Presentation Display Mode On Windows 7 Desktop - Can It Be Configured?

Question

On Windows 7 the Presentation Display Mode (Windows Logo Key + P) can be used to cycle between four choices: Computer Only; Duplicate; Extend; and Projector Only.

On a desktop system with multiple video cards driving multiple displays per video card one display seems to be designated as the "Computer" while the other displays are designated as the "Projector".

What controls which displays are which?  Can the relevant configuration be modified to change which displays are considered "computer" and which are considered "projector"?  Can there be more than one monitor in the "Computer only" category?

Through experimentation I already know that "computer" is not necessarily the monitor that the BIOS interacts with during boot and is not necessarily the monitor designated as the "primary" display (the one the start bar appears on).  At least I think I know that - it could be my experiments are flawed.

Answer 1

Hi,

I would suggest you to try the steps in the article and check if it helps.

Dual monitor setup: Two monitors are better than one

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/organization/twomonitors.aspx#fbid=K11qyrzb7Gq

You may refer the link for additional information.

Work and play better with multiple monitors

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/work-and-play-better-with-multiple-monitors

Hope this information helps!

Answer 2

Thanks for taking the time to answer but, unless I'm missing something, neither of those two articles addresses my problem.

I realise I can control which monitors are on using the Screen Resolution Control Panel Applet but the goal here is to control which monitors are active using the Windows Logo Key + P keystroke sequence.

Partly I want to use that sequence for speed and ease of use and partly I want to use that sequence specifically so that I can avoid people using the Screen Resolution applet.

Ideally, on a system with three monitors attached I'd like to be able to designate (for example) monitors 1 and 3 as being in the "Computer Only" group and monitor 2 as being in the "Projector only" group so that I can flip between showing either of those two groups as well as showing Duplicate or Extended on all three monitors.

Answer 3

I also want to be able to do this.

My graphics card is numbering the wrong display as number '1'. So it gets to be the 'computer'.

I want to make my number '2' display my number '1' display.

Answer 4

Actually.  For my problem I realise I can just select the 'projector' only option.