How to fix greyed out "Hide modes that this monitor cannot display"

[witchdoctor]

Larger than Native resolutions on Netbook and Laptop LCD's*

This one's going on the public side simply because I'm disgusted with MS, Intel, ATI and nVidia for making a how-to necessary. Why did I want to do this? Because I have a 1024 x 600 display on my favorite Netbook(my WORK machine), and a client-mandated application was recently updated to scale for 1400 x 768, without the conveniences of scroll bars, zoom functionality, or window management(resizing) within sub-windows of the app. My personal solution once I could make it happen was to set my Desktop Area to 1024 x 768 since I can drag the subwindow's horizontally as required to see all of their contents, while minimally disrupting my use of other applications(in fact this has improved web browsing a tad) ... but how to get to this point when the latest Windows 7 drivers for Intel and ATI(based on threads found in my search for a solution) graphics each apparently grey out the checkbox that can make it all happen?

Apologies for the length of that first paragraph, because the solution is dead simple: download and install the XP version drivers for your specific Display Adapter, and run the exe file in XP SP3 Compatibility Mode.

After a restart, you will then want to open Device Manager, expand the Display Adapters tree, Right Click your Adapter and select "Update Driver" >> Brows My Computer >> Select From A List >>  <In general, pick the oldest one, especially for Intel Drivers that are version 6.x.x for XP, version 7.x.x for Vista, and version 8.x.x for Win 7 >> Click OK and OK for any Dialogues that follow up to "Restart Now or Restart Later" ... at this point if you don't have any unsaved work, go ahead and click Restart Now, otherwise click Restart Later and after you've dealt with anything open but before you forget about it, Restart to check your handi-work.

...and just because I already typed this part up earlier in an e-mail to my client's regional lead, here is what to do once you've addressed the grayed out issue:

For anyone whose laptop/netbook has Windows 7(or Vista or XY, though the steps will be slightly different), they should be able to Right Click on the Desktop>> Select "Screen Resolution">> in the window that opens select the blue link on the right to>> "Advanced Options" >> in the window that opens select the "Monitor" tab >> Un-check the box that says "Hide modes that this monitor cannot display" >> Click Apply >> Click OK >> Select the Resolution of your choice from the Drop-Down (Center Left of the Screen Resolution Window).

For anyone whose wondering how this makes ANY sense, LCD's generally don't distort their output when confronted with Resolutions higher than native; Instead, properly functioning drivers will give the monitor what it expects, but allow you to scroll through your larger-than-native desktop by moving your cursor to the screen edges.

*hey rick, any way to tag threads for Google SEO? I ran out of space in the title to cover some of my more fruitless searches.

[Todd Hughes]

*hey rick, any way to tag threads for Google SEO? I ran out of space in the title to cover some of my more fruitless searches.

I think just having this on the public side will do the job. Thanks for making an effort, we need to drive some traffic this way and threads like this will definitely help.

(and the new Tier3 group will allow us to maintain the cool kids club)

[Ward]

I use a little utility a1ctl on my Acer netbook.
It allows me to change the resolution to 1024x600 and 1024x768
I needed it to see the entire gui of the car players so the settings and tools at the bottom of the app were available.

I have it for download here
http://thevideocopilot.com/page4.php

or you can go to the site and read about it and download it from there.

http://nodadev.wordpress.com/2009/08/04/a1ctl-final-version-is-here/

[witchdoctor]

http://mobileoffice.about.com/od/netbooks/a/How-To-Change-Your-Netbooks-Screen-Resolution.htm

...found a way to do this without breaking Aero or Driver Signing(don't ask about that second part, I'm not proud of failure). My screen is now set at a downscaled resolution of 1152 x 864(to preserve aspect ratio), and now that I've zoomed in my browser its much less of a headache than other methods I tried.

I use a little utility a1ctl on my Acer netbook.
It allows me to change the resolution to 1024x600 and 1024x768
I needed it to see the entire gui of the car players so the settings and tools at the bottom of the app were available.

I have it for download here
http://thevideocopilot.com/page4.php

or you can go to the site and read about it and download it from there.

http://nodadev.wordpress.com/2009/08/04/a1ctl-final-version-is-here/

If you have a method to make this work in Windows 7 SP1 x86, I would love to hear it, though I'll do you the courtesy of reminding you this thread is on the public side. My original solution was to load XP drivers into Win7, but that broke Aero and Win7 Basic Themes are almost ugly enough to have me trying to hack my clients app into working with WINE ...

...actually, I'm going to search now to see if another affiliate already has. Aero should not be required for things that LXDE, XFCE, OpenBox and Gnome ALL pull off with a much smaller footprint/penalty, and finding ways around M$ consistent tendency to REMOVE functionality in each new OS they put out always leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

The article text, in case the link goes dead:

Many netbooks come with a default 1024x600 pixels (or similar) small screen resolution, which can cause problems in some apps or a lot of awkward scrolling. If you want to increase the amount of screen real estate you have on your netbook or be able to use apps that require higher-resolution displays (such as the Metro-style apps in the Windows 8 Developer Preview), you might be able to change a registry setting called "Display1_DownScalingSupported" in Windows to get options for higher resolutions. Here's how to search for the setting and change it:
Go to the Start menu and type in regedit in the search box, then hit Enter.
Scroll up on the left pane to make sure you are at the very top of the tree.
At the top menu, go to Edit then Find... and search for "Display1_DownScalingSupported"
Change each instance you find (you'll likely find 2 results for this) from "0" to "1". Make sure you change every found instance, because otherwise the hack won't work (in my experience).
Once done, restart the system.
When your system has restarted, when you right-click on your desktop and choose to change your screen resolution, you should now see options for 1024x768 as well as 1152x864 resolutions for your netbook, in addition to your previous resolutions.

For your reference, the specific registry has been found, on the Lenovo S10-3T at both
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Video\(154229D9-2695-4849-A329-88A1A7C4860A\0000
and
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\(154229D9-2695-4849-A329-88A1A7C4860A)\0000

Keep in mind that while this registry hack has been shown to work with a number of netbooks from different manufacturers, it might not work with all netbooks, and modifying your registry is always something you do at your own risk. It's always a good idea to backup your registry before making any changes by going to the file menu and exporting it.

(Note: Changing your default screen resolution on your netbook will most likely make it look a bit stretched out. You can try going into the advanced display properties for the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator, assuming you have an Intel GMA, where you have an option to set the aspect ratio to "maintain aspect ratio," but this has never seemed to work or apply for me; still, worth a try.)

[witchdoctor]

One last tidbit for Chrome Users with "human" eyesight...
Change text, image, and video sizes (zoom)
This article applies to Google Chrome on Windows, Mac, Linux, and Chrome OS.
How to set page zoom for all webpages

[Ward]

I didn't really understand your post. Do you have a netbook with Aero on it?
The utility I listed can be used only when needed then turn it off. It works great when you can't see the full window of a program and try to scroll down only to have it scroll back up with you try to click on something.

[witchdoctor]

I didn't really understand your post. Do you have a netbook with Aero on it?
The utility I listed can be used only when needed then turn it off. It works great when you can't see the full window of a program and try to scroll down only to have it scroll back up with you try to click on something.

Yes. This whole situation only comes up if I am using the Vista or Windows 7 drivers on my Netbook. If I load the XP drivers (UNDER Windows 7) then I can select any resolution I like and scroll around to my hearts content, but I lose Aero which means I'm stuck with a Taskbar the shade of blue I've come to identify with the feeling "something's not right here". The only time I should see that shade of blue for a taskbar is if a client's machine is running Windows 7 Basic, or Aero is broken on their Windows 7 install for whatever reason.

Basically, if I were running Windows XP, I wouldn't need the tool you've linked, and since I'm using Windows 7 instead of XP, according to the page I linked by the author of that tool, I can't use it.

The workaround I linked for "Screen Downsizing" works well for dealing with my client's app, but not so much for normal use, as the Aspect Ratio is off quite a bit at 1152x864(things are about 25% wider than they should be).

[Parrish]

People actually use netbooks?   

[witchdoctor]

People actually use netbooks?   

...maybe I'm late to that party, but it matches my Sony laptop's specs and has ZERO wear and tear on it. Throw in over six hours of battery life and yeah, I'm using a Netbook.

[SprinTech-WI]

People actually use netbooks?   

...maybe I'm late to that party, but it matches my Sony laptop's specs and has ZERO wear and tear on it. Throw in over six hours of battery life and yeah, I'm using a Netbook.

Yep dual core Atom 1.8, ion graphics, 2gb ddr3, windows 7 pro, 10.1" screen and 12hr battery.... I love my MSI and Asus netbooks!!!!

[Chris Springer]

I can't stand those little keyboards, and I hate touchpads.. so netbooks are most certainly a no go for me.

[Parrish]

I can't stand those little keyboards, and I hate touchpads.. so netbooks are most certainly a no go for me.

^^This.  Well apart from the touchpad thing.  I don't mind those at all. 

[SprinTech-WI]

I can't stand those little keyboards, and I hate touchpads.. so netbooks are most certainly a no go for me.

^^This.  Well apart from the touchpad thing.  I don't mind those at all. 

I have fairly small fingers..... so it's not bad (the small fingers are great for printers!) but yea...... if you can handle a 4" phone I'd say the 10" keyboard should work... it's 90% of a full size

[witchdoctor]

I can't stand those little keyboards, and I hate touchpads.. so netbooks are most certainly a no go for me.

^^This.  Well apart from the touchpad thing.  I don't mind those at all. 

I have fairly small fingers..... so it's not bad (the small fingers are great for printers!) but yea...... if you can handle a 4" phone I'd say the 10" keyboard should work... it's 90% of a full size

Keyboard on this thing is roughly the same size as my Sony's, just minus the row of keys on the right where PGUP, PGDN, Home, and End are(PGDN and PGUP are next to the arrow keys on this thing-SWEET), and the tab, caps lock, shift, enter and backspace keys are about half the width. Other than that, the F1-12 midget keys(standard for Laptops anyways) and the tilde being relocated next to the spacebar for some reason($key in Programmer Dvorak, I kind of like hitting that one with my thumb), its all full size keys and a dream to type on.

[Parrish]

I can't stand those little keyboards, and I hate touchpads.. so netbooks are most certainly a no go for me.

^^This.  Well apart from the touchpad thing.  I don't mind those at all. 

I have fairly small fingers..... so it's not bad (the small fingers are great for printers!) but yea...... if you can handle a 4" phone I'd say the 10" keyboard should work... it's 90% of a full size

For me it's not just the keyboard but also the screen.  About the smallest screen I can deal with is in the 12" range- even that is pushing it.  I like my Dell Precision M4300 with the 15.4" screen running at 1920x1200.  Yes, everything on the screen is tiny- but that's what I want and need.  I DO NOT want to scroll to see the entire desktop (as discussed above).  That M4300 is pretty much perfect in my opinion.  And, with the extended battery, I get about 5 hours out of it.  It also has a true serial port.