Change Dual Monitor Position in Windows 7
I prefer to use a dual-monitor setup wherever possible. However, the alignment of the monitor is pretty important as I have to use the mouse on both the monitors, and having it in the wrong position is definitely a pain.
Windows Vista users had an option to change the alignment of the screen, from right to left or left to right in the Windows mobility center. However, Windows 7 does not have the same option. Quite curiously, I asked the question on Twitter, as not much info was available for it online, and thankfully @edbott replied to me with the answer.
So if anyone else is facing a problem with changing the dual monitor position on Windows 7, here is a solution for it. Please make sure that your external display is already connected and functional.
Step 1: Search for display and click on the “Connect to an external display” option in the results. Alternatively, you can also open Control Panel -> Display and click on the Adjust Resolution link in the left hand menu.
Step 2: To adjust the orientations of your monitor, just drag and drop the appropriate monitor and place it wherever you want. You could move it to the right, left, top or bottom position.
Step 3: Once you have placed the monitor in the position you want, click on the Apply button to apply the changes. It you are satisfied with the setup, click on the Ok button.
Few Notes:
- If you place the primary monitor at the bottom, you will get a bottom to top orientation.
- If you place the primary monitor on top, you will get a top to bottom orientation.
- Left will give you a left to right, and right will give you the right to left orientation.
If you find this tip helpful, you can purchase Ed Bott’s book Windows 7 Inside Out, which sells for $31.49 on Amazon.
Author: Keith Dsouza
I am the editor-in-chief and owner of Techie Buzz. I love coding and have contributed to several open source projects in the past. You can know more about me and my projects by visiting my Personal Website.I am also a social networking enthusiast and can be found active on twitter, you can follow Keith on twitter @keithdsouza. You can click on my name to visit my Google+ profile.Keith Dsouza has written 4378 articles for us.
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Wow, Windows 7 is a very nice software. Really Windows 7 Rocks.
i will buy the software for sure. Thanks for the trick.
Thanks! This really helped me out!
One more comment. For more fine grain control on the placement of the windows, use your arrow keys rather than the mouse. Click on one of the monitors and hit the arrow keys to move it slightly in the preferred direction. I use this method to control precisely how the two monitors are aligned.
Thanks a lot for that! I already knew how to set monitor positions like this, but getting them to align properly (a 24″ wide screen with two 17″ 4:3 screens) was a bit of a pain, leaving fairly large gaps in cursor movement. Using the trick you posted however I managed to get it perfect!
thank you so much : )
I love you so much lol, it was a pain to have the physical monitor on the left and on the right in Windows.
Thanks :)
Yes, but I have found when rebooting my computer, that the orientation bounces back to what it was before. Any suggestions?
Yes…that is why I am here, too. Even with just a “monitor off” after screensaver timeout, my displays go back to orientation I don’t want, and one changes back to original screen resolution…I’ve been searching for a while and none of the solutions offered has worked.
That is what I am looking for, too. Every time I reboot I have to do the whole thing again (4 monitors). This is definitively *very* annoying and I have not found any solution yet. Please let me know if you find one. Thanks.
Here’s the best I could find: Display Changer by 12noon software. I run a batch file at boot time with the following commands, and it sets the displays the way I need them:
dccmd -more -quiet
dccmd -monitor=”\\.\DISPLAY1″ -width=1680 -height=1050
dccmd -monitor=”\\.\DISPLAY2″ -width=1680 -height=1050 -lx=0 -ty=-1050
dccmd -monitor=”\\.\DISPLAY3″ -width=1280 -height=1024 -lx=1920 -ty=0
dccmd -monitor=”\\.\DISPLAY4″ -width=1280 -height=1024 -lx=-1280 -ty=0
dccmd -apply
-Hope this will help you too.
Perfect! Thils is exactly the solution I needed – somehow it’s much easier for my brain to process the movement of the mouse arrow instinctively, when the movement of the mouse corresponds to the actual location of the monitor – in my case, with the external monitor physically above the laptop monitor.
Thank you!
Thanks for the hint, i have my laptop below and the default was left to right, i didnt think of dragging the monitors.
Cheers!
Rob.
Wow thank you so much, I had recently changed the position of my monitors and couldn’t figure out how to change their poition in windows for the longest time. You think it would be more straightforward than that. Thank you!
That is EXACTLY what I needed!! So simple! Thanks so much!
This is in Vista too. Nothing revolutionary with Windows 7.
I’m running Pro Tools 8.0.1 on two monitors. I was able to open my edit screen LEFT and my Mix screen RIGHT, but I’m getting both on the left now and am no longer able to drag either to the right. The chosen screen only drags about half way and stops. ANy solution out there?
Thanks very much for this! Been trying much more complicated ideas to try and change which side my monitor output was on! And this also works for Windows XP :-)
I can’t do that on windows 7 starter. Can you help me??
Thank you!!!