How can i stretch my background over 2 monitors?

Anonymous
2009-11-21T23:14:34+00:00

I'm running 2 monitors (extended mode) and when i change my background it gets doubled. I was using win xp pro before and my background was extended on the other monitor but windows wont let me?

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Anonymous
2009-11-27T00:27:19+00:00

Hi lightningwolf71,

 I was going through some online resources and came across one workaround regarding this issue, hope this helps in resolving the issue.

Follow these steps to display a large image across multiple monitors:

  1. Right click on the Desktop background and select Personalize.
  2. Click on Desktop Background
  3. Select a background image that is at least as wide as the combined resolution of both of your monitors. For Example, I have two 19" monitors that have a resolution of 1280×1024. I need an image of 2560×1024 or greater so that it can be displayed across both monitors.
  4. Select Tile for picture positioning option. This is the only option that will display your background image across multiple monitors.
  5. Select Save Changes.

Your background image now should be displayed across both monitors instead of having the same image displayed on both monitors.

Hope this information was useful.

Naveen

Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

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  1. Anonymous
    2012-02-25T04:38:03+00:00

    I think I may have found the solution.  Bear with me, as stupid problems require stupid solutions/workarounds.

    I think Windows Photo Viewer may be to blame.

    When I first downloaded a dual screen background, I saved it, and opened it with the standard default of Windows Photo Viewer.  It previewed the picture like normal.

    From within Windows Photo Viewer, if you right click the image and choose “Set as desktop background” it gets cached to:

    C:\Users%yourprofilename%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows Photo Viewer (1)

    You will see the above location displayed if you go to the Desktop Background screen (Right click your desktop, choose Personalize, click Desktop Background)

    Apparently this is the kiss of death for dual screen wallpaper expanding, because anytime I had a picture here, despite being on Tiled mode, (or switching modes and going back to Tiled), it WOULD NOT DISPLAY ACROSS TWO SCREENS.

    Retarded, right?  So here’s what I did.  Using my vast powers of anti-logic**, I navigated to the location on my drive where the image was actually stored, and then from explorer I right clicked the image and chose “Set as desktop background”**.

    Wouldn’t ya know it, BAM!  The background expanded correctly across both screens, no more cloning, or expanding the height while still tiling.  It just worked.  If at this point it’s not working for you, be sure to go back to the Desktop Background screen, and reselect Tile mode.  (you should also see that the file path referenced above has changed to reflect the file’s actual location)

    System specs as follows:

    Win 7 Enterprise 64bit SP1

    Dual GTX460s (Running my 2 displays just off the one card though at the moment)

    Dual screens, 1920x1080 for 3840x1080 spanned image dimension.

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  2. Anonymous
    2012-02-24T11:28:47+00:00

    Hi Ptericles,

    Yes I've tiled the image (I have the same image repeated twice above each other on each screen). The picture is 2560 x 1024 and the screen resolution is 1280 x 1024 - for each screen. My colleage managed to stretch her image yesterday, but then when she tried with a new picture she couldn't make it stretch anymore?

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  3. Anonymous
    2012-02-22T23:24:25+00:00

    did you try step 4.—changing your Picture position: to tile? Otherwise, make absolutely sure you know what resolutions your monitors have currently.

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  4. Anonymous
    2012-02-22T10:10:00+00:00

    Hi,

    I'm having the same issue with stretching an image accross two screens in Windows 7 - and the tile setting doesn't help, it now displays the image twice on both screens.

    The image is 2560 x 1024 in size so should be the right size, and it worked on my XP machine.

    Any ideas of how to make it strech?

    Thanks,

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