How to use multiple monitors in Windows 10

After you’ve connected your Windows 10 PC to external displays, you can adjust the settings for each one.

Video: Connecting a monitor

Here’s a video on the basics of connecting to an external monitor.

Before you start

Before changing settings for your external displays, make sure everything is connected properly. Here’s what you can do:

Make sure your cables are properly connected to your PC or dock.

Check for Windows updates. To check for updates, select Start > Settings > Updates & Security > Windows Update > Check for updates.

Tip: If you’re using a wireless display adapter, connect to an HDMI port on newer TVs, then wirelessly connect your PC to it. After connecting your wireless display adapter to your TV, go to your Windows 10 PC and select Start > Settings > System > Display, then select Connect to a wireless display.

Rearrange your displays

You’ll see this option when Windows detects more than one display. Each display will be numbered to help you identify them more easily.

Identify a display

To see which number corresponds to a display, select Start > Settings > System > Display > Rearrange your displays, then select Identify. A number appears on the screen of the display it’s assigned to.

Detect a display

If you connected another display and it isn’t showing in Settings, select Start > Settings > System > Display > Rearrange your displays, then select Detect.

Arrange your displays

If you have multiple displays, you can change how they’re arranged. This is helpful if you want your displays to match how they’re set up in your home or office. In Display settings, select and drag the display to where you want. Do this with all the displays you want to move. When you’re happy with the layout, select Apply. Test your new layout by moving your mouse pointer across the different displays to make sure it works like you expect.

Change display options

After you’re connected to your external displays, you can change settings like your resolution, screen layout, and more. To see available options, select Start > Settings > System > Display.

Change orientation

Windows will recommend an orientation for your screen. To change it in Display settings, go to Scale and Layout, then choose your preferred Display orientation. If you change the orientation of a monitor, you’ll also need to physically rotate the screen. For example, you’d rotate your external display to use it in portrait instead of landscape.

Choose a display option

To change what shows on your displays, press Windows logo key + P. Here’s what you can choose.

See things on one display only.

See the same thing on all your displays.

See your desktop across multiple screens. When you have displays extended, you can move items between the two screens.

See everything on the second display only.

Second screen only

Related topics

Simply Windows on Youtube — These videos are only available in English

Handling Screen Savers

The Microsoft Win32В API supports special applications called screen savers. Screen savers start when the mouse and keyboard have been idle for a specified period of time. They are used for these two reasons:

• To protect a screen from phosphor burn caused by static images.
• To conceal sensitive information left on a screen.

This topic is divided into the following sections.

About Screen Savers

The Desktop application in the Windows Control Panel lets users select from a list of screen savers, specify how much time should elapse before the screen saver starts, configure screen savers, and preview screen savers. Screen savers are loaded automatically when Windows starts or when a user activates the screen saver through the Control Panel.

Once a screen saver is chosen, Windows monitors keystrokes and mouse movements and then starts the screen saver after a period of inactivity. However, Windows does not start the screen saver if any of the following conditions exist:

• The active application is not a Windows-based application.
• A computer-based training (CBT) window is present.
• The active application receives the WM_SYSCOMMAND message with the wParam parameter set to the SC_SCREENSAVE value, but it does not pass the message to the DefWindowProc function.

Security Context of the Screen Saver

The security context of the screen saver is dependent on whether a user is interactively logged on. If a user is interactively logged on when the screen saver is invoked, the screen saver runs in the security context of the interactive user. If no user is logged on, the security context of the screen saver is dependent on the version of Windows being used.

• Windows XP and Windows 2000 — screen saver runs in the context of LocalSystem with accounts restricted.
• Windows 2003 — screen saver runs in the context of LocalService with all privileges removed and administrators group disabled.
• Does not apply to Windows NT4.

The security context determines the level of privileged operations which can be done from a screen saver.

Windows Vista and later: If password protection is enabled by policy, the screen saver is started regardless of what an application does with the SC_SCREENSAVE notification.

Screen savers contain specific exported functions, resource definitions, and variable declarations. The screen saver library contains the main function and other startup code required for a screen saver. When a screen saver starts, the startup code in the screen saver library creates a full-screen window. The window class for this window is declared as follows:

To create a screen saver, most developers create a source code module containing three required functions and link them with the screen saver library. A screen saver module is responsible only for configuring itself and for providing visual effects.

One of the three required functions in a screen saver module is ScreenSaverProc. This function processes specific messages and passes any unprocessed messages back to the screen saver library. Following are some of the typical messages processed by ScreenSaverProc.

Message	Meaning
WM_CREATE	Retrieve any initialization data from the Regedit.ini file. Set a window timer for the screen saver window. Perform any other required initialization.
WM_ERASEBKGND	Erase the screen saver window and prepare for subsequent drawing operations.
WM_TIMER	Perform drawing operations.
WM_DESTROY	Destroy the timers created when the application processed the WM_CREATE message. Perform any additional required cleanup.

ScreenSaverProc passes unprocessed messages to the screen saver library by calling the DefScreenSaverProc function. The following table describes how this function processes various messages.

Message	Action
WM_SETCURSOR	Set the cursor to the null cursor, removing it from the screen.
WM_PAINT	Paint the screen background.
WM_LBUTTONDOWN	Terminate the screen saver.
WM_MBUTTONDOWN	Terminate the screen saver.
WM_RBUTTONDOWN	Terminate the screen saver.
WM_KEYDOWN	Terminate the screen saver.
WM_MOUSEMOVE	Terminate the screen saver.
WM_ACTIVATE	Terminate the screen saver if the wParam parameter is set to FALSE.

The second required function in a screen saver module is ScreenSaverConfigureDialog. This function displays a dialog box that enables the user to configure the screen saver (an application must provide a corresponding dialog box template). Windows displays the configuration dialog box when the user selects the Setup button in the Control Panel’s Screen Saver dialog box.

The third required function in a screen saver module is RegisterDialogClasses. This function must be called by all screen saver applications. However, applications that do not require special windows or custom controls in the configuration dialog box can simply return TRUE. Applications requiring special windows or custom controls should use this function to register the corresponding window classes.

In addition to creating a module that supports the three functions just described, a screen saver should supply an icon. This icon is visible only when the screen saver is run as a standalone application. (To be run by the Control Panel, a screen saver must have the .scr file name extension; to be run as a standalone application, it must have the .exe file name extension.) The icon must be identified in the screen saver’s resource file by the constant ID_APP, which is defined in the Scrnsave.h header file.

One final requirement is a screen saver description string. The resource file for a screen saver must contain a string that the Control Panel displays as the screen saver name. The description string must be the first string in the resource file’s string table (identified with the ordinal value 1). However, the description string is ignored by the Control Panel if the screen saver has a long filename. In such case, the filename will be used as the description string.

Using the Screen Saver Functions

This section uses example code taken from a screen saver application to illustrate the following tasks:

Creating a Screen Saver

At intervals ranging from 1 through 10 seconds, the application in this example repaints the screen with one of four colors: white, light gray, dark gray, and black. The application paints the screen each time it receives a WM_TIMER message. The user can adjust the interval at which this message is sent by selecting the application’s configuration dialog box and adjusting a single horizontal scroll bar.

Screen saver library

The static screen saver functions are contained in the screen saver library. There are two versions of the library available, Scrnsave.lib and Scrnsavw.lib. You must link your project with one of these. Scrnsave.lib is used for screen savers that use ANSI characters, and Scrnsavw.lib is used for screen savers that use Unicode characters. A screen saver that is linked with Scrnsavw.lib will only run on Windows platforms that support Unicode, while a screen saver linked with Scrnsave.lib will run on any Windows platform.

Supporting the configuration dialog box

Most screen savers provide a configuration dialog box to let the user specify customization data such as unique colors, drawing speeds, line thickness, fonts, and so on. To support the configuration dialog box, the application must provide a dialog box template and must also support the ScreenSaverConfigureDialog function. Following is the dialog box template for the sample application.

You must define the constant used to identify the dialog box template by using the decimal value 2003, as in the following example:

The following example shows the ScreenSaverConfigureDialog function found in the sample application.

In addition to providing the dialog box template and supporting the ScreenSaverConfigureDialog function, an application must also support the RegisterDialogClasses function. This function registers any nonstandard window classes required by the screen saver. Because the sample application used only standard window classes in its dialog box procedure, this function simply returns TRUE, as in the following example:

Supporting the screen saver window procedure

Each screen saver must support a window procedure named ScreenSaverProc. Like most window procedures, ScreenSaverProc processes a set of specific messages and passes any unprocessed messages to a default procedure. However, instead of passing them to the DefWindowProc function, ScreenSaverProc passes unprocessed messages to the DefScreenSaverProc function. Another difference between ScreenSaverProc and a normal window procedure is that the handle passed to ScreenSaverProc identifies the entire desktop rather than a client window. The following example shows the ScreenSaverProc window procedure for the sample screen saver.

Creating a module-definition file

The ScreenSaverProc and ScreenSaverConfigureDialog functions must be exported in the application’s module-definition file; RegisterDialogClasses should not be exported, however. The following example shows the module-definition file for the sample application.

Installing New Screen Savers

When compiling the list of available screen savers, the Control Panel searches the Windows Startup directory for files with the .scr extension. Because screen savers are standard Windows executable files with .exe extensions, you must rename them so they have .scr extensions and copy them to the correct directory.

Adding Help to the Screen Saver Configuration Dialog Box

The configuration dialog box for a screen saver typically includes a Help button. Screen saver applications can check for the Help button identifier and call the WinHelp function in the same way Help is provided in other Windows-based applications.

How to Fix Black Screen During Installation Windows 10

Black Screen During Installation — What Is It?

Many are upgrading their OS to Windows 10 , however, it’s not always smooth sailing because users have been reportedly experiencing different bugs after a successful update.

One common issue in installing Windows 10 is the appearance of a black screen after installation. This usually occurs when the user restarts the computer. Initially, there will be a black screen only appearing on the monitor. There are also cases where a mouse cursor is present, while some cases have no cursor at all.

Not only that, it seemed that you’ve lost all your desktop icons when experiencing this bug.

Solution

Download Available to Completely Repair Black Screen During Installation

Recommended: Download the Automatic Repair Utility to correct this and other PC performance issues.

Certified safe, virus free download. Error Tools Editor’s Choice.

Error Causes

Just like the other bugs experienced by Windows 10 users, booting to a black screen has reasons. Before you even try to look for the solution, you first have to determine the cause of the error, in this case, the error would be black screen when booting.

• Error on external devices such as printer or mouse.
• Having outdated display/video drivers that normally result in black screen when OS is updated.

If error messages are left unsolved, you may encounter other Windows 10 related issues such as error code 0xc0000142.

Further Information and Manual Repair

Before you even think of upgrading your OS to Windows 10, you need to know that there are specific system requirements and specifications to be able to successfully update your operating system.

• Minimum of 1 gigahertz (GHz) Processor
• Either 1 (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit) Ram
• You need at least 16 GB of free hard disk space
• A Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device or later with WDDM 1.0 driver graphics card
• 800 x 600 display
• A Microsoft account and Internet access.

There are more system requirements in order to use other certain Windows 10 features, but we’ll focus on solving your black screen problem in this article.

IMPORTANT NOTE: While it’s possible that you’ll be able to find the solution for your black screen during Windows 10 update, contacting the service of a professional technician or using an automated tool is advisable if you’re not confident in performing the methods to be discussed.

Method 1: Windows 10 DVD Boot

1. Hit Repair your computer at the Install Now screen.
2. Press Advanced Options
3. When you’re in the Advanced Options find Troubleshoot and click it.
4. Proceed to pressing Startup Repair
5. Simply follow the instructions of the screen and check if that helps solve the black screen problem.

Method 2: Safe Mode from Windows 10 DVD Boot

1. Go to Install Now screen
2. Hit Repair your computer button
3. Go to Advanced Options
4. Click Safe Mode option

There’s a chance that you’ll get an error prompt saying, “installation cannot be completed in safe mode.” If this happens, simply press Shift + F10. This command will redirect you to the Command Prompt. You just open Device Manager by keying in devmgmt.msc then disable the display adapters, now check if you’ll be able to successfully boot in normal mode.

This process will normally allow you to complete the Windows 10 installation, if that’s the case you can just update the display adapter drivers from the manufacturer’s website. Restart your computer and see if this solves the problem.

Method 3: Driver Roll Back

1. Hit Windows Key + X then press the Device Manager
2. Expand the Display Adapters option
3. Right-click the listed Display Adapter and press on properties
4. Find the Driver Tab and click on it, then press Roll Back Driver

Do take note, however, that the Roll Back Driver option is not available if there was no previous version installed.

Method 4: Check External Devices

Since one common cause of black screen during a Windows 10 update is the external devices you use in your computer, you might want to consider these steps as well.

1. Simply unplug all of the external devices you currently use
2. Restart your computer
3. If in case this solved your black screen problem, carefully plug back the devices one at a time to determine which of the device is the culprit.
4. Update the drivers for the outdated hardware using a reliable third party tool.

Method 5: Fast Startup Disabled

Some Windows 10 users had success in solving their black screen problem by disabling the fast startup.

1. Go to the Control Panel, find Power Options and press “Choose what the power button does,” which is located in the left pane of the panel.
2. Hit the “Change settings that are currently unavailable.”
3. Make sure to unmark the checkbox button saying, “Turn on fast startup.”