How to use DPI scaling in Windows 10 to fix blurry old apps

Nowadays, you’ll find high-DPI displays on almost any device, including on phones, laptops, tablets, and on desktop computers. However, there is one problem, while Windows 10 ships with DPI scaling support to improve the viewing experience, legacy applications never really benefit from it.

You can see this scaling problem when running traditional desktop (win32) apps, where text and visual elements look blurry or they’re sized incorrectly. To address this issue, Microsoft introduced some improvements with the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, but it wasn’t until the Creators Update that we’ve seen significant changes.

High-DPI scaling improvements on Windows 10

Microsoft is improving the way Windows 10 handles automatic scaling per-monitor, which reduces the amount of blur or incorrect size for legacy apps. However, there are scenarios where applications won’t render correctly, such as when a developer doesn’t update an app to support new DPI scaling changes. For this and other similar situations, Windows 10 now includes an option to force a particular app to run as a DPI-unware process.

The new option is called «System (Enhanced),» and when enabled the text and interface will look crispier and elements will be sized correctly. Though, some parts of the app may continue to look a little blurry, but it’s still a significant improvement.

In this Windows 10 guide, we’ll walk you through the easy steps to change the scaling settings for a particular legacy app to make text and interface look crisper and less blurry.

How to enable ‘System (Enhanced)’ scaling option on apps

If you’re running legacy (GDI-based) apps that don’t render properly on high pixel density displays, you can make them look better using the following steps:

1. Open the app you want to enhance scaling.
2. Right-click the app in the taskbar.

Right-click the name of the app and select Properties.

Quick Tip: You can also find the app’s .exe file, right-click it, and select Properties.

Under «Scaling performed by» drop-down menu, select System (Enhanced).

Click Apply.

Click OK.

This new option will override the way that a particular app handles the DPI scaling, which can result in interface elements and text being blurry, and allows Windows 10 to take care of the scaling.

Once you’ve completed the steps, restart the application to see the improvements. If the new scaling option works as expected, text and visual elements should look crisper. (Note that you may also need to reboot your computer to see the changes.)

Here are some of the current limitations with the new option:

• GDI+ and DX content don’t DPI scale.
• Bitmap-based content won’t look very crisp.
• You need to enable the option on each app to see if it works.

However, even with these limitations, the new high DPI scaling improvements are very noticeable to the point that Microsoft decided to enable the new option on many apps built into the OS, including the Microsoft Management Console (mmc.exe). This means that on the Creators Update and later versions built-in snap-in, such as Disk Management, Computer Management, Device Manager, and others will look significantly crispier and less blurry.

Disk Management Anniversary Update (left), Disk Management Creators Update (right)

Device Manager Anniversary Update (left), Device Manager Creators Update (right)

You’ll also notice two additional scaling options, if «System (Enhanced)» is not working on a particular app:

• Application: Used to be referred as «Disable display scaling on high DPI settings.» Using this option will force the app to run on a per-monitor DPI awareness.
• System: When enabled Windows 10 will stretch the interface, bitmap elements, and text will be blurry. This is the standard way Windows 10 handles scaling.

The new DPI scaling settings are only available for traditional desktop (GDI-based) apps. Windows Store apps cannot be configured with these options because they’re already optimized for high pixel density displays.

More Windows 10 resources

For more help articles, coverage, and answers to common questions about Windows 10, visit the following resources:

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Windows scaling issues for high-DPI devices

Summary

When you use a high-DPI device such as a Surface Pro 3, Surface Pro 4, or Surface Book together with external monitors, you experience the following issues:

Elements such as applications, the taskbar, icons, toolbars, text, and dialog boxes appear to be fuzzy.

Elements are too large or too small compared to the rest of the desktop.

Blurry text appears in applications or in the Windows interface.

Although these symptoms may be seen on a single monitor, they’re more common when you use multiple monitors that vary in display resolution. These symptoms also occur when the hardware configuration changes, such as when you dock and undock a device that uses external monitors, or you detach an external monitor from the device.

These issues commonly occur in the following scenarios:

Applications are moved between monitors that use different display resolutions.

The monitor that applications are displayed on changes between docked and undocked configurations.

Users mix connections during the same logon session. For example, users log on through a remote desktop connection (RDC), and later connect directly without first logging off.

Display information is determined when a user logs on to the system. A logoff-logon process resets the display information and improves behavior. However, the issue recurs if the monitor configuration changes during the same logon session, such as when you dock or undock the device or detach an external monitor.

This issue has become more prevalent since the introduction of 4k and higher resolution monitors, especially when these monitors are mixed together with older, standard monitors.

For more information about how Windows scales applications, see the following Core Team Blog articles:

Resolution

To resolve this issue, use the following methods.

Check for software updates Improvements are continuously being added to Windows 10 and Office 2016 applications. If you are experiencing a specific issue, first check whether it has been resolved in the latest Windows release or cumulative update. To check Windows 10 updates, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

Match screen resolutions Consider deploying monitors that have complementary screen resolutions.

When you use multiple monitors (including when you dock or connect to remote screens), a greater difference in the resolution between the native device and external device is more likely to cause the issues to occur. For more information, see the following OneDrive presentation:

Use UWP applications Use or deploy Universal Windows Platform (UWP) applications instead of Win32 applications.

Modern (UWP) apps always scale correctly. If there is a comparable modern app available, you can substitute that app to mitigate the scaling issues. For example, Edge is a modern app that does not cause the DPI Scaling issues that Internet Explorer might experience. Similarly, Remote Desktop is an alternative to mstsc.exe.

Check for known issues See the following articles for more information about known issues in these specific products.

Note Office 2016 applications started being released starting in September 2016. Additional updates are scheduled to follow.
Internet Explorer

3165808 Internet Explorer 11 Window display changes between built-in device monitor and an external monitor

Workaround

To work around scaling issues, try the following methods:

Log out and in Log out and log back in to the system. This improves how applications and elements are displayed when the monitor configuration changes.

Adjust display settings Windows 10

Select Display > Change the size of text, apps, and other items, and then adjust the slider for each monitor.

Earlier Windows systems

Right-click the application, select Properties, select the Compatibility tab, and then select the Disable display scaling on high DPI settings check box.

Change application properties In Explorer or on the Start menu, right-click the application name, select Properties, select the Compatibility tab, and then select the Disable display scaling on high DPI settings check box.

Note: In Windows 10 Version 1703 and later version of Windows, the text of the Disable display scaling on high DPI settings option is changed to Override high DPI scaling behavior, scaling performed by: Application.

Check whether applications are DPI-aware To determine an application’s support of DPI Scaling, follow these steps:

In Process Explorer, click the columns, and then add the DPI Awareness column to the view.

Start the application that you want to check.

In Process Explorer, locate the application, and then examine the DPI Awareness column.

DPI Awareness status definitions

Per-Monitor Aware: Per-monitor DPI-aware. These applications check for the DPI when they are started, and adjusts the scale factor whenever the DPI value changes. These applications are not automatically scaled by the system.

System Aware: System DPI-aware. These applications do not scale for DPI changes. They query for the DPI one time, and then use that value for the lifetime of the application. If the DPI changes, the application does not adjust to the new DPI value. It will be automatically scaled up or down by the system when the DPI changes from the system value.

Unaware: DPI-unaware. These applications do not scale for DPI changes. They are always assumed to have a scale factor of 100 percent (96 DPI). These applications are automatically scaled by the system at any other DPI settings.

For more information, see the following MSDN topic:

Report an issue Many UI elements have been updated because of customer feedback. Because DPI Scaling issues can involve multiple symptoms and configuration, information from users can help us identify specific scenarios and prioritize the development of updates.

To provide such feedback, follow these steps:

Record monitor configurations. To do this, take a screenshot of Display window ( Start > Settings > System > Display).

For each monitor, note the make and model, scaling percentage, and resolution.

Record the steps that you must follow to reproduce the issue.

Take screenshots or video of the desktop or applications before and after the scaling issues occur.

Run DXDiag.exe on the system.

Select Start > Feedback Hub. Search on “DPI” to check whether any listed issue matches your specific issue. If you find a match, you can add additional feedback, including screen shots, DXDiag results, and any other relevant information.

More Information

Display scaling is a deceptively complex problem. There is no magic bullet or single fix to resolve all DPI Scaling problems. DPI Scaling benefits from continuous improvements in the core operating system, in application development models, and in applications from both Microsoft and third parties.

Different versions of Windows and application development models have different display scaling capabilities and limitations.

For example, in Windows that were released earlier than Windows 8.1, desktop environment and applications understand only one scale factor, generally based on the primary display at the time that the logon session starts. When the display changes in the middle of a logon session, the system bitmaps scale content from the system scale factor to the new monitor scale factor. This makes sure that content doesn’t become excessively large or small. However, text may appear blurred. (The effect is worse when you scale up.) If the system shrinks or stretches UI elements to the correct size, this may cause some blurriness in dialog boxes and other UI elements.

In Windows 10, investments were made so that large parts of the desktop UX will scale crisply in docking-undocking scenarios. Additional scalability improvements were made to the taskbar, File Explorer, desktop icons, context menu, and other UI elements to improve the user experience.

Microsoft is continuously updating the system and first-party applications. Third-party applications may require similar investments.

References

MSDN: Writing DPI-aware Win32 applications

Thurrott Blog: July 13, 2015 post that discusses DPI Scaling. Article is based on the «Devices» chapter of the Windows 10 Field Guide.

Windows Blog: July 15, 2013

Build 2015: Display Scaling: What it is and what you need to know about it to have great visuals

Build 2014: Windows Desktop Development Platform Advancements

Build 2013: Making your desktop apps shine on high-DPI displays