some teething problems at first when I switched to Windows 7. I think Windows 7 is great, but I think it comes down to output connections on your card(s). I have two Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 cards, with a total of 5 outputs, three of which I am using. A couple of tricks that helped me:
1) I’ve opted to only use the default Microsoft Corp WDDM drivers, instead of installing optional driver updates as part of Windows update – This tip may or may not be relevant/useful.
2) Occasionally, when I reboot or resume the computer from sleep/hibernate, not all monitors are detected/activated. I use the “Detect” button in the Screen resolution prompt several times times until all three screens activate. I think it has something to do with the combinations of the output connections on your card. Occasionally, it thinks an unused output connection on your card is actually in use, so hitting “Detect” is like toggling through the combinations of output connections to strike the one you’re using. Sometimes I may need to press the “Detect” button up 6-8 times before I get the right combo of output connections, although it is not often I have to do this, as mostly it’s fine when resuming or restarting my PC. I used to disconnect the monitors and re-connect them to help force detection, but that was a real pain and much more hit and miss until I discovered that the “Detect” button actually is a more reliable way of getting things right.
Hope these suggestions/tips help someone out there who is battling with multi-monitor config with Windows 7.
I’m on a Win 7 system and don’t have the option to “extend displays.” Is there any way to get this? I can duplicate the displays or view on display 1 or 2, but I can’t extend.
Any help is appreciated!
I’m trying to connect two monitors to my laptop, one with HDMI and one with VGA. My PC recognizes both monitors, but I only seem to be able to use one of the monitors at the time. I can use both if I set one of the monitors as my main display, but then I can’t use the screen on my laptop.
Does anyone know what to do?
I was able to connect my 23″ Acer and extend the screens, BUT (and this is a big but) I CANNOT use the full 23″… just another 15″ like my laptop. Is there a way to actually USE the full size of the auxiliary monitor, or did I just waste $200?
I have 2 Dell monitors, DVI hookup, one portrait and one landscape. I find it a little tricky to move my cursor between the two. There seem to be certain zones that allow the crossover more easily, further down on the landscape one mostly. Anybody know why that would be? Thanks
thank you for dual monitor software!
I am missing something. Others have the same problem BUT where is the answer? Or is there one? The mouse won’t go to the second screen. One screen has only the background picture. What am I doing wrong?
Have been using two 1920*1080 22″ monitors on an iNvidia GeForce FX5200 (one landscape, the other portrait) for many years. Upgraded to W7 (clean installation). Now, while I can still use two monitors, I have no option to change the orientation of one to portrait.
curretly set as:
Display: 1 & 2
Resolution: 1920 x 1080 (recommended)
Multiple Displays: Extend these displays
I have no “Orientation” button.
I dont see the 2 screens in the screen resolution. I just see 1 can any one help me ?
Found my issue…
Micrfo$oft doesn’t natively support any “higher” functions for any nVidia card before the GeForce 6200, and nVidia won’t develop for the older GPU’s any more. Swapped my 5200 for an old 6200 (PCI) and the “Orientaion” button appeared! Now to find an AGP dual-DVI video card that is natively supported in Windows 7.
@Jean-L…
Double-check to see if you have selected “extend these displays” in the last drop-down menu box.
If you really don’t see two individual screen in the graphic at the top of the window, how are the monitors connected? Do you have a dual-port video card or are you attempting to use a single-port card and the on-board video port on the Mobo? If the latter, that won’t work: one or the other only! If the former, details, please?
@Carolyn:
Drag the landscaped monitor graphic up/down until the cursor transitions more smoothly. there will be a “sweet” spot where everything lines-up (assuming both monitors have the same resolution capability).
I have the 2 monitors set up but the 17″ Envision is a little blurry. I looked up the settings and the manufacturer recommends 1440×1024. I don’t have that option in the pull down menu. It seems like I have every other option, though. How can I override the pull down menu?
Hi, I have a new Asus desktop for my office and stipulated that I needed to run 3 monitors from it. One in the office for the desktop, the other two in the shop. The ones in the shop needed to be a duplicate of the desktop in the office and the other to play a vidoe on a loop.
The retailer fitted an nvidia card to the machine and supplied me with two multi pin dvi adaptors. The problem is I vannot work out the wiring configuration to get the monitors working as I need them. Can anyone suggext somewhere I gat get an idea of the correct wiring cinfiguration. I know you guys out there will know much more about this than me.
Cheers guys (sorry for being a bit thick!!)
my computer doesn’t have the extend button! can you please help?
@Guillermo:
If you don’t have this option or drop-down menu, what video card are you using? You can’t use an on-board video option combined with a video card to achieve multiple-monitors. (Just in case…)
@datgrl
What is the model number of the monitor? Is this a CRT? 1440 x 1024 is an odd resolution. Normally, 1440 x 900 is standard for smaller 16:9 LCD.
What is your video card (ATI, nVidia, etc.; model)?
@Mike
What is the model of the video card?
@Jack:
.
You need a graphics card (video card) with 2 monitor ports. And obviously 2 monitors
@Carolyn:
Your screens are probably not correctly aligned. Go to the screen as displayed above (with the the monitors with number 1 and 2 on them) and find that you can drag them to represent your setup.
With one landscape and one portrait you might need to fiddle around a bit, but here lays the solution.
(To illustrate: in the screenshot above you would be able to move your mouse on the top 80% of the screen, but the bottom would not allow the “bridge”)