CyberNotes: How to Change the Primary Monitor on a Laptop
Tutorial Thursday
When hooking my laptop up to an external monitor, the first thing that I like to do is extend my desktop over to that monitor. That way I am able to use my main monitor, but I am also able to utilize the screen on my laptop which practically doubles the amount of screen space I have to work with.
The only problem is that Windows has never let me choose which monitor is the primary one, and by default it always sets my laptop to be the primary display. I don’t like this because I have my main monitor in front of me, and my laptop sits more off to the side. Despite there being an option to choose which monitor is the primary one in the Display Settings, it has always been grayed out for me. After several hours of messing around, I have finally been able to figure out a solution that should work for everyone who has that option grayed out.
On Windows Vista, the grayed out option reads “This is my main monitor” while on XP it says “Use this device as the primary monitor.” The two options mean the same thing, but the wording has been changed in Vista.
The reason that the option is grayed out is because some graphics cards don’t support changing the primary monitor. Well, they do, it just takes a little trickery to get it done. It won’t take you long to do, and doesn’t require you to download any additional tools or hack the registry. I was actually surprised at how easy it is after I figured out how I could get around it:
- Here’s what I’m starting out with: the monitor on my laptop is enabled and my external monitor disabled:
- The first thing you need to do is to enable only the monitor that you want to be the primary one. This is done by pressing the Function (Fn) key on your laptop along with the “F” key that switches the display. There should be either a picture of a monitor on the “F” key or it should say something like “CRT/LCD”. For me the key combination is Fn+F8:
- So right now I have my external monitor enabled, and my laptop screen is off:
- Now I open up the Windows Display Settings, click on the box with the number 2 in it, and choose the “Extend the desktop onto this monitor.” In this case the secondary monitor is your laptop and should be the one disabled:
- Now enjoy the bliss of having the Start Menu in front of you instead of off to the side:
Note: You can also reverse this process to have the Start menu show up on the laptop’s monitor instead of on the external monitor.
The cool thing is that Windows will remember this setting so that every time after setting this up, it will properly designate the primary monitor. As soon as you unplug the external monitor, Windows will then move the Start Menu back to the Laptop just like you would expect it to.
Hopefully this will help someone out there because I spent hours searching the Internet trying to figure it out before finally sitting down and trying to come up with a solution myself.
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Tags: CyberNotes, Software, Windows, How To, Tips And Tricks, Windows Vista, Windows XP
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I came across this problem a few weeks ago. That function didn’t work for me. What did work was going to “advanced” and then “displays” and changing the monitor to “1″ and the laptop to “2″.
That is essentially what this trick does, but I don’t have an option in my advanced settings to choose which monitor is 1 and which is 2.
Thanks, an excellent, much appreciated tip!
I also tried several times in the past with no luck. Thanks!
I’m glad to see that this is helping some people! It’s always nice to know when things work out for our visitors, so thanks for letting us know.
Thank you so much. This helps me SOOOOOO much..you are great.
No problem Aidan…I’m glad it was able to help you!
Thanks a lot dude; you solved my weeks old problem. I have had this annoyance at two different instances. A post on microsoft site completely denied that it’s possible to change primary monitor on laptop. I have an old laptop that I connected to my flat screen tv using VGA cable so as to browse internet on tv using wireless keyboard and air mouse. But the damn primary monitor issue forced me to have laptop screen open all the time sitting next to my big tv. Now I can conveniently slide the laptop with other set top boxes and use all features using keyboard only. Thanks again.
No problem…I actually knew that it must be possible because at some point Windows automatically did the switch for me. I still have no idea why, and it kinda pissed me off that Windows didn’t let me just check the darn box to pick the primary monitor.
This trick does not seem to work for me.
As soon as I click the box with a 2 that *should* be my laptop display, and click “extend my desktop…”, my computer simply defaults back to the way it was, with my external monitor as #2 and the laptop as #1…
bummer!
That’s weird Steve! I’ve used this on several different laptops now and the results are always the same.
You’re wonderful. Thank you.
This has been driving me NUTS this morning (wrong monitor being the primary) and Windows help is useless!
Thank you.
- David
You rock man, Thanks!! I was having this problem and your described fix worked perfectly.
No problem David and Dave!
Thanks for taking the time to post such a detailed solution, worked perfectly and fixed the problem for me.
I have the same problem. Did you get it to work at all. BTW, I use a Toshiba Satellite.
thx
Thanks Ryan, this is a lot of help. One note on my experince is that my Compaq nc6400 uses the F4 key instead of the F8 key as you describe in your instructions. No worries though, it worked like a charm!
Glad you got it to work. A lot of laptops have different keys assigned to the monitor switching operation, but I figured people would catch on.
cool , I was trying this for good 2 hours and then I thought let me look on the web.Wow ,your solution works fine and when you disconnect the laptop from docking station , it just goes back to original setting..Thanks a lot , and Yes Damn MS for not guiding properly
It is great how Windows automatically switches between the two configurations properly. When you plug the computer back in to the monitor you should also see that it goes back to how you had configured it.
Hi, nice guide, worked on my old laptop.
Now I have bought an Acer Aspire 5100 series, and there doesn’t seem to be a CRT/LCD button, any ideas?
Hmm, you’ll have to look online to figure out how to switch between monitors. There has to be an easy way to do it for when you give presentations and such.
this work like a charm thanks for the help
I don’t seem to be able to utlilize the whole screen on the laptop when I use it as the secondary. The resolution on the monitors didn’t change but i get a “square” that I can use in the middle of the laptop that is usable. The outer edge is black????
You should be able to go into your display properties and adjust the resolution of the secondary monitor.
Hi Ryan,
I have a similar problem. I use a docking station and an external monitor for my laptop. I removed the computer to travel and now that I came back it’s wierd. When I boot up, the monitor works fine for most of the process but then shuts off and I can’t get it back on. Any Ideas?
wow, i struggled for almost 2 days with this and i can’t believe it was this easy…. thanks for the help man you just made my day!!!
thanks!! 5 Stars
Pressing the key combination a few more times should get it to turn back on. If not then there must be a compatibility problem with your graphics card.
No problem!
Thanks a lot!! Half way through the instructions I got a hang of how the whole thing works.
My Tech guys couldn’t work it out - but thanks to you problem solved quite eaisly!!!
Thanks for this tip and taking the trouble to document so nicely! Works like a charm
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Somehow this morning my second monitor became the primary and my laptop monitor went blank. Thanks for the FN F8 tip.
Your welcome, your welcome, your welcome! Glad we’re still continuing to help people with this simple trick.
Thanks a bunch!
For me, it simply showed a duplicate of my laptop screen on the external monitor after hitting the button. From here, I was unable to get the laptop monitor’s screen to be a secondary monitor.
However, if I start off by hitting the CRT/LCD button twice, and then continue with your steps, it works as advertised. Very useful, this should really be more publicized!
Thanks a lot- you da MAN~
This article is truly a public service. Recently, its helped me greatly because I’ve been hooking up to projectors. Once you know how it’s so simple, but if you don’t know, you just face endless frustration in the display settings window. Why this isn’t all around the net is a mystery. It’s like we’re supposed to born with knowledge of that magical key.
It’s actually my favorite article on the site, because it was something that frustrated me for a long time. I actually discovered this trick on accident when doing a presentation, and it thoroughly confused me at the time.
Thank you
Been waiting for this for a long time.
My problem was slightly different but your idea solved it.
Regards
Daniel
Wow, thanks allot! I tried a good deal of sites and thanks to you i finally fixed it!
i have the problem that i can get the desktop onto my monitor/tv but with no icons or taskbar just the desktop image. when i right click it sends the window back to the laptop.
This worked for me also. Mine is Fn+F5 (Toshiba Satellite A200-TH7, brand new back last October). Had to hit it twice. Thanks Ryan, and thanks netster007x. I’d probably have never bothered hitting it twice..
I have a problem with my Laptop screen. It has thick horizontal lines that will not let me see what’s there before. I think they are called “dead pixels” times a billion. I’ve been looking for a way to use an lcd monitor automatically when I turn my laptop power on. Thanks so much! I think this will do.
Yeah, sounds like your screen would need to be replaced on your laptop. Glad this worked out for you though.
Awesome. It works. I figured out how to move the task bar to the external monitor before, but everytime i opened something, it would be on the laptop monitor. now its perfect. thanks.
I get the whole function F* depending on your laptop to get the right screen as the primary. I extend the desktop to my laptop monitor as well. All this works fine.
What doesn’t work is when I unplug the monitor, my laptop is still the extended desktop. No taskbar, start menu, or anything. I am intelligent enough to quickly change the settings but this laptop is for one of our sales people. The least amount of work possible for switching between dual monitors and just one when they take the laptop home.
We are running Windows XP Pro. Thanks in advance.
That must just be how Windows XP handles it. I know with Vista it switches everything back over when you unplug the monitor. Sorry, wish I could have helped.
Just curious, how big’s that monitor? I’ll guess 22in.
Close… it’s a 24″ that we got an incredible deal on back in 2005.
Thanks. It works perfectly.
Much Obliged!
Excellent, worked first time, annoyed me for 4 weeks.
Wow, that did the trick! Thanks a lot