Locked computer dual monitor

For some reason this change was made with Vista. I know it has nothing to do with performance nor does it affect how Windows 7 works, but I too wish MS would provide a way to turn this back on. Windows XP did do it right in some cases, I have noticed if you have Themes turned on XP will act like Windows 7 at the logon screen and the second monitor will be dark, but if you turn Themes off then XP will display both screens at logon.

I have daul monitors as well, but it has never bothered me simply because I am not there to look at it when it is locked.
I never understood why it was that they did that though. Would be cool to have a fix.

~Lordbob

dunfiddlin said:

So just to sum up ... Windows 7 isn't XP (I know this comes as a shock to many of you), 'locked' on W7 means 'LOCKED', and I was right all along. Gee, who knew?

Now if only I could prove that MS changed this behaviour because they detected a potential security problem in allowing the wallpaper display to remain active I'd be home free ... !!!!

what are you talking about, Locked on XP was locked as well. stop patting yourself on your back.

Zepher said:

dunfiddlin said:

So just to sum up ... Windows 7 isn't XP (I know this comes as a shock to many of you), 'locked' on W7 means 'LOCKED', and I was right all along. Gee, who knew?

Now if only I could prove that MS changed this behaviour because they detected a potential security problem in allowing the wallpaper display to remain active I'd be home free ... !!!!

what are you talking about, Locked on XP was locked as well. stop patting yourself on your back.

+1 I agree.

~Lordbob

Hi Kirsch,

Try MonitorES for a 3rd party solution. It's Win 7 Compatible.

Timo

I have given this further thought and have three more workarounds for you. However, I'm not sure not sure if two of them will work on Windows 7 systems other than Professional and Ultimate as they all use the projector settings and I don't think that the DisplaySwitch.exe is available in other versions. If it doesn't work, I'll post the
DisplaySwitch.exe and see if that's all we need to get it going.

METHOD 1: Projector Settings
Definately Will Only Work With Professional and Ultimate
After you press Win + L to lock your PC, Press Win + P and select the duplicate settings option

METHOD 2: Scheduled Triggers
This workaround involves changing the display to duplicate screens when you lock your computer and changing it back to 2 screens when you unlock it.

To do this, we'll use task scheduler to run some command lines on a trigger. The triggers will be either unlock or locking of the computer.
%windir%\System32\DisplaySwitch.exe /extend to use two screens
%windir%\System32\DisplaySwitch.exe /clone to clone the screens
or we could also use
%windir%\System32\DisplaySwitch.exe /internal to use just one screen


So lets set this up
Create the First Task

1. Open the task scheduler by typing taskschd.msc into RUN or SEARCH and pressing ENTER
2. Right Click on Task Scheduler (Local) and select 'Create Task'
3. In the Create Task Window Type a Name for first the task (e.g. Single Display Lock)
4. Type in a description (E.g. This task is triggered when Windows is locked and changes the display to a single display)
5. Tick the 'Run with Highest Privilages' Box
6. Change the 'Configure for' drop down box to "Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2"
7. Select the TRIGGERS tab
8. Click NEW
9. In the Begin the Task Dropdown select "On workstation lock"
10. in The Advanced Settings Select the "Delay Task for" box and type 3 Seconds in the box beside it. NOTE: you may need to increase this if it doesn't work for you.
11. Click OK
12. Select the ACTIONS tab
13. Click NEW
14. In the Program/Script box type the following %windir%\System32\DisplaySwitch.exe
15. In the Add Arguments box type /clone
16. Click OK
17. Select the CONDITIONS tab
18. Click OK to save and exit the new task

Create the Second Task

1. Open the task scheduler by typing taskschd.msc into RUN or SEARCH and pressing ENTER
2. Right Click on Task Scheduler (Local) and select 'Create Task'
3. In the Create Task Window Type a Name for first the task (e.g. Extended Screen for Unlock)
4. Type in a description (E.g. This task is triggered when Windows is unlocked and extends the screen to two monitors)
5. Tick the 'Run with Highest Privilages' Box
6. Change the 'Configure for' drop down box to "Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2"
7. Select the TRIGGERS tab
8. Click NEW
9. In the Begin the Task Dropdown select "On workstation unlock"
10. in The Advanced Settings Select the "Delay Task for" box and type 3 Seconds in the box beside it. NOTE: you may need to increase this if it doesn't work for you.
11. Click OK
12. Select the ACTIONS tab
13. Click NEW
14. In the Program/Script box type the following %windir%\System32\DisplaySwitch.exe
15. In the Add Arguments box type /extend
16. Click OK
17. Select the CONDITIONS tab
18. Click OK to save exit the new task

It takes a few seconds to come up but it should work a-ok.

Method 3: Batch Files
An alternate workaround would be to write two batch files one, for lock and one for dual screen display. In the batch files we sould need to include the command rundll32.exe user32.dll, LockWorkStation to lock the workstation.

To create a Batch file, open notepad and paste the Grey text in, then save it as a *.bat extension

Batch 1
:: LOCK ME
%windir%\System32\DisplaySwitch.exe /clone
rundll32.exe user32.dll, LockWorkStation

Batch 2
:: DUAL SCREEN
%windir%\System32\DisplaySwitch.exe /extend

References:
Brink - How to Create a Display Switch Shortcut in Windows 7


EDIT:
@Kirsch - Kari just let me know that you were after a duplicate screen when you locked the computer. I'm sorry that I missed this when I originally wrote it, I've fixed that and updated it above. If this is the first time that you've read this message then please disregard it (and thank Kari :) ). - Timo

Cool Idea, however when you use %windir%\System32\DisplaySwitch.exe /clone and %windir%\System32\DisplaySwitch.exe /extend to put the monitor back every window that was open on the second monitor is moved to the first monitor. So now all your windows are on the first monitor, using the %windir%\System32\DisplaySwitch.exe /extend does not put the windows back on the second mointor. Awesome idea and it sure was fun to play with.

TimStitt said:

Hi Kirsch,

Try MonitorES for a 3rd party solution. It's Win 7 Compatible.

Timo

Looks like that program turns off the monitors when I lock the screen, pretty much the opposite of what I am trying to do ahha thanks tho! :)

Kirsch said:

Looks like that program turns off the monitors when I lock the screen, pretty much the opposite of what I am trying to do ahha thanks tho! :)

Yeah I know, I originally misread the post and offered that as a solution. After Kari let me know and I wrote the EDIT on the second post I decided to leave this one there as it might be acceptable to another future reader. I thought you'd realize that both posts were from me and work and out. I probably should have edited both of them to be certain.

Try the other solution, given that you have windows Ultimate the only caveat so far is the moving of the open Windows to a single screen as WindowsStar noted. Perhaps with time I can script a way around that... if so you'll be the first to know.