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

Anonymous
2010-02-03T17:25:23+00:00

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.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

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Anonymous
2015-02-28T12:44:10+00:00

I've written a little utility to address this issue. It's still very thrown together, but opensource, so you can compile from sources if you've got any security concerns.

Hope it works out for you!

http://www.ninjacrab.com/persistent-windows/

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-10-28T21:02:22+00:00

    Wow you're a sociopath. Your reply has nothing to do with this thread, and you write like all the stereotypes you malign in this misguided tirade. Just get another job at a company running Linux already.

    For anyone looking for productive contributions in this thread, I've isolated the problem to being a result of using DisplayPort for my system (desktop machine, 2x video cards, 3x displays). Windows handles the DVI- and HDMI-connected displays normally, and switching any of the same monitors to the DisplayPort port on the graphics cards results in this symptom.

    Hope this helps.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-10-28T18:23:50+00:00

    I thought I had the issue solved with my new win8 ultrabook but now that I switched to using the same display in the office as before but through a port replicator and DisplayLink, I'm back to square one. Whenever I fire up the ultrabook without the secondary display, my icons get put on the other display as if it were on and primary. Now what?

    Just to stick to the thread, the workaround that I described in my earlier post worked for win7. I am currently not using a win7 system in a dual display setup but I have the possibility to try things, should anyone need some testing.

    I agree with previous posts, this should be addressed in one thread, it is a knowledge base for those who encounter the problem only now.

    BTW, corb06, your desktop looks awesome.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-08-24T10:17:17+00:00

    Good news! 

    Amd Catalyst driver 13.6 Beta and 13.8 beta2 seems to solve the issues. I have a 3 monitor setup and the problem used to be if I turn off all screens for powersaving and then turning them on 1 by 1 would mess up the entire desktop. I would rearrange all icons and windows.

    But with these two drivers, windows doesnt notice that a monitor has been turned off or being turned on. It was during turn-on-operation that the desktop got messed up. So it looks promising.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-08-24T04:02:32+00:00

    No such luck for me, these keys must be put there by the Radeon drivers. I did a search through my entire registry for "DMMEnableDDCPolling" and got no hits at all. Thanks for the tip anyway els3.

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