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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.
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.
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.
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!
I am having this problem on my media center PC as well. Then the monitor is not on the screen goes down. WHen the computer boots as well without the monitor on the resolution gets all jacked up.
When I do turn on the monitor, I have to reboot again.
Sorry this is my first posting here so forgive me if I did something wrong.
This may be temporary but I tried the Regedit solution proposed earlier (Change from 1 to 0). When I rebooted It did not work and my resolution was down from 1900x1200 to 1680 x1050 so I changed the registry again from 0 to 1 essentially enabling the TMM feature and rebooted again. For some reason after the second reboot it started working and I am able to access two computers and keeps my resolution to 1900 x 1200. This could be a total fluke and may not last long.
Belkin KVM Flip
NVidia GT220
Windows 7 home 64 bit
