Two monitors for vista

Greg Shultz shows you how to activate Vista's Remote Desktop support for multiple monitors and how to create a specially configured shortcut that will relieve you from having to rely on command line activation in the future. If you're using multiple monitors as a part of your system setup and you regularly connect to other Windows Vista or Windows XP via Remote Desktop , you'll definitely want to learn how you can take advantage of Vista's Remote Desktop support for multiple monitors.

Once you do, you can use this feature to connect to a remote computer and then span its desktop across your local system's multiple monitors. However, this great feature is essentially hidden, as it is tucked away in a command-line switch rather than being another check box in the Remote Desktop GUI.

In this edition of the Windows Vista report , I'll show you how to use this command-line switch. I'll then show you how to create a specially configured shortcut that will relieve you from having to rely on the command line. While Vista's Remote Desktop support for multiple monitors is an awesome feature, it does come with two caveats:.

To launch Remote Desktop Connection with multiple monitor support, you must open a Command Prompt window and type the command:. As soon as you make a connection, you'll immediately see the desktop of the remote system spread across your multiple monitors. When you need to have access to both the local and remote desktops, you can reduce the size of the remote system's desktop to only one monitor by clicking the Restore Down button on the Remote Desktop window. As a shortcut, you can also use the keystroke [Ctrl][Alt][Break].

Note: If you have Vista make sure you download the newest version of UltraMon which is currently in Beta but seems to be stable. I have had no issues with it. Any other Windows OS should be fine with the official stable release. He's a graduate of the Harvard Business Analytics Program and loves to travel and listen to music. Sign in or become a BestTechie member to join the conversation. Just enter your email below to get a log in link. Dual Monitors UltraMon Vista windows.

If you have 2 or more monitors I highly recommend this program. Leave a comment! Read more posts by this author. Comments Sign in or become a BestTechie member to join the conversation. To align the second monitor in relation to the first one you just click and drag the "2" box until it's in approximately the correct position as related to where the monitors are actually sitting on your desk. This is important because when you actually want to use the second monitor you will need to physically drag the windows you want on it "off the edge" of one screen and "onto" the other.

It's easier to see, and do, then explain. Once you've done this click the "Apply" box and you'll be presented with one last dialog box asking if you want to keep the settings. If your screen goes blank and you see nothing then just wait for a minute and it'll come back. At this point you may also want to adjust the resolution of the second monitor to get it to look right.

The trickiest part of the entire dual monitor setup is learning how to use it. What we've done is enlarge the desktop and stretch it across two monitors. With mine setup as shown in the pictures, when I move my mouse to the far left side of the laptop monitor it will vanish from my laptop screen and immediately appear on the right side of the screen on the second monitor.

Basically, just pretend that you have one monitor and you've cut in half and it magically still works. When I maximize any window on my computer, though, it will fill the screen that it's on but not both.

To help clear things up, take a look at the images. The first one is a screen capture with all of my windows minimized.

The division that is seen is the border between the two monitors. When I want to move between them I just move the mouse, or window, in the corresponding direction. In the second image I've brought up the instructables website on the right, another browser playing a video on the left, and a third window in between them. To see how this looks on the monitors just take a look at the last image. In conclusion, I hope this instructable has been helpful.

I mainly want people that are using laptops, or wishing they had larger screens, to realize what a normal person can easily do to help make their lives easier. I mainly use this to watch video on the second monitor while I do other things on the laptop LCD. This lets me do other things without having to resize windows to ridicules dimensions. I've only have this setup for a day and my computer handles it just fine although the second monitor does tend to flicker every once in a while due to age.

Hope you've enjoyed and found this helpful and insightful! Thanks for reading! You can also try this guide too!! Reply 7 years ago on Introduction.