How do I correct display scaling issues on Surface Pro 4

Anonymous
2016-02-19T16:31:28+00:00

I'm noticing display scaling issues and docking issues on the Surface Pro 4.  I'm using the docking connector and have two Dell 24" Ultrasharp U2415 monitors.  When I undock the Surface, the text is aliased very poorly on the Surface display, not crisp as it should be.  Certain elements appear fine, but my browser, Outlook 2016, and other apps have poor quality text.  A restart is required to get the text back to its normal hi-DPI quality. 

Secondly, if I start a program while undocked and dock the surface, some apps are scaled up (both text and UI elements of the window) and others are fine.

Lastly, a few times when the SP4 is docked and I return from being away for a few minutes, my external displays don't kick on.  Clicking the mouse or pressing keys on the keyboard do nothing.  Occasionally, the SP4 display will activate and my mouse/keyboard will control work.  I've tried disconnecting the dock connector, power cycling the dock, but only restarting the SP4 will correct this issue.

In general a restart is required to resolve any of these issues.  Is this the result of buggy display drivers or something else?

I've installed the latest SP4 firmware update and have the latest OS updates through Windows Update, as of this morning, February 19, 2016.

Surface | Surface Pro | Display and screen

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Anonymous
2016-04-28T16:48:01+00:00

Hello SP4_user11,

A lot of work was done in Windows 10 to support high resolution screens, such as the Surface Pro 3, Surface Pro 4, Surface Book, and third-party laptops and tablets with screen resolutions above 1080p. However, there are issues that occur when using Office apps on these devices when connecting to an external monitor with a lower resolution.

To find out more about what has been improved and what is still being worked on, please check out these articles:

The current and future improvements are dependent on having Windows 10 Creators Update installed. So if you have not yet updated, please start with that.

Best Regards

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-07-21T20:43:49+00:00

    Mine seems to have the most consistent trouble going from tablet mode without the keyboard, back to docking with the keyboard.  Icons on home screen then are all out of whack. 

    Above, someone mentioned getting the Surface Dock updater to update firmware.  I did, it said my firmware is out of date, and I need to power cycle my Dock to get it to work. 

    How do you power cycle the dock? Maybe with the new firmware, it will then scale properly?

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-07-20T14:38:38+00:00

    Hi All,

    Is there a fix for this yet?

    I am still experiencing this problem!!!! it is getting really frustrating now.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-06-08T13:55:25+00:00

    As an update to my previous post, this past weekend I tried to reset the PC but that didn't help so I completely wiped my Surface Pro 4 and did a fresh install while it was docked. Had to reinstall all of my apps again but after 2 hours I had everything installed. I usually do a fresh install to all of my new computers, but I figured it was from Microsoft so ......, guess even they can't be trusted.

    The refresh, so far, seemed to help most of the issues I was having with my Pro 4. So far, the docking/un-docking problem where the screen doesn't always come back on and the re-boot times aren't as bad as they used to be but I still have scaling problems that forces me to sign out/sign in every time I dock or re-dock.  The keyboard closing/re-opening works now also, screen comes back on from sleep.

    My work around until Microsoft fixes the problem is to sign out/sign in every time I dock or re-dock and to use a little tool that saves my desktop icon layout called DesktopOK so I can put my icons back the way I want them. 

    Is there any solution for the scaling problem yet? It's really annoying to sign out and in everytime I dock/undock the Pro 4. 

    Please help! >.<

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-05-10T13:36:56+00:00

    As an update to my previous post, this past weekend I tried to reset the PC but that didn't help so I completely wiped my Surface Pro 4 and did a fresh install while it was docked. Had to reinstall all of my apps again but after 2 hours I had everything installed. I usually do a fresh install to all of my new computers, but I figured it was from Microsoft so ......, guess even they can't be trusted.

    The refresh, so far, seemed to help most of the issues I was having with my Pro 4. So far, the docking/un-docking problem where the screen doesn't always come back on and the re-boot times aren't as bad as they used to be but I still have scaling problems that forces me to sign out/sign in every time I dock or re-dock.  The keyboard closing/re-opening works now also, screen comes back on from sleep.

    My work around until Microsoft fixes the problem is to sign out/sign in every time I dock or re-dock and to use a little tool that saves my desktop icon layout called DesktopOK so I can put my icons back the way I want them.

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