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Display resolution changes spontaneously

Anonymous
2024-08-12T23:23:13+00:00

My Windows 11 laptop has a default display resolution of 1920 x 1080. But I almost always keep the laptop lid closed and use my monitor, connected via the HDMI port, and I prefer a display resolution of 1366 x 768. It's easier on my somewhat old eyes. When I boot up my laptop, the monitor always has the correct resolution. But due to the Windows 11 bug covered at length in another post, I have to put my system to sleep manually, when I'm not planning to use it for a few hours (or overnight). When I wake it up, something like 85-90% of the time, the resolution is correct. The other 10-15% of the time, it reverts to the default resolution on waking up.

The workaround is straightforward. All I have to do is lift the lid of my laptop, wait a few seconds, then close the lid. The monitor display resolution immediately goes back to 1366 x 768. But I'd like to know why this is happening, and if there's any easy way to stop it from happening.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Display and graphics

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-08-17T17:18:28+00:00

    Aaron,

    I confirmed that both my graphics card and monitor drivers are up to date -- and yes, I actually downloaded new ones from the manufacturer web sites, but the problem is still happening.

    Your suggestion to do a clean boot is not applicable, for two reasons: First, in connection with my failure to sleep automatically issue, I've recently done multiple clean boots. Second, since the display resolution problem is intermittent, and in fact does not occur more often than it does occur, the clean boot experiments would have no way of determining whether they were working.

    Often in this forum, people post "canned" solutions that have no application to the problem being discussed. I believe you are guilty of this. I hope someone who actually knows something about display resolutions will respond to this post.

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-08-13T07:27:36+00:00

    Hello, silverlightbill

    Welcome to the Microsoft community.

    Thank you for your feedback. The possible cause of your issue is an instability in loading the configuration of the graphics card driver during sleep-wake. Due to the random nature of your issue, there may not be a way to fully resolve this issue. In order to test this issue, you can try the following:

    1. Go to your device's official website and try updating or rolling back the graphics card driver. See if the problem symptoms lessen.
    2. In order to rule out whether or not the three-way software is the cause of the problem, you can try a clean boot /

    Press Windos+R and type :

    msconfig

    Click on "Services" above, and check the "Hide all Microsoft services" box below. Be sure to check this box, otherwise disabling some Microsoft services may cause serious problems such as failure to boot. Click "Disable All". Click "Startup" at the top, click "Open Task Manager", click "Startup" at the top of the Task Manager (Working Administrator), right click on each of them. Right-click on each item whose "Status" is "Started" and select "Disable".

    After booting, open Task Manager and make sure there are no non-Microsoft processes. See if it returns to normal. 

    If it is normal, you can open the disabled services, daily use software, etc. one by one to see if one of them is causing the abnormality.

    How to perform a clean boot in Windows - Microsoft Support 

    Disclaimer: A “clean boot” starts Windows with a minimal set of drivers and startup programs. It helps to determine whether a background program is interfering with your game or program and to isolate the cause of a problem.  

    These steps of "clean boot" might look complicated at first glance. However, to avoid any trouble for you, please follow them in order and step-by step so that it will help you get you back on track. 

    I look forward to your feedback, which will help me pinpoint your problem.

    Best Regards,

    Aaron| Microsoft Community Support Specialist

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