Setting screen resolution on Windows 10

Question

I'm trying to set the screen resolution via script (Powershell). I found the cmdlet Set-DisplayResolution, which should work on Server 2012/R2 and 8/8.1 (where it won't work), and it also didn't work on Windows 10 PS 5.0.

I also had a look at

Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Windows.Forms
[System.Windows.Forms.Screen]::AllScreens

and

[System.Windows.Forms.Screen]::PrimaryScreen

but it showed weird output:

BitsPerPixel : 32
Bounds       : {X=0,Y=0,Width=2000,Height=1333}
DeviceName   : \\.\DISPLAY1
Primary      : True
WorkingArea  : {X=0,Y=0,Width=2000,Height=1293}

I am running a 3000x2000 resolution. Even after I changed my display to 1920x1080 the output stays the same.

After a longer search I found this script, which does the job using win32 API. Is there a more handy way for doing this, as this Set-DisplayResolution just running on Windows 10 Installation?

I also would like to set the UI scaling of Windows 10 (like 150%). And for sure, i would like to know, why the AllScreens and PrimaryScreen methods of [System.Windows.Forms.Screen] aren't functioning properly.

Answer 1

Refer below script to change display resolution on Windows 10. PowerShell server core does not supported on windows 10. You can use below script Important : you can provide display resolution at end of the script currently it is set as Set-ScreenResolution -Width 1920 -Height 1080. You can change these values. Copy this complete script and save as Set-ScreenResolution.ps1 and execute using PowerShell. Make sure you Run powershell as admin

Function Set-ScreenResolution { 

<# 
    .Synopsis 
        Sets the Screen Resolution of the primary monitor 
    .Description 
        Uses Pinvoke and ChangeDisplaySettings Win32API to make the change 
    .Example 
        Set-ScreenResolution -Width 1024 -Height 768         
    #> 
param ( 
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true, 
           Position = 0)] 
[int] 
$Width, 

[Parameter(Mandatory=$true, 
           Position = 1)] 
[int] 
$Height 
) 

$pinvokeCode = @" 

using System; 
using System.Runtime.InteropServices; 

namespace Resolution 
{ 

    [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)] 
    public struct DEVMODE1 
    { 
        [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = 32)] 
        public string dmDeviceName; 
        public short dmSpecVersion; 
        public short dmDriverVersion; 
        public short dmSize; 
        public short dmDriverExtra; 
        public int dmFields; 

        public short dmOrientation; 
        public short dmPaperSize; 
        public short dmPaperLength; 
        public short dmPaperWidth; 

        public short dmScale; 
        public short dmCopies; 
        public short dmDefaultSource; 
        public short dmPrintQuality; 
        public short dmColor; 
        public short dmDuplex; 
        public short dmYResolution; 
        public short dmTTOption; 
        public short dmCollate; 
        [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = 32)] 
        public string dmFormName; 
        public short dmLogPixels; 
        public short dmBitsPerPel; 
        public int dmPelsWidth; 
        public int dmPelsHeight; 

        public int dmDisplayFlags; 
        public int dmDisplayFrequency; 

        public int dmICMMethod; 
        public int dmICMIntent; 
        public int dmMediaType; 
        public int dmDitherType; 
        public int dmReserved1; 
        public int dmReserved2; 

        public int dmPanningWidth; 
        public int dmPanningHeight; 
    }; 



    class User_32 
    { 
        [DllImport("user32.dll")] 
        public static extern int EnumDisplaySettings(string deviceName, int modeNum, ref DEVMODE1 devMode); 
        [DllImport("user32.dll")] 
        public static extern int ChangeDisplaySettings(ref DEVMODE1 devMode, int flags); 

        public const int ENUM_CURRENT_SETTINGS = -1; 
        public const int CDS_UPDATEREGISTRY = 0x01; 
        public const int CDS_TEST = 0x02; 
        public const int DISP_CHANGE_SUCCESSFUL = 0; 
        public const int DISP_CHANGE_RESTART = 1; 
        public const int DISP_CHANGE_FAILED = -1; 
    } 



    public class PrmaryScreenResolution 
    { 
        static public string ChangeResolution(int width, int height) 
        { 

            DEVMODE1 dm = GetDevMode1(); 

            if (0 != User_32.EnumDisplaySettings(null, User_32.ENUM_CURRENT_SETTINGS, ref dm)) 
            { 

                dm.dmPelsWidth = width; 
                dm.dmPelsHeight = height; 

                int iRet = User_32.ChangeDisplaySettings(ref dm, User_32.CDS_TEST); 

                if (iRet == User_32.DISP_CHANGE_FAILED) 
                { 
                    return "Unable To Process Your Request. Sorry For This Inconvenience."; 
                } 
                else 
                { 
                    iRet = User_32.ChangeDisplaySettings(ref dm, User_32.CDS_UPDATEREGISTRY); 
                    switch (iRet) 
                    { 
                        case User_32.DISP_CHANGE_SUCCESSFUL: 
                            { 
                                return "Success"; 
                            } 
                        case User_32.DISP_CHANGE_RESTART: 
                            { 
                                return "You Need To Reboot For The Change To Happen.\n If You Feel Any Problem After Rebooting Your Machine\nThen Try To Change Resolution In Safe Mode."; 
                            } 
                        default: 
                            { 
                                return "Failed To Change The Resolution"; 
                            } 
                    } 

                } 


            } 
            else 
            { 
                return "Failed To Change The Resolution."; 
            } 
        } 

        private static DEVMODE1 GetDevMode1() 
        { 
            DEVMODE1 dm = new DEVMODE1(); 
            dm.dmDeviceName = new String(new char[32]); 
            dm.dmFormName = new String(new char[32]); 
            dm.dmSize = (short)Marshal.SizeOf(dm); 
            return dm; 
        } 
    } 
} 

"@ 

Add-Type $pinvokeCode -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue 
[Resolution.PrmaryScreenResolution]::ChangeResolution($width,$height) 
} 

Set-ScreenResolution -Width 1920 -Height 1080

Answer 2

Sorry to tell, but it's not possible with powershell:

[System.Windows.Forms.Screen] - the namespace says all you need to understand: This namespace refers to the display area for the application you've coded as an windows form (Usefull, if you have to change the windows-size within your application)

The Cmdlet Set-Displayresolution only works on Windows Server 2016 Core (or any other Core-Server in the future). It is documented on Technet : https://technet.microsoft.com/de-de/library/jj603036(v=wps.630).aspx

The workaround to use Win32-API, that you found earlier, looks like the best solution you could get.