Sign in
 
HomeWindows 8Windows 7Windows VistaWindows XPMDOPWindows IntuneLibraryForums
Windows Client > Windows Vista IT Pro Forums > Windows Vista Desktop UI > Vista forgets display settings?

Proposed Answer Vista forgets display settings?

    •  
      Tuesday, February 13, 2007 2:33 PM
       
       
      Sign In to Vote
      1
      Sign In to Vote

      I have a laptop and an external monitor. When at my desk, my preferred setting is to use the external monitor as my primary monitor and extend my desktop onto the laptop display. I can easily set this up in the Display Settings control panel. When I first installed Vista, I was pleased to note that it remembered my settings whenever I connected to the external monitor (in XP I had to manually set it up every time).

      However, at one point I was experimenting with the "Connect Display" feature on the Windows Mobility Center panel, which only lets you use the laptop as my primary display and extend onto the external monitor. Ever since then, when I restart or login, Vista discards my display settings and goes back to the Windows Mobility Center settings, with the laptop as my primary monitor.

      Is there any way to force Vista to remember my Diplay Settings preferences, and forget about my WMC settings?

      Laptop: Dell XPS M170
      Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 213T monitor.
      OS: Vista Ultimate

       

    All Replies

    • Saturday, February 24, 2007 5:37 AM
       
       
      Sign In to Vote
      0
      Sign In to Vote

      I'm experincing the same problem:

       

      Laptop: Dell Latitude D620

      Monitor: Samsung 215TW

      O/S: Vista Ultimate

       

      Mike Daniel

       
    • Thursday, April 05, 2007 11:14 PM
       
       
      Sign In to Vote
      0
      Sign In to Vote

      Same problem here, also.

       

      Laptop: Dell Latitude D820

      Monitor: Dell 24WFP

      O/S Vista Ultimate

       

      Herb's comment that this only started happening after he did a 'Connect Monitor' in Mobility Center may be a clue. Will check back and post if I find anything.

       
    • Friday, April 06, 2007 2:53 PM
       
       Proposed Answer
      Sign In to Vote
      1
      Sign In to Vote
      Here's what's worked for me:
      1. Go to Windows Mobility Center (win-X) and click Connect Display.
      2. Choose "Show my desktop on the external display only"
      3. Click OK
      4. Go to Display Settings, extend the desktop back onto your laptop display, and position everything the way you want it.
      Most of the time Vista remembers these settings across sleeps, logoffs, and restarts. It occasionally gets confused when I disconnect from the monitor, though, and I have to go through the whole dance again.
      • Proposed As Answer by Xsentius Thursday, April 08, 2010 5:44 AM
      •  
       
    • Friday, April 06, 2007 10:35 PM
       
       
      Sign In to Vote
      0
      Sign In to Vote

      Good Find!  This worked for me as well.

       

      It seems whenever vista loads up, it always makes monitor "1" your primary monitor regardless of your previous settings.  I noticed going through your process causes the external monitor to become monitor "1" and the laptop monitor "2".  

       
    • Tuesday, June 05, 2007 6:13 PM
       
       
      Sign In to Vote
      0
      Sign In to Vote

      I too also have the problem that Vista forgets my settings,

       

      I am working on a Dell Precision with a docking station. Every time I remove the lap top from the docking station and then reconnect I loose my display settings and my network settings. With my last Dell Precision loaded with XP I never had this problem.

       

      I also loose my network connection when the computer goes into hibernate mode....

       

      Frustrating.

       

      While I am complaining, there are some problems with most of my graphic applications (Fireworks, Illustrator, Photoshop, Poser, Etc.) where the mouse wigs out and sometimes disappears. So far the only answer that I have heard is that Adobe is saying it is a Microsoft problem.

       

      I don't see anything in the Windows Mobility Center to save presets or prevent the system from changing each time.

       

      Christian

       

       

       
    • Thursday, June 21, 2007 4:59 PM
       
       
      Sign In to Vote
      0
      Sign In to Vote
      Work around:  Disable "TMM" in task scheduler, until there is a proper fix for this problem.
       
    • Monday, July 16, 2007 3:10 PM
       
       
      Sign In to Vote
      0
      Sign In to Vote

       

      Same story for me on my Vaio FE41. External monitor gets forgotten/swapped left/right everytime I log on/off and even when I lock my desktop - although not right away around 20 seconds after I've started work again !!! When I reset Display Settings again dialogue boxes fire up on random screens eg, outlook in disp 1 open an email an it appears in a random screen. V.annoying.

       

      A more recent 'feature' is that my laptop screen winks out and no Fn+F7 toggles work until I restart - Also mouse 'wigs' out as Christian said.

       

      Vista is really hitting rock bottom for me now....

       
    • Thursday, August 23, 2007 6:16 PM
       
       
      Sign In to Vote
      0
      Sign In to Vote
      I'm having a similar problem.  I like to use the external monitor only (I'm using a tablet). Using the Mobility Center it's easy to connect the monitor in the morning, but whenever it comes out of being locked or sleep throughout the day it switches over to laptop only and I have to reconnect...after actually starting back up on the external monitor.  I found that if I use the display settings option it really messes things up - if I unplug to take the tablet to a meeting the laptop monitor won't come back on. The only solution I could find was rebooting with the external monitor unplugged.  The Mobility Center solved that issue, but I feel I can't use the display settings option.

      Also switches the monitor when the security half-tone black screen comes up. Tried the switching off TMM, but that didn't work. Maybe once I reboot...

      Fujitsu Tablet 4215; Vista for Business
       
    • Sunday, August 26, 2007 9:19 AM
       
       
      Sign In to Vote
      0
      Sign In to Vote

      This is a very common problem. I always use the latest Nvidia drivers from www.nvidia.com and modify the INF-file so that the latest official drivers can be installed on laptops with Nvidia graphics.

       

      1. Download the latest driver from www.nvidia.com

      2. Run the installation file and let the files unpack to c:\Nvidia\WinVista\.....

      3. Download a modified INF file from http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/ and replace the INF file found in the unpacked loaction

      4. Run setup.exe and install the latest Nvidia driver on your laptop!

       

      This has been working fine for me since RTM in November and the latest Nvidia drivers works much much better than the one Dell provide.

       
    • Thursday, December 11, 2008 3:04 PM
       
       
      Sign In to Vote
      0
      Sign In to Vote
      I have the same setup (fujistu laptop running vista business) with an external monitor and the same problem that vista forgets my settings for my monitor. Did you ever figure out a solution? Thanks!
       
    • Monday, January 19, 2009 7:23 AM
       
       
      Sign In to Vote
      0
      Sign In to Vote
      1.  Go to Programs > Accessories >> Task Scheduler
      2. Go to Task Scheduler  Library > Microsoft > windows > Mobile PC
      3. Restart "TMM". (End TMM and then Start again).
       
    • Tuesday, March 24, 2009 10:19 PM
       
       
      Sign In to Vote
      0
      Sign In to Vote
      Disabling TMM does not fix this issue. 
       
    • Tuesday, November 10, 2009 8:42 PM
       
       
      Sign In to Vote
      0
      Sign In to Vote
      Disabling TMM worked for me, Inspiron 1520
       
    • Thursday, April 08, 2010 5:45 AM
       
       
      Sign In to Vote
      0
      Sign In to Vote
      Here's what's worked for me:
      1. Go to Windows Mobility Center (win-X) and click Connect Display.
      2. Choose "Show my desktop on the external display only"
      3. Click OK
      4. Go to Display Settings, extend the desktop back onto your laptop display, and position everything the way you want it.
      Most of the time Vista remembers these settings across sleeps, logoffs, and restarts. It occasionally gets confused when I disconnect from the monitor, though, and I have to go through the whole dance again.

      THIS IS A REAL ANSWER..... Great JOB, efficient and porfessional.