KVM switch + Windows 7 creates monitor switching nightmare

I believe that this is all related to a poor implementation of HDMI/DVI copy protection. Windows 7 reacts and cuts off the display when it detects a change (in the serial number or identifier of the device) in the display device so that you cannot substitute a recording device for a display device to copy blue ray movies.  You can fix it by purchasing a device that goes in line between the display device and the computer that records and then parrots back the serial number or identifier back to windows when the device is no longer present.  Fine, go ahead and do that, Microsoft, and cause all this trouble because you cannot find a way to only do this when we are not using such products as Word, Excel, Outlook and other mainstream applications, and don’t have a blue ray player, and we are not playing content protected contend from any media web sites.  This will prove to be ineffective, since it is so easy to work around, and won’t stop the .0001% or the people who copy HD content.  The rest of us will suffer.  If you are going to protect “protected content” then make sure we are playing “protected content.”

Another failed protected content scheme.  It creates a legitimate market for these device “parrots” and makes the whole thing collapse as it does not stop piracy, and pisses off the other people, like me, who don’t play protected content.  So, what have I learned- I have learned how to copy protected content and I have learned I can’t use Windows 7.  You can find the device on Amazon.com and Buy.com.  You don’t have to buy the device from a large guy in a dark room in a third world country.

None of us would even have noticed this if Windows simply restored our monitors, window size, and windows placement when we turn back on our monitors or pressed that little button on the HDMI switch.  Instead, it simply goes back to the lowest common denominator, an 800 x 600 screen.

Werdbomb, thanks for the cheap workaround for my cheap KVM switch problem.

It works...and it's better than nothing, which is what Microsoft seems to think is a good enough answer.

For those like FatOldSun and Cray54 experiencing this problem without a KVM it might be worthwhile adding your issue to these threads where the same problem has been reported but not in relation to a KVM.

I wonder if Microsoft is ignoring this problem because KVM's are less pervasive than people with multiple monitors - or even people with a single monitor! ;)

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7hardware/thread/311ec910-9637-47b3-a27d-58be6d71cfb7/

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7performance/thread/7b6f050e-48d7-422b-aa37-48cf6e70e9c9

I have no KVM, just a nVidia GeForce 7600GT with two DVI outputs. I have a Samsung SyncMaster 215TW in the first DVI port, and nothing in the other. The resolution is 1680x1050 (recommended). I have Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

If I switch off my monitor for a moment and switch it back on, no problem. If I switch it off for several minutes and switch back on, I'm usually presented with a black screen. I know that Windows is still running because I can shut it down cleanly by pressing the Power button, and I can also shut it down by pressing Alt-F4, I can also hear sound if an application is playing sounds. I have no "sleep" or "hibernate" switched on, and the power settings have been set so nothing is switched off.

The only way I can get around this problem is to go to the Switch User screen before I switch off the monitor. I have a Creative webcam with face-recognition login so when I switch the monitor back on, the "look at the camera" screen always appears although it's quite often a much lower resolution than it should be. When my face is recognised, the Windows desktop always returns back to the correct resolution.

Another thing I've found is that if I login remotely to my PC using LogMeIn, I cannot use it because Windows is continually adjusting the screen resolution in the face recogntion screen. It changes it quicker than LogMeIn can draw the screen, and it can be anything from 640x480 to 1680x1050. If I'm lucky enough to click in the right place to restart Windows, once it has restarted I can connect back up to it using LogMeIn and it works fine.

If the monitor is switched off when I first boot up the PC, I also get a black screen and have to shutdown and reboot to get a picture.

So there is definitely an issue with Windows 7 and how it deals with the resolution when it can't detect a monitor, and how it recovers to the correct resolution when the monitor is switched on. If there was a way to force a resolution and not try to detect something all the time, I'm sure that would fix the problem. I'm sure it's all down to this EDID but that's as far as I know.

I have a similar but opposite problem.  When I was first beta testing Windows 7 (primarily for media center) I could turn off my projector and have everything automatically move to my other monitor.  Now, Windows always recognizes the projector (on or off) and I have to manually change monitors.  I want to force Windows to treat the projector as disconnected when it is turned off… I hope the fix that solves the above problems will be applicable to my situation as well.

Windows 7 is pretty great in general, but the lack of user customization available in both the OS and the media center leave something to be desired.

-Chris