How to Swap Display Identity (Identities)

I don't get why Microsoft doesn't understand this issue.  Every user who has more than one monitor gets the problem.

I have three monitors and they do not map the identity numbers correctly.

Yes, you can move the monitors around in the display control panel to set up the physical locations, but that's not the issue.

The real issue is the identity numbers.  So, application will only run on monitor 1 (or monitor 2 if more than one is present) and you can not move the app to another monitor.  Also, a bigger annoyance is that Windows does a **** poor job of tracking desktop icon positions when there are multiple monitors involved;

For example, I have three monitors, however I do not use all three all the time.  I would prefer my center monitor to be number 1 since that is what I consider my primary and is used all the time.  My left side monitor is primarily for movies so that usually only gets used if a movie is running.  The right side monitor is when I need more desktop space and if I am running a program that has tons of windows or palettes (e.g. AutoCAD).

Now, if you turn off a monitor, sometimes windows will move all my desktop icons to another monitor, or it will just move them around randomly to new positions.  Sometimes it will move some to one monitor (whether it is on or not) and leave some on the center monitor and move the rest to the third monitor).

Anyway, Windows really can't seem to figure out to just leave the damned icons where they are regardless of what monitors are on or off.  There really should be a setting in the Display control panel so users can tell windows to Dynamically adjust desktop icon positions or Leave them in place (Static locations).

There also needs to be a setting in the Display control panel to allow the user to manually set the monitor identities (at the OS level) and leave them set even if the monitors are turned off (except maybe the number 1 monitor as that is required for minimal display purposes).

But, this is a major ANNOYANCE in windows and Windows does not handle multiple monitors correctly in my opinion.  As it stands, Windows half-assedly handles multiple monitors as not a lot of thought has gone into giving the user much control over how multiple monitors is handled.

Microsoft needs to get serious about correctly handling multi-monitor display and giving users control over settings for those setups.

Thank you.

It's not at the OS level. It's beneath that, at the BIOS level, which is hardware-specific.  The OS only knows what the BIOS tells it.  Having said that, there are standards for the BIOS so perhaps those standards need to change for future implementations?

Thanks for that information.  Whatever the case may be, it needs to be addressed and resolved.

It's not at the OS level. It's beneath that, at the BIOS level, which is hardware-specific.  The OS only knows what the BIOS tells it.  Having said that, there are standards for the BIOS so perhaps those standards need to change for future implementations?

I fully agree. See my append dated 2015 February 14 as well.

Furthermore, in the meantime I replaced my original desktop that was connected to the TV via HDMI  with a laptop.

With this HW , BIOS messages now always go to the laptop LCD, as opposed to the previous scenario.

It is either a BIOS or GPU card firmware problem.

It is NOT a Microsoft problem for sure , so they cannot fix it.

This forum ought to be closed.