Configuring Multiple Monitors

About

The excerpt below was modified from a longer Microsoft article that can be found here:
Guided Help: Dual monitor setup is easy in Windows 7!

Windows has several different display modes that can be used for multiple monitors or even presentations. Let's first talk about the different types of display options.

Environment

Windows 7 or 10

Steps

Mirror or Duplicate Displays

You can choose to mirror, or duplicate, your desktop on all displays. A mirrored desktop—the default display option—is useful if you plan to use your mobile PC to give a presentation on a projector or a fixed display in a conference room, such as a wall-mounted plasma display or TV-type monitor.

image depicting the screen resolution page in windows when configuring dual monitors

image depicting how to setup the appearance of the displays

 

 

 

Extend Displays

When you want to increase your desktop area, you can extend your desktop across all displays, so that you can move program windows back and forth between the different displays. For example, you can use Microsoft Office OneNote to take notes on your mobile PC while presenting information to colleagues on an external display that everyone can see.

Example of a desktop extended across two displays

image depicting the extend display button

 

External desktop only display (Projector)

You can also show your desktop only on the external display. This option is useful when you play a DVD on a mobile PC that supports full-screen video playback on a single display. You can also save battery power by turning off the mobile PC display and using only the external display.

image depicting the computer only option


The excerpt above was modified from a longer Microsoft article that can be found here:
Windows 10 Help


 

How to Change the Display Settings on Windows 7


Option 1:

  1. Press the following keys:  + P
  2. This should bring you to the pop-up menu below. At this point you can either use the arrow keys to select a display or you can click on a display:

    image depicting the computer only option

 

Option 2:

  1. Make your way to the Screen Resolution display settings:
    • Control Panel > Display > Screen Resolution
      or
    • Right click on the desktop background and select Screen resolution

    image depicting the screen resolution option

  2. Select the Multiple Displays configuration you want for the selected display, and click on Apply (see screenshot below):

    image depicting the extend these displays option in the dropdown menu

  3. If you like the display settings, click okay and close out of screen resolution. If you do not click anything, after 15 seconds it will revert back to normal.

That's it. You're done. Enjoy your multiple monitor experience.

 

How to Change the Display Settings on Apple OS X:


The options for display settings on a Mac are almost exactly the same. The page below explains how to change the display settings on a Mac:

Use multiple displays with your Mac


 

If you have any further trouble, please contact us at ITS@manhattan.edu or (718) 862-7973.

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