MrSmith123
Had this question 21
Question
MrSmith123 asked on
| 17509 views

Windows 7 Dual Monitors - Turning off a monitor causes desktop to rearrange resulting in significant amounts of lost productivity.

I have 2 monitors connected to a nVidia FX 580 card running Windows 7 Pro 64-bit. One monitor is connected via DVI and the other via DP (Display Port).

If I turn off the DP monitor, I hear the windows sound indicating hardware was "removed". When I turn the monitor back on, I hear the new hardware sound, windows re-detects the monitor as if I just installed it, and my entire desktop icon layout and any windows I had open are then all rearranged and takes a significant amount of time re-organizing to get back to where I was.

I leave my PC on 24hrs a day for several reasons - and for years have always just turned my monitors off when not in use.

I need to be able to turn off my monitors without windows deciding that I have "removed" a monitor.

I work for a medical imaging software company where we provide complete hardware and software solutions for use in Radiology departments in hospitals. These systems typically have 3 or 4 monitors connected, all via DP these days. Because of the possibility of the users desktop getting messed up if they happen to turn off a monitor, we are unable to install systems with Windows 7.

While many may see this as nothing more then a inconvenience, this is a show-stopper as far as we are concerned. As of yet I have not found a workable solution to this issue.

So here's the question: How do we disable this new behavior in Windows 7 and allow it to understand that the monitor hasn't gone away and that the desktop should not be rearranged simply because the monitor was turned off?

Thank you.

MARK CEMETERRY
Found this helpful 11
Most Helpful Reply
MARK CEMETERRY replied on

Reply

The idiotic "answers" by MS Support:

You were told repeatedly to stop advising people to update Drivers or whatever.  The problem is a documented moronic feature of Windows7, having zilch todo with drivers !!!  hOW MANY TIMES DO YOU NEED TO HEAR THAT YOU ARE DEAF & BLIND, MS SUPPORT GUY?

There's a "feature" or should we say problem, whereby Windows7 detects any monitor connected via modern digital ports (DP, HDMI, TB) beign turned off, and forces moving entire desktop to monitor still being on, in multimonitor environment - which happens to be prevalent in our industry (Engineering e.g. CAD/Design), Graphics design, Medical, and MANY home users also, these days.

Use brains when reading bug reports, dear MS idiot.

Fix the bug and quit blaming nVidia, AMD (ATI), Intel HD, or "drivers".  I hold MSEE degree, near-complete PhD and you tell me I forgot to update da** drivers?

Read this line again, Microsoft idiot:

This is a feature (by design) whereby PnP monitor connected via DP/HDMI/TB to Windows7 is being polled for powerOn/Off state, it may or may not use DDC signal by the way, we can't tell.  YOU should know better than us, customers !!

I tried to disable DDC in my high-end IPS $1000+ monitor, but no effect.  I seroed Registry Keys used in nVidia or ATI monitor status polling - no effect.

The stupid feature of WIndows7 which moves desktop to another display, when one is turned off in multimonitor setup - is more than retarded, it is actaully a showstopper for professional folks.

I am tired of rearrangign desktop everytime one of the monitors is turned off, so tired I don't care to run spell check in this post.

I am angry.  It seems WIndowsXP developed by Microsoft in Israel, was the best OS in history, now that it aged, there's no equally well-designed equivalent.

Vaseem Ahmed
Found this helpful 0
Vaseem Ahmed replied on
Hi Mrsmith123,
 
Please note that, we cannot make windows to ignore any hardware changes, as this will detect any hardware changes and will install the respectful drivers for the drivers.

Also note that the issue which you are facing might due to the change in resolution, which will rearrange the desktop icons.

In order to troubleshoot this issue you need to update the drivers for your monitor and also the graphic card drivers.

I recommend you to update the graphic drivers and see if it makes any difference. You must be logged on as an administrator to perform these steps.

1. Open Device Manager by clicking the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Device Manager. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
2.      In Device Manager, locate the device, and then double-click the device name.
3.      Click the Driver tab, and then click Update Driver and follow the instructions.
 
Now try to follow the below provided link to Update a driver for hardware that isn't working properly and check for the issue.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Update-a-driver-for-hardware-that-isnt-working-properly
 
To update the drivers for your monitor you need to contact your hardware manufacturer.
 
For more information in troubleshooting Troubleshoot multiple monitor problems
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Troubleshoot-multiple-monitor-problems
 
Thanks and Regards:
Shalini Surana - Microsoft Support.
Visit our  Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think. 

Vapon
Found this helpful 1
Vapon replied on

Reply

I have the same problem, I want my primary monitor to be the right hand monitor and when I leave my computer for a bit the screen saver kicks in and it locks, I log back in and it thinks the screen extended to the left is now extended to the right, needless to say it is annoying to have to go and readjust where the screen is located every time I log back into my computer. 
Iso13818
Found this helpful 5
Iso13818 replied on

This isn't answering the question.  The poster wants Windows to leave his desktop and monitor configuration alone even though he powers off a connected monitor.  This makes perfect sense, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the graphics drivers, etc.

Said another way, he (and others) want the display setup to persist until they explicitly change it.  It should not respond in any automatic way to connects and disconnects of monitors.

jeffsl
Found this helpful 0
jeffsl replied on

Reply

Actually, this really is a graphics card and/or graphics driver issue.  On one of my Windows 7 x64 machines, I was running an ATI Radeon X1600 card (with latest drivers at the time) and I experienced the same symptoms.  I swapped the graphics card out with an NVIDIA GeForce GT 220 (plus the latest drivers) and the problem went away.  I was then able to gleefully power on/off any monitor of my choosing without affecting the desktop and monitor configuration.

 

So, try different (newer or older) drivers, and if that doesn't work, try a different video card.  It's not like there's some secret Windows setting that disables monitor detection...or is there?  :P

avid_tech
Found this helpful 0
avid_tech replied on

Reply

try disabling pnp in the bios
Carmenlove
Found this helpful 6
Carmenlove replied on

Reply

This has been a huge problem for me in windows 7 as well.  I have a television that is used as a monitor only sometimes, and every time someone turns it on, windows stops everything and detects it as a monitor and enables it.  Windows then start to open on the new screen, and of course I can't see them because it is being used by someone else as a TV, not a monitor.

The response above from the microsoft representative is way off the mark.  Why can't they understand this problem?  It's not bad drivers, that is for sure.  Turning off PNP, even if it works, will prevent windows from detecting other hardware changes that should be acknowledged.  This is a valid bug of windows 7 that should be acknowledged and addressed.  Just because a monitor is turned off, does not mean you want that desktop configuration to change.  This should be an OPTION in the screen resolution settings to allow a particular configuration to PERSIST, until you specifically change it.

I have been looking at third party options like ultramon to see if they can control things better than the windows 7 OS does.  Ultramon has an option to ignore enabled monitors, and you can setup multiple hardware configurations.   This may be the only answer until MS figures out that they really have screwed up in this case.

Why can't someone at MS figure this one out?  There must be millions of users who are being annoyed by this trait of windows 7.

 

BTW, I am having a similar problem with audio.  when the tv turns on, the default audio stream switches to the HDMI port, and now I lose all my sounds as well.

 

Somebody fix this please!

 

 

 

Palcouk
Found this helpful 1
Palcouk replied on

This is an issue with your setup / configeration of multi monitor, I run multi monitors under win7, as I have in previous win versions, powering off a monitor does not result in the desktop being reset. (I'm using Nvidia drivers/multi monitor set up)

Iso13818 post stating its nothing to do with drivers is incorrect

In previous win versions of Nvidia muti monitor setup it was possible to save several different set up configerations, and switch between them.

Carmenlove
Found this helpful 1
Carmenlove replied on

Reply

This problem does not happen if you are using monitors that are connected to a 15 pin analog RGB connector.  It only seems to happen with HDMI connectors, as they can detect the type of monitor attached to the computer and also if that monitor is turned on.

 

 

MARK CEMETERRY
Found this helpful 11
MARK CEMETERRY replied on

Reply

The idiotic "answers" by MS Support:

You were told repeatedly to stop advising people to update Drivers or whatever.  The problem is a documented moronic feature of Windows7, having zilch todo with drivers !!!  hOW MANY TIMES DO YOU NEED TO HEAR THAT YOU ARE DEAF & BLIND, MS SUPPORT GUY?

There's a "feature" or should we say problem, whereby Windows7 detects any monitor connected via modern digital ports (DP, HDMI, TB) beign turned off, and forces moving entire desktop to monitor still being on, in multimonitor environment - which happens to be prevalent in our industry (Engineering e.g. CAD/Design), Graphics design, Medical, and MANY home users also, these days.

Use brains when reading bug reports, dear MS idiot.

Fix the bug and quit blaming nVidia, AMD (ATI), Intel HD, or "drivers".  I hold MSEE degree, near-complete PhD and you tell me I forgot to update da** drivers?

Read this line again, Microsoft idiot:

This is a feature (by design) whereby PnP monitor connected via DP/HDMI/TB to Windows7 is being polled for powerOn/Off state, it may or may not use DDC signal by the way, we can't tell.  YOU should know better than us, customers !!

I tried to disable DDC in my high-end IPS $1000+ monitor, but no effect.  I seroed Registry Keys used in nVidia or ATI monitor status polling - no effect.

The stupid feature of WIndows7 which moves desktop to another display, when one is turned off in multimonitor setup - is more than retarded, it is actaully a showstopper for professional folks.

I am tired of rearrangign desktop everytime one of the monitors is turned off, so tired I don't care to run spell check in this post.

I am angry.  It seems WIndowsXP developed by Microsoft in Israel, was the best OS in history, now that it aged, there's no equally well-designed equivalent.

ThomasStorme
Found this helpful 0
ThomasStorme replied on

Reply

I have it while using my 15 pin analog RGB connector, just not always... Seems to randomly decide to screw up my desktop arrangement!
Previous Previous Page of 5 Next Next