Setup Multiple Monitors In Vista

Setup Multiple Monitors In Vista - April 6, 2008

If you are running Windows Vista on a Laptop and wish to utilize dual displays, this is just the article for you. Instead of replicating the content on your laptop screen on to your external display, you’ll be able to extended your desktop across both. By doing so you’ll gain extra screen real estate meaning more space to work in. Once you have a successfully functioning dual display setup, windows can be dragged across from one screen to another and you can have two fully maximized applications visible at once!

Some Small Requirements:

Decent Laptop with VGA or HDMI output
A monitor with VGA or HDMI input
A VGA or HDMI cable to connect both together

Getting To The Settings:

Connect your laptop to your external monitor
Right Click on your desktop and select Personalize
Open the Display settings window (at the bottom)

Next arrange the two monitors to the setup you have. Monitor 1 would be your laptop’s display and Monitor 2 is your additional display. So, for example, if your laptop is on the left and the monitor is on the right, drag the two boxes around so that Monitor 1 is on the left and Monitor 2 is on the right.

Extending The Display:

Select Monitor 2 in the visual or from the drop-down menu
Check the box besides “Extend the desktop onto this monitor”
Just hit Apply. The screen should flash and you are done!

You should now be able to drag a window, this web page for example, from one screen onto another. If you would like to move your Start Menu onto the other display, just drag it onto the other screen. (Right-click and unlock the Taskbar first!) Also note that sometimes Vista messes up the resolutions, so if one of the windows looks horribly wrong go back to the Display Settings and manually drag the bar to the correct resolutions for each monitor. If your machine is using either the NVIDIA or ATI control panel, I suggest using that to configure your setup instead of using the default Vista Display Settings.

If you have any problems, questions, or suggestions feel free to express them below!

Related Article: Setup Multiple Monitors In XP

Tags: display, dual, hdmi, monitors, screen, tutorial, vga, vista

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13 comments.

4/7/2008 01:35 AM

James Creer says

Did this a while back.
Vista messed up the resolutions quite a few times like you mentioned but once got that issue sorted out it worked a charm.
Nice to see that your extending the knowledge out to everyone xD

4/7/2008 09:27 AM

Sahas Katta says

Something that I also failed to mention was that I haven’t yet had any issues when using multiple monitors after upgrading to Vista SP1. Before that, just as you said, it sometimes randomly started to change resolutions and mess up the settings and I would have to go setup everything again. So if you are still experiencing those problems, I suggest you attempt to upgrade to Service Pack 1.

4/8/2008 06:09 PM

jim says

thanks for this. i had no i dea u could do this with a laptop.
i always just closed the lid on my laptop when i connected it to my big display
now i can use it to put all my widgets and chat windows.

4/16/2008 01:11 PM

Tam says

I have Windows XP,but i want to download and install the upgrade adviser of
Windows Vista.

5/10/2008 10:29 PM

Sarah says

Ok, so now that I’ve done that and have the extended display on two monitors, how do I change it back so that both monitors display the same thing?
Thanks!

5/12/2008 07:40 AM

Sahas Katta says

@Sarah
Go back to the display properties and uncheck the box for “extend this monitor”. Or if you happen to be using the Nvidia control panel, then just go to the multiple display settings and choose the option to clone the content on both displays. - Hope that helps!

5/22/2008 07:02 PM

JC says

I just posted to an earlier post, but my dual monitors are now working great and I used the monitor stands at buytech.com [link removed by admin] to align and mount my monitors. The monitor sit flush.

5/31/2008 11:52 AM

Michelle says

Thanks for the information on adding a monitor to use with my laptop. I use two screens at work, and it’s good to be able to do so at home, too.

6/5/2008 12:41 AM

Jack says

Two screens are for minimalists…how about for a third screen? Is that possible on a laptop using Vista?

6/10/2008 02:30 PM

Sean says

cool stuff though how do you use the other screen? i can connect with see both monitors but can only use one at a time. I also have NVIDIA.

6/24/2008 06:12 AM

Benny says

Hello, I’m having a problem while trying to clone my pc monitor and the tv monitor.
when I’m trying to clone- on the tv screen I can see the desktop but my pc monitor gives me an error “Mode is not supported”.
I’m running on Vista SP1 32-bit, graphics driver is : 175.19 and my monitor is “Proview”
What can I do to fix this problem with cloning?
Thanks in advance.

7/22/2008 07:32 PM

Johnny says

I want my desktop to extend to the RIGHT, meaning when I drag a window from my left monitor to the right one, it should work. But right now, I have to drag the other way. How do you fix that?

7/22/2008 09:57 PM

Sahas Katta says

@Johnny
Go to the Display Settings window. There you should see two boxes with the numbers ‘1′ and ‘2′. Click and drag them to the position your monitors are in. So in your situation, I think you’ll have to drag the number two box to the left of the number one box. Just hit apply and hopefully that should work!

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