Possibility of switching resolution/text size?

[vnvjeep]

Hi Everyone...

I've got my Surface Pro 2 hooked up to a USB3 Lenovo docking station which supplies me with 2 x DVI outs to hook up to my 2 external monitors. I'm a happy camper working at 1920x1080 on each monitor, with the Display text size set to "Smaller -- 100%" (which is normally set to "Larger -- 150%"). Using the 10" display on the Surface at this resolution and text size is nearly impossible unless you have some great vision... So my question is...

Is it possible when I undock from my docking station that my display can automatically change resolution per my choice, and change the text size to a different size? It would be nice to make my Surface usable without having to make a bunch of system settings changes.... Even if I was able to create some kind of shortcut on the desktop to run some script in the background, I'd be happy with that.

If you guys/gals can think of anything, I'd certainly be appreciative!

Thank you,
-Mike

 

[MickeyLittle]

This is a great question as I'm also thinking of setting up 2 external monitors and the last thing I want to do is invest in this and then discover that I have to adjust the screen resolution on my Pro every time I unhook to go to basic tablet mode.

 

[vnvjeep]

This is a great question as I'm also thinking of setting up 2 external monitors and the last thing I want to do is invest in this and then discover that I have to adjust the screen resolution on my Pro every time I unhook to go to basic tablet mode.

Well... I poked around a bit, and been able to get around this a little bit using some registry entry changes and some simple command lines... This only changes the DPI from 100% to 150% and back, and just be aware that if you change your DPI, you do have to log out and log back in... so my script will automatically log out you. Please make sure you close and save any files you're working on before you run them. I haven't looking into what it takes to change resolutions yet, but this really helped. So, here's what I did:

Step 1... create a .reg file called 96dpi.reg... copy this in and save it (content between dashes).

-----
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; Change to 96dpi (100% text size)

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontDPI]
"LogPixels"=dword:00000060

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Hardware Profiles\0000\Software\Fonts]
"LogPixels"=dword:00000060

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Hardware Profiles\0001\Software\Fonts]
"LogPixels"=dword:00000060

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Hardware Profiles\Current\Software\Fonts]
"LogPixels"=dword:00000060

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
"LogPixels"=dword:00000060

[HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG\Software\Fonts]
"LogPixels"=dword:00000060
-----

Step 2...create a .reg file called 144dpi.reg... copy this in and save it (content between dashes).

-----
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; Change to 144dpi (150% text size)

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontDPI]
"LogPixels"=dword:00000090

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Hardware Profiles\0000\Software\Fonts]
"LogPixels"=dword:00000090

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Hardware Profiles\0001\Software\Fonts]
"LogPixels"=dword:00000090

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Hardware Profiles\Current\Software\Fonts]
"LogPixels"=dword:00000090

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
"LogPixels"=dword:00000090

[HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG\Software\Fonts]
"LogPixels"=dword:00000090
-----

Step 3...create a .cmd file called apply96.cmd... copy this in and save it (content between dashes).

-----
start regedit.exe /s c:\location\96dpi.reg
c:\windows\system32\shutdown /l /f
-----

Step 4...create a .cmd file called apply144.cmd... copy this in and save it (content between dashes).

-----
start regedit.exe /s c:\location\144dpi.reg
c:\windows\system32\shutdown /l /f
-----


So at this point, I have these 2 .cmd files sitting on my desktop, and it's a matter of just clicking on which DPI setting you want... it runs the .reg, logs out, and upon login you'll be at either 100% or 150% text size.

Hope this helps!
-Mike

 

[MickeyLittle]

That's awesome Mike. Thanks for all the hard work. I'm copying and pasting this for sure.