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

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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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
    2014-07-08T12:24:09+00:00

    I have a MacBook Air 2013 with a secondary monitor installed through a mini-display port-HDMI cable. I also have bootcamp installed in Windows 8.1 64 bits with all the latest drivers installed. The problem that I have is that when the computer wakes after it goes to sleep, all the windows in the non-primary monitor moves to the primary monitor and I have to re-arranged them all over every time.

    What I tried so far:

    1. Installed the latests drivers from Microsoft and Intel HD Graphics 5000.
    2. Look for the DMMEnableDDCPolling in the registry. (not found only available for ATI cards)
    3. Change the mini-displayport-HDMI cable for a new one that doesn't transmit the "power" so that computer do not detect that the monitor was shutdown.
    4. Change the resolution on boths monitors to native resolution
    5. Change the primary display from external monitor to laptop monitor
    6. Changer HKLM\Software\Microsoft\TMM\UseIViewHelper from 1 to 0
    7. Try to get an answer from Apple, Intel and microsoft support.

    Similar threads where I found this info:

    Link 1

    Link 2

    Link 3

    PLEASE HELP! I Don't know what else to do!

    This do not happend on MacOS, is happends only in Windows.

    Thanks, Andres Rormoser.

    MacBook Air (13-inch Mid 2013), Windows 8

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-02-20T21:47:50+00:00

    I also had this issue on my extended display with Windows 7

    I tried every setting you can think of and nothing worked.

    Finally I got this device and it works like a charm.

    http://www.monitordetectkiller.com

    No more surprises when I turn off/on my displays.

    I guess they designed it like that so that if you turn off one of your monitors all the windows can be centralized on the display that's "active".

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-11-07T08:18:05+00:00

    For various reasons way beyond the scope of this thread downgrading to Win7 is not an option. I want this to work with Win8, any ideas how to make it work are welcome.

    asdflkjhasdfkljsa, thank you for sharing your experience with HDMI and DVI, good to know.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-10-31T04:14:44+00:00

    Again blurting your lack of knowledge "HDMI is nothing more than old DVI repackaged into denser pinout + Audio added into same connector"

     

    Again you open mouth yet nothing but gibberish comes out.

    HDMI = DVI_D mode + Audio layer superimposed, and repackaged into a denser pinout, you're talking to a degreed EE Engineer (MSEE), you will teach me?

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