KVM switch + Windows 7 creates monitor switching nightmare

Anonymous

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).

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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401 answers

Anonymous

2010-11-03T09:15:07+00:00

To bad that solution did noting for my single DVI-monitor-problem. :(

every time i turn the monitor off, win7 rearrange and resize all my windows.

____ YOU MS FOR NOT EVEN RESPONDING TO THIS HUGE THREAD/PROBLEM
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Anonymous

2010-11-02T13:10:07+00:00

After hopeless months of disconnecting HDMI cable from my gfx card, suddenly solution appeared as new nVidia drivers:

260.99 dated 2010.10.25 for Windows 7 x86

Right after instalation I found that rebooting my PC or messing with TV/AV receiver (which acts like sophisticated KVM for me) causes no more display switchovers! the main screen (primary) connected to DVI remains there!

no more useless automatic display detections everytime HDMI gets connected/disconnected causing video switchovers to another display. Yeah! Seems to be fixed!

It looks like some sort of "timers" or "timeouts" concerning display detection (crucial for KVM-type video output switching) got tuned inside nVidia drivers and now it working as expected.
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Anonymous

2010-10-31T23:51:15+00:00

I have one XP laptop and one Win 7 laptop on a starview 2 port DVI/VGA KVM switch. When I switch from XP to Win 7, I lose signal to the primary monitor and the secondary becomes the prime, split with the laptop monitor. I have minor problem with the XP machine, the resolution on the secondary goes way down, but I have an autohotkey macro to set it back. I haven't tried to make one for Win 7 yet, was hoping for a real solution....Bill?????
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Anonymous

2010-10-31T23:46:56+00:00

didn't mean to click propose as answer, apparently there isn't one!
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Anonymous

2010-10-27T23:29:21+00:00

Using VGA and experiencing this problem too. Video chipset is ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250 KVM is Tripp-Lite B022-004-R (a 4-port KVM). Never had a problem with it before. Monitor is Acer V223W. Computer is Lenovo Thinkpad Edge I am migrating from an old thinkpad (XP) to a new thinkpad edge with 64 bit Windows 7 professional. I have a 22" external monitor and larger external keyboard which I prefer to use when I'm at home. I also have a Dell Precision (XP) laptop for work. So I run all these through a KVM. With the XP systems, I can close the laptop displays so that the external monitor is the only display. The thinkpad and the Dell have different output resolutions (due to limitations on the older thinkpad's video card). I can switch displays between them all day long and I always immediately see the configured display resolution of the selected machine. With the Windows 7 based laptop, the behavior depends on whether the laptop screen is opened or closed. If the laptop screen is open (but not displaying anything since I'm not using extended desktop), when I switch the KVM to one of the other computers the Windows 7 display output automatically switches to the laptop screen. When I switch the KVM back to the windows 7 laptop, its display switches back to the external monitor. At least in this scenario it remembers the correct resolution for the external monitor (which is higher than the max resolution of the laptop's screen). However, if I'm running XP mode virtual machine, the VM does some kind of reset/refresh of the "integration features" that causes the mapping to the real hard drive to temporarily be lost -- a real problem if I'm doing something in the XP VM which is writing to that drive! Furthermore, if the screen times out and goes to sleep while I'm viewing another computer, then the display resolution is NOT correctly restored when I return back to this one. If the laptop screen is closed (how I really want to run when I'm home), when I switch away from the windows 7 machine and then switch back, it changes the resolution to 1024 x 768. I have to open resolution and then click Detect to get it to go back to the real resolution.
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