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
    2016-12-10T09:17:56+00:00

    Good Morning Guys.

    One solution for this problem may be the use of a little HDMI M/F adaptor named as EDID MANAGER.

    We use a lot of this products, because normally we work on live show with mediaserver computer to reproduce live video, and when use many HDMI extender connected to remote videprojectors, is for me important that one broken link, do not reasset the whole video configuration of our videocard.

    So, the price for these small adapters, and programmer, is not low... but is the only strongest solution

    for fix the problem.

    With this adapter, connected immediately to the output connector of the video card, (after the complete EDID program procedure), the OS windows see always the specific monitor connected, also you switch off ...or remove the HDMI cable...

    Our models brand are: HDMI EDID MANAGER LINDY (see on google)

    Kind Regards to all. 

    Luigi

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-12-14T04:10:11+00:00

    One more +1 to the issue here.

    Windows 10 Enterprise 1607

    AMD Radeon RX 470 with Crimson 16.40.3211.1101

    3x Samsung U28E590D 4k on DisplayPort

    Turning off 1 monitor removes that monitor and that portion of the extended desktop from the system causing the window re-arrange. This effect happens for monitor power AND sleep mode, meaning I haven't turned my monitors off or put them in to sleep mode since I got them because /hassle

    No registry edits fix the issue

    Monitor killer or hdmi fixes don't apply

    HDMI adapter doesn't apply due to not support 4k resolution at 60hz

    The new AMD ReLive drivers are out and I'm installing now to see if that helps.

    Even the old tool that moves your windows back doesn't work on Win10 (that I've been able to tell)

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-02-13T03:45:34+00:00

    In case this helps anyone, I was able to fix this problem . . .

    I have a dual monitor setup with a DVI monitor and a DisplayPort monitor, an HP LA2405wg.

    The HP monitor has its own on-screen menus that let you configure it.  You access them by using the buttons on the monitor itself.  There is a setting under Source Control / Source Detection.  This appears to control how the monitor gives info to the display board as to whether it is on or not.  There are two somewhat opaquely named choices. "Low Power", the default, evidently tells the display board when the monitor is in a low power state.  The other choice, "Always Active", apparently tells the display board that the monitor is active, even when it actually is not.

    Setting this parameter to "Always Active" eliminated the window repositioning problem when I powered off my monitor.  It may be that other monitors have a similar setting (with a different name, almost certainly) that would fix this problem for you.

    P.S. My HP monitor also has a setting to control DDC/CI, and I thought that changing that setting would fix this problem . . . but it did not.  Changing that setting may fix the problem on other monitors, however.  Also, the "Source Detection" setting on other HP monitor models may be called "DP Hot-Plug Detection".

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-10-13T02:44:20+00:00

    And this little utility is perfect with nvidia graphic card ! :)

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