This article is for anyone who has more than one display at any computer they use during the day and provides information on how to arrange monitors, duplicate, extend, and adjust other display settings. These do not require administrator credentials - they are meant for users to adjust. If you are having trouble moving your mouse between monitors, or getting content onto a projector or TV, this article is for you.

Quick Projector Fix

The Projector Sidebar can often quickly rectify the issue where the Main Display not mirroring to the classroom display.

Use the Windows + P keys on your keyboard.
The Projector Sidebar will pop up on the right side of the Main Display.
Select Duplicate to mirror what is on the Main Display to the classroom display.
- You can also select Extend if you’d like to make it a second desktop and drag content to it. Please change this back to Duplicate at the end of class if you do, especially if you know any other instructor uses this classroom.
You can click anywhere off the sidebar to make this sidebar go away.

How to Get to Display Settings

The Display Settings gives more comprehensive control over display layouts and other settings regarding the displays.

Method 1: Right click the Desktop in any free space and select Display Settings.

Method 2: Do a Windows Search for Display Settings and click the Settings result.

Method 3 (the long way): Start (Windows icon in the bottom left > Settings (Gear Icon) > System > Display tab (which is usually the default tab).

Managing Display Layouts

The Layout Panel

The Layout panel visually represents how Windows “thinks” the physical displays are laid out in the real world. To Windows, a projector, smartboard, or TV is just another “display”. If you don’t see the number of displays here that actually exist, it may mean one of them is powered off (such as the classroom display), or that Windows does not detect it for another reason. You can click Detect to try to pick it up, but since Windows automatically detects displays when they are plugged in, the problem is likely physical.

Windows numbers displays in the order it detects them when it is starting up. Often it will detect displays in the same order for physical reasons, but this can change any time the computer is rebooted. There is no way to reliably enforce these settings at startup.

Identifying Display Numbers

If you suspect Windows has detected your monitors differently than they physically sit, you can change this layout. A good symptom of this is if you can’t move the mouse between the monitors normally. In the example, display 1 might actually sit on the left. You can click Identify and Windows will generate large black flags on the displays to tell you which number it thinks each display is.

Changing the Layout

You can drag and drop monitors into the correct order that makes physical sense to you. When this happens, Apply and Cancel buttons will also appear. Make sure to Apply to save your changes (or Cancel to cancel them).

Managing Multiple Displays

You are accustomed to the classroom display duplicating whatever is on one of your monitors, but today it is not doing that. You can check and “poke” the duplication settings under the Multiple Displays section.

First, select a display you’d like to duplicate to another display in the Layout panel above (it can be the one you want to display from or to). The selected display will be highlighted blue. As you scroll down, the settings shown will be for whatever display is selected.
Scroll down to Multiple Displays and left-click whatever is in the drop-down. Here, you can duplicate between two displays, or extend.

Extend will turn these displays into unique desktops. So you could in essence turn your classroom display into a second or third desktop and then drag and drop content onto it. If you do this, please change this setting back at the end of class. Most instructors will prefer to duplicate whatever is on their desktop so they don’t have to keep looking at the classroom display while manipulating windows/content and this is considered an OTC default behavior.

Setting the Main Display

Many applications will open by default on the Main Display. Icons will also show on the Main Display by default (they can be manually dragged and dropped onto other displays). At OTC, the left display is made the Main Display by default, unless the computer is an AIO, and then the AIO is always the Main Display regardless where it is or how many displays are present. If you change the settings for a class period, please remember to set it back at the end of class.

Select the correct display and then scroll down and check this box to make it the Main Display. This happens immediately, you do not have to hit any Apply or OK buttons. If you made a mistake, repeat these steps for the correct display.

Other Display Settings

Change the size of text, apps, and other items

This is the scaling option. If icons or text are too big, or your remote technician is having trouble with mouse tracking while assisting you, please change this setting to 100%. Windows often sets this higher on displays with high resolutions.

Resolution

Resolution means how many pixels per square inch the computer tells the display to use. If your icons or taskbar are too large, or the Windows desktop does not fit to the entire physical display, you may want to experiment with this setting to find one that matches or most closely matches.

If only very low resolutions, such as 640x480 are offered, something has gone wrong. Please restart the computer first (this forces the graphics drivers to reload), and then contact Help Desk if the problem persists. For the most prompt service of issues affecting class, we recommend you call at x7548 (417-447-7548).

Other Settings

It is not recommended to change any other settings in this control panel unless you are an advanced user.

Getting Zoom onto the Classroom Display

You have 2 monitors, a classroom display, and must stream your class to Zoom for a remote student or class. That’s a lot, we know! If you’re having trouble getting Zoom onto the classroom display, please:

Check Display Settings to see which monitor/display is your Main Display, and which display mirrors to the classroom display.
If your displays are out of order, change the layout using the steps above. This is especially important if you have an AIO in your classroom - it must be set as the Main Display and mirrored to the classroom display in order to make use of the touch-screen functionality.
Open Zoom, and drag and drop your zoom window onto the display that mirrors to the classroom display (or if extended, onto the classroom display) if it does not appear there by default.
- If you already had Zoom open and it’s recording, you will need to stop recording to move Zoom to another display.
For advanced screen sharing techniques to show content from multiple displays in your Zoom session, review this training video from Zoom.