Vista - Windows Vista DPI Settings

G'day


Simple premise: I want to use my laptop with Vista x64 as both "HTPC" and as a Work computer.

Problem: When using it as a HTPC i need to change the DPI scaling in order to be able to read any text on the 27" screen. This is perfectly fine, but when using it as a Work computer this DPI setting wont look nice on the 15" inch screen. So I have to change it and restart the computer, a very awkward process in the long run.

One idea i had was to create two users with one used for the HTPC since the DPI setting is global (HKLM) together with screen resolution and other hardware settings (like sound output). I basically just changed the Font size, Icon size and Border sizes for the HTPC user. This works sort of but, unfortunately, only seems to be valid for the Desktop and a select few menus in Vista (like the start menu, main control paned window) most sub windows and dialog boxes are still displayed with the puny 9 pts font

Another wild idea might be to run a "DPI Change-script" at startup, if it's even possible to change the DPI that way. Has anyone tried anything similar? I suppose it needs a restart anyway, but at least it would be automatic.

Is there a registry tweak to make the font change apply to everything in Vista.
or, a tweak to make the DPI setting Local? (i.e only aplies to current user)
I guess, if it would be possible to make Windows apply these (DPI) changes without needing a restart, that would be acceptable.



Cheers

Daniel

you should be able to right click the desk top, select properties, select
settings, click Advanced and check the box next to "Apply the new display
settings without restarting", click OK. Now change display resolutions and
click OK.

"Danneman" wrote:

Thanks for the reply.

No there are no such settings on my Vista x64 context menu.
However, I know what you mean. I had that option on Windows XP. That was only applicable to Screen resolution and not DPI settings, which still requires a restart.

I don't know where I would find this setting in Vista though. I've scanned through the control panel without finding it. Might be going blind...


/Daniel

How about Dual booting.?

Ah, now that's an idea... That is probably the best option at this stage.
The only problem (or hassle) with dual booting is that Vista seems to change the boot files on some of these automatic updates. It's weird, I had XP and Vista on dual boot on my laptop, but suddenly XP wouldn't start up due to missing boot records. I think it got removed after SP1 (or something) was installed on Vista. This could probably be prevented by backing up the right files, so I'll give it another try




Cheers

Daniel