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Customizing Your Displays

With some devices, you may want to change the display size of text, apps and other screen elements to make them larger or smaller. Sometimes, you may want each of your monitors to have a different orientation. For example, you may want your primary monitor to show landscape view while using portrait view on your secondary monitor. Portrait view does make reading and editing documents easier, but isn't necessarily a good choice otherwise.

You can adjust size and orientation by following these steps:

  1. Right-click an open area of the desktop, and then click Display Settings. This opens Settings to the System → Display page.
  2. Use the Change... slider to modify the size of screen elements. The default size is 100%. You can increase size by sliding to the right and decrease size by sliding to the left.
  3. Optionally, use the Orientation list to specify an alternate orientation for a monitor, such as portrait. The default orientation is landscape.
  4. Click Apply.

Windows 10 automatically optimizes display settings for each of your monitors by selecting a screen resolution, refresh rate, and color bitness that seem most appropriate based on its testing. Normally, the settings Windows selects work well, but they might not be the optimal settings for your device.

You can adjust display settings by completing the following steps:

  1. Right-click an open area of the desktop, and then click Display Settings. This opens Settings to the System → Display page.
  2. Click the Advanced Display Settings link.
  3. Display 1 is selected by default. If you want to configure the second monitor, click 2 to select it.
  4. Use the Resolution list to set the display size, such as 1920 x 1200 pixels.
  5. Scroll down and click Display Adapter Properties. Set the color quality or refresh rate using one of the following options:
    • On the Adapter tab, click List All Modes. The List All Modes dialog box shows the color qualities and refresh rates supported by the selected monitor. Click OK.
    • On the Monitor tab, use the Screen Refresh Rate list to set the desired refresh rate. If different color bitness is available, use the Colors list to select a color quality, such as True Color (32 bit).
  6. Click OK to save your settings.

If multiple monitors are connected to your computer, you can designate one monitor as the primary and the other as the secondary monitor. You can also extend the desktop onto your second monitor. After you've configured your monitors, you'll find that pressing the Windows logo key+P is a convenient way to quickly change the monitor configuration. After pressing the Windows log key+P, you can:

  • Select PC Screen Only to use only the main computer monitor or the built-in screen on a laptop.
  • Select Duplicate to display the main computer monitor or the built-in screen on a laptop on a second monitor.
  • Select Extend to extend the display across two monitors.
  • Select Second Screen Only to display only on an external monitor or projector.

Managing Monitor and Graphics Card Properties

If the monitor or graphics card shown in the display Properties dialog box does not match the one you are using, you should visit your computer, monitor, or graphics card manufacturer's website and obtain the proper driver. Typically, you can do this by accessing the manufacturer's support page and entering the model of your computer, monitor, or graphics card.

Most manufacturers maintain drivers for several years and provide updates for these drivers as they become available. Typically, the update is delivered in a zipped file containing the drivers you need and an executable installer. To extract the files from a ZIP, right-click the .zip file and then click Extract All. After you select a destination folder, click Extract.

You install monitor drives and graphics card drivers using separate procedures. To specify the monitor driver to use, follow these steps:

  1. Right-click an open area of the desktop, and then click Display Settings. This opens Settings to the System → Display page.
  2. Scroll down and click the Advanced Display Settings link.
  3. Display 1 is selected by default. If you want to configure the second monitor, click 2 to select it.
  4. Click Display Adapter Properties. On the Monitor tab, click Properties.
  5. On the Driver tab, click Update Driver to start the Update Driver Software wizard. Click Browse My Computer For Driver Software.
  6. Select a search location by clicking Browse, using the Browse For Folder dialog box to select the start folder for the search, and then clicking OK. Windows 10 searches all subfolders of the selected folder automatically, and you can select the drive root path, such as C, to search an entire drive.
  7. Click Next. Click Close when the driver installation is completed.

Typically, graphics drivers are installed using an executable installer. Run the installer and reboot if the installer asks you to do so. Otherwise, manually specify the graphics card driver to use by following these steps:

  1. Right-click an open area of the desktop, and then click Display Settings. This opens Settings to the System → Display page.
  2. Scroll down and click the Advanced Display Settings link.
  3. Display 1 is selected by default. If you want to configure the second monitor, click 2 to select it.
  4. Click Display Adapter Properties. On the Adapter tab, click Properties.
  5. On the Driver tab, click Update Driver to start the Update Driver Software wizard. Click Browse My Computer For Driver Software.
  6. Select a search location by clicking Browse, using the Browse For Folder dialog box to select the start folder for the search, and then clicking OK. Windows 10 searches all subfolders of the selected folder automatically, and you can select the drive root path, such as C, to search an entire drive.
  7. Click Next. Click Close when the driver installation is completed.

Calibrating Color and Using Color Profiles

Color calibration allows you to improve the way color is used on your display and to make sure that colors are displayed as accurately as possible. To calibrate the color, follow these steps:

  1. Right-click an open area of the desktop, and then click Display Settings. This opens Settings to the System → Display page.
  2. Scroll down and click the Advanced Display Settings link.
  3. Display 1 is selected by default. If you want to configure the second monitor, click 2 to select it.
  4. Under Related Settings, click Color Calibration to start the Display Color Calibration wizard and then follow the prompts.

Color profiles allow you to get truer colors for specific uses. For example, you may need to more accurately match on-screen colors to print colors, and a color profile designed for this purpose can help you do that. After you obtain the color profile, you must install it on each monitor separately by following these steps:

  1. Right-click an open area of the desktop, and then click Display Settings. This opens Settings to the System → Display page.
  2. Scroll down and click the Advanced Display Settings link.
  3. Display 1 is selected by default. If you want to configure the second monitor, click 2 to select it.
  4. Click Display Adapter Properties. On the Color Management tab, click Color Management.
  5. In the Color Management dialog box, select the All Profiles tab to get information about currently installed color profiles. Click Add.
  6. In the Install Profile dialog box, find the color profile you want to use and then click Add.
  7. In the Color Management dialog box, select the Devices tab. Click the new profile, and then click Set As Default Profile.
Tip:
Want to get to the Color Management dialog box directly? In the Search box, type Colorcpl.exe, and then press Enter. When you access color management in this way, be sure to use the Device list to choose the display you want to work with.
If you don't have a color profile and still would like the benefits of one, use the Display Color Calibration tool to fine-tune display colors to your liking.