KVM switch + Windows 7 creates monitor switching nightmare

Anonymous
2009-10-29T16:44:18+00:00

I have a problem with Windows 7 and my KVM switch (Iogear model# gcs1764) which is makes switching via KVM an absolute nightmare.  The iogear KVM does not use drivers nor are any available on their website.

Here's what happens:

I switch from Win 7 (2 monitors) to XP (1 monitor) via KVM.  When I switch back to Win 7 (2 monitors) sometimes Win 7 will throw my desktop to the 2nd monitor (1st monitor goes blank) and opening up display settings only shows the 2nd monitor as existing.  It's as if the 1st monitor is now unplugged which it isn't.  At this point I have to go into display settings, click Detect, and then it re-detects my 1st monitor and "extends" my desktop back out over 2 monitors.  All windows have now been thrown to my 1st monitor and i have to rearrange all my work back across 2 monitors.  This is why KVM switching in Win 7 makes my work life a living nightmare.  This isn't all of it either...

When everything gets thrown to my first monitor, it takes any windows that were maximized and resizes them to about 1/4 my screen size.  Due to compatibility issues between Win 7 and SQL Server Management Studio, Management Studio has a redraw bug that doesn't "re-size" the query window correctly.  So even though I maximize the app, when I start typing in the query window my text disappears about 1/4 the way across the whole window.  The only way to fix this is to save all my work, close the app, and then re-open the app with all my work.  So basically every time I switch computers there's about a 1/5 chance I have rinse and repeat everything I just typed above.  Fun times.

So are there any future fixes planned for this?  I have tried everything and nothing fixes this problem.  I have all the latest Nvidia drivers (my card: Nvidia GTS 250).

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

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  1. Anonymous
    2009-12-24T03:20:04+00:00

    in much the same way as rlee17 stated i was able to 'fix' the problem with the vnc method.  I was not able to choose my native resolution of 1900x1200 via windows nor was i able to do it via nvidia display panel, but i was able to force a 1900x1080 resolution which makes things very tolerable. 

    On at least one occasion however the default resolution of 1024x768 somehow took over, and i had to use the vnc connection to force the resolution again. I do not know what caused this to happen but be aware that it might.  Still a much less annoying situation exists now. 

    When a monitor (possibly DVI only) 'goes away', either by switching away on a KVM, or turning your monitor off, Win7 freaks out and forces the video resolution to some default. How WIN7 determines what this default resolution will be i do not know, but if we had a reliable method via reg hack or user option, to set this default resolution to what we want it to be, it seems this would do the trick for the majority of users with the issue.  This is what we are doing or trying to do with the vnc method, but it is cluncky, problematic, and unreliable.

    Come on MS, give us some help here. TIA!

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  2. Anonymous
    2009-12-24T01:46:47+00:00

    i just want to add that i was able to "fix" this problem using the the vnc method posted earlier in this thread.

    i wasn't able to choose my native resolution of 1920x1200 through the windows screen resolution option, but i was able to force 1920x1200 through the nvidia display panel while i was vnc'ed into my desktop from my laptop.

    until microsoft fixes this, this is an acceptable solution to me since it doesn't have any other side effects as far as i can tell.

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  3. Anonymous
    2009-12-24T00:33:09+00:00

    I don't think so arcanemethods, I've noticed problems like this coming into play in windows operating systems since the advent of DVI. I always suspected active behaviour on plug/unplug of monitors would lead to problems. There is no need for it in a lot of use cases.

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  4. Anonymous
    2009-12-23T23:54:14+00:00

    I sincerely hope that this doesn't resolve down to a HDCP exposure issue.  If the exposure is within the HDCP spec itself rather than within Windows then MS would be closing a door here that it would be powerless to truly fix while maintaining enforcement.

    The long silence from them in this thread concerns me.

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  5. Anonymous
    2009-12-23T02:38:59+00:00

    After 3 seperate chats with microsoft I am told a patch is very close to fix this.I am not using a KVM but suffer the open windows resized issue.Since I am using my 52 inch sharp aquos I cannot find a monitor driver and windows is using the generic.ATI control panel however sees it as sharp HDMI.

    Would I be correct in saying those using VGA do not have this problem?

    If so then I beleive this is a poor attempt at HDCP enforcement by Microsoft.

    The strange thing is the problem dissapeared for 2 days until I rebooted my PC.I tried to figure out what changed to cause the problem to dissapear but I could not track it down.It sure was nice knowing that it CAN be fixed....somehow.When it was fixed I DID NOT have the annoying device unplugged etc sounding.

    I sure hope this gets fixed soon.

    I think more likely this, and related display initialisation problems are a result of the software trying to be too helpful with info that is available for DVI connections.

    When the PC didnt have the displays status things just worked. I would like to see all display connect/disconnect related functionality able to be disabled for all DVI connections. I would prefer to manually ask the desktop to resynch with display configuration changes when I know I have made a change (rarely) - not whenever the o/s thinks I have changed the configuration just because I have temporarily changed the state of a display.

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