How to Change the Display DPI Size in Windows 7 and Windows 8
Information
This will show you how to change the DPI (Dots per Inch) size settings to allow text and other items, such as icons, fonts, and windows, to display larger or smaller in Windows 7 and Windows 8.
The DPI setting you set below only affects the current user account that you are logged in, and not all users.
Note
Setting the DPI size to a smaller number or percentage will decrease all items size on the display, while setting the DPI size to a larger number or percentage will increase all items size on the display.
Tip
Typically, the higher the dots per inch (DPI), the better the fonts will look. If you set the DPI higher than 96, and you are running aWindows Aero theme, the text and other items on the screen might appear blurry in some programs that are not designed for high–DPI display in this version of Windows. You can avoid this issue by using legacy DPI scaling (Windows XP style DPI scaling) for these programs.
2. Right click or press and hold on an empty area of your desktop, and click/tap on Personalize. (See screenshot below) NOTE:The Windows 7 Starter and Home Basic editions do not have Personalize included in them.
A) Towards the bottom left corner, click/tap on the Display link. (See screenshot below)
B) Go to step 4.
OR
3. Right click or press and hold on an empty area of your desktop, and click/tap on Screen Resolution. (See screenshot below step 2)
A) Click/tap on the Make text and other items larger or smaller link. (See screenshot below)
4. You will now see this screen. (See screenshots below)
5. To Select a DPI Size
A) Dot a size that you want for the Display DPI size. (See screenshot above)
Smaller - 100% = 96 DPI (Pixels/Dots Per Inch)
Medium - 125% = 120 DPI (Pixels/Dots Per Inch)
Larger - 150% = 144 DPI (Pixels/Dots Per Inch)
B) Go to step 7.
6. To Set a Custom DPI Size
A) In the left pane, click/tap on the Set custom text size (DPI) link (Windows 7) or Custom sizing options link (Windows 8). (See screenshot below step 4)
B) To the right of Scale to this percentage of normal size, click on the drop down arrow and select a percentage you want the DPI size to be. (See screenshot below step 6D) NOTE:You can also click and hold on the Inch Scale below this and drag it to change the percentage.
C) If needed, check the Use Windows XP style DPI scaling box to make text and items clearer in programs that are not designed for higher settings than 96 DPI (100%). (See screenshot below step 6D) NOTE:See the TIP box at the top of the tutorial.
D) Click/tap on OK. (See screenshot below)
8. Click/tap on the Apply button. (See screenshot below step 4)
9. Click/tap on the Log off now button to apply the DPI changes. (See screenshot below) WARNING:This will log you off immediately. Be sure to save anything you are working on before you click on this.
10. Log back on.
OPTION TWO
Change DPI Manually in Registry Editor
1. Press the Windows + R keys to open the Run dialog, type regedit, and press Enter.
3. In regedit, navigate to the location below: (see screenshot below)
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
4. In the right pane of Desktop, double click/tap on LogPixels to modify it. (see screenshot above) NOTE:If you do not have the LogPixels DWORD value, then right click on a empty space in the right pane of Desktop, click on New and DWORD (32-bit) Value, type LogPixels, and press Enter.
5. In the edit/modify window, select (dot) Decimal, type in the registry data value from the table below for the DPI setting that you want to use, and click/tap on OK.
DPI Setting
Registry Data Value
Smaller - 100%
96
Medium - 125%
120
Larger - 150%
144
6. Close regedit.
7. Log off and log on, or restart the computer to apply.
OPTION THREE
To Restore Default 96 DPI Using a REG File Download
NOTE:This can be handy if you accidentally set the DPI to large and everything is extended way past the display screen, making them distorted and unreadable. You can also boot into Safe Mode and change the DPI scaling back to a smaller number using a option above.
1. Click/tap on the download button below to download the file below.
Restore_Default_96_DPI.reg
2.Save the .reg file to your desktop.
3. Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.
4. Click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK when prompted.
5. Log off and Log on, or restart the computer to apply changes.
6. When finished, you can delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.
Since doing my i7 build a few days ago I have had problems with some applications not displaying the content within their windows correctly. I have uploaded a picture of one of the interface that is doing it. It worked perfectly fine on all other windows 7 64bit installations I have had until I built the i7 one.
The problem is that whenever you initially load this interface up, it presents it self fine and well proportioned to the window it is held in. As soon as you try to move the window or close and then re-open it shrinks from the right side inwards and cuts off tabs at the top rendering them inaccessible.
I have tried formatting 3 times again and decided it must be something to do with the DPI scaling. I have tried your registry method and checked DXDiag, which is now displayin 96DPI for user and system (it was showing as User: 96 DPI and system 120 DPI as I read this thread). Still no luck!
Ive been trying to fix this for days now. I installed Vista 64bit on my other partition and there are no problems on with that version!
It may be a issue with the program itself running in Windows 7, or a setting in the program for it. You might check to see if there is a new update or patch available for it that may cover this issue. If not, then you might see if using compatibility mode with the program may help.
There is an easy way to avoid this problem altogether.
This issue usually occurs on PC's that meet two criteria when installing Windows 7:
1. You have a high-resolution monitor/screen (1920+)
2. Windows 7 has a driver for your video card.
A fool proof way to prevent this irreversible corruption of the font size is to use a monitor that is 1680x1050 or lower, or to use a very new video card.
For FHD notebooks, attach the monitor as an external display, it will still do the trick.
In my personal experience, an ATI Radeon 4650 has a bundled driver while an ATI Radeon 5770 does not have any bundled drivers.
Last edited by waqqas31; 29 Mar 2010 at 01:43 PM..
OS Windows 7 Ultimate x64 CPU Intel Core i7 930 Motherboard Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R rev 1.0 Memory Corsair CMX6GX3M3A1600C9 Graphics Card MSI ATI Radeon 5770 1 GB Sound Card Realtek HD Audio Monitor(s) Displays Dell Ultrasharp 3007WFP-HC Screen Resolution 2560 x 1600
Keyboard Microsoft Media Pro Mouse Logitech MX Revolution PSU PC Power & Cooling 750W Case Antec 902 Cooling Zalman CNPS 9500 AT Hard Drives OCZ Vertex 120GB SSD
WD15EADS
Seagate 250GB
Seagate 500GB Internet Speed 10 Mbps down/ 1 Mbps up
System Manufacturer/Model Number Advent T8 OS Windows 7 CPU Pentium D Memory 4Gb Graphics Card Integral Sound Card None - Bose USB System Monitor(s) Displays LaCie 324
Hard Drives 2 x 200Gb Internal
1 x 400Gb Freecom External
My son has messed with the desktop settings and the best I can assume from what he told me and what is on the screen is that he has changed the DPI to some ridiculously large size. Consequently I can only see a very small part of any window and I cannot use the GUI to alter this particular setting.
Is there a way, such as through safe mode with command prompt to restore a more reasonable 96 DPI? I have tried system restore, but it did not change the DPI setting.
Information
Note
Tip
OPTION ONE 
Desktop Wallpaper does not change size in "Personalize" Settings 
