7

I have just got my 4 monitors set up for my work pc. 2 using onboard graphics, and 2 using an Asus EN210 PCIe card.

I am trying to set them up in a specific layout, but I cannot seem to get it working, and I am not sure if it is possible or not.

key: - = Monitor

What works:

- - - -

and

- -
- -

What I am trying to achieve

  -
- - -

Is this possible?

When I try to apply this layout, it pauses/hangs for a couple seconds and then reverts to the 4 in a row layout (- - - -)

OS: Windows 10 Pro 64 bit

I tried a 3rd party app called 'Actual Multiple Monitors' which save the layout upon applying the changes(the layout is correct in the GUI of the program), however the desktop still acts as if it has 4 monitors in a single row.

Cadoiz
  • 519
  • 3
  • 10
Barry Thomas
  • 171
  • 3
  • How did you apply the layout? Simply drag the screen and drop it to the desired position. You can have any possible layout – phuclv Jun 14 '17 at 15:38
  • Yes, this is what I did, I dragged the monitors into the layout I wanted, in Display Settings, but when I click apply, they default back to 4 in a row, – Barry Thomas Jun 14 '17 at 15:41
  • Maybe it has something to do with the graphic cards arrangement of your computer corresponding to the monitors then. Multi-monitor setup is always tricky. – xji Jun 15 '17 at 19:16
  • 1
    Can you try changing which one you put on the top, just to see if it's only certain monitors that it doesn't want to move to certain places? If that is the case, you may just need to change which monitor positions are plugged into which plugs on the computer. – Moshe Katz Jun 19 '17 at 18:19
  • @MosheKatz Yea, I tried this and it didn't make a difference, someone on another forum said it is down to the graphics card I am using being a bit old and that a newer one would probably work. I'm going to try and get a more recent card and give it a go. Thanks for the suggestion though. – Barry Thomas Jun 20 '17 at 14:39
  • @JIXiang Yea, definitely tricky, someone suggested it was to do with my card being old, so I am going to try and get a newer one and test it. – Barry Thomas Jun 20 '17 at 14:40
  • Note that [Actual Multiple Monitors](https://www.actualtools.com/multiplemonitors/) is shareware for 24.95 USD – Cadoiz Jan 06 '22 at 17:59
  • [Related Q/A](https://superuser.com/q/394601/910769)(possibly duplicate). As I didn't find an answer - not here nor there - I asked [this new question here](https://superuser.com/questions/1697844/programatticaly-control-the-screen-layout-in-windows-10) – Cadoiz Jan 11 '22 at 13:52

3 Answers3

1

Take a look at DisplayFusion. I'm not sure if it supports the kind of

   *
*  *  *

4-way monitor layout you're looking for, but it appears pretty likely.

Cadoiz
  • 519
  • 3
  • 10
Ed Tittel
  • 65
  • 3
0

Not sure if you already solved this, but maybe LittleBigMouse can help.

It allowed me to solve some issues with the 'gaps' between the screens (allow corner crossing), but it allows for a much finer adjustment of screen positions too.

My setup in LBM: LBM in 4 monitor action

My setup IRL: enter image description here

Glorfindel
  • 4,089
  • 8
  • 24
  • 37
M.D. Klapwijk
  • 171
  • 3
  • The software seems cool, but unfortunately, I get [an error that it is blocked by a user group guidline](https://i.stack.imgur.com/XVDpN.png) – Cadoiz Jan 06 '22 at 17:53
0

I have pretty close to that setup--top row is 1 monitor, second row is three monitors, but the top one is over two of the lower ones. Moving it to be over the middle and right worked fine.

I'm running DisplayFusion but only for some tweaks that stock Windows doesn't do.

Two things I have noticed, though:

My general experience of trying to arrange multiple monitors is that it's less troublesome when you move them one at a time. Put one, apply changes, then put the next.

Also, in the test I just ran I noticed Windows slightly messing with the line of monitors in the second row even though I didn't touch them. While what it did would simply have annoyed me I could see a potential for actual trouble.

Note that under Windows 7 it was possible to take the mouse off the screen (it's confined to a bounding box that includes all your monitors) it is not under 10--moving diagonally though the empty space is not permitted. Perhaps your attempt to lay it out is failing because the mouse ends up in empty space?

Update: My previous experiments revealed a glitch in how Windows 10 arranges monitors that might be relevant to your problem. I thought I put everything back to normal, but then my mouse jammed against the edge of my middle screen, it wouldn't go onto the left screen. Turns out the left monitor ended up slightly disconnected from the middle monitor.

Loren Pechtel
  • 2,594
  • 2
  • 20
  • 23