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My purpose is to turn off the monitor when I run the computer remotely, to save energy and protect privacy. However, after disabling the "Generic PnP Monitor" in Device Manager, the monitor is still on (the image).

I thought by disabling the 'Generic PnP Monitor', Windows should stop sending signals to the monitor, am I wrong about that? btw, it seems the uninstall function also doesn't help.

I just want it off when I run the computer remotely, so I don't have access the power button.

The system is Win10.

Thanks in advance!

image I took of the monitor showing the monitor disabled

Jules Liu
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Case 1: You have 2 monitors, you want to turn one of them off.
Easiest way to do this is via Settings:

  1. Open Settings, Go to System > Display > Multiple Displays > Advanced Display Settings
  2. Select the display, scroll to bottom, turn it off

Case 2: You want to disable EVERY display you have.
I prefer you do it using a .BAT:

  1. Open notepad,
  2. Paste this code and save as a .bat:
powershell (Add-Type '[DllImport(\"user32.dll\")]^public static extern int SendMessage(int hWnd, int hMsg, int wParam, int lParam);' -Name a -Pas)::SendMessage(-1,0x0112,0xF170,2)
  1. Run it (as admin)

As for why does your monitor still works after you disabled Generic PnP monitor, first thing: This isn't the right way. Second: I'm not exactly sure why, but I think that windows detect Hardware changes and automatically reinstall essential drivers. I think I read this somewhere, But right now, I cannot remember.

Saaransh Garg
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  • Generic PNP Monitor probably controls the monitor. Without it, the monitor is just `on` all the time! – Brian Feb 17 '22 at 05:26
  • Yeah, @Brian, can put it like that! – Saaransh Garg Feb 17 '22 at 05:34
  • Thanks, I will try your code next time. Just want to make sure, this 'disable display' can be reversed remotely right? (like with teamviewer?) – Jules Liu Feb 18 '22 at 20:39
  • @Brian Thank you, correct if I'm wrong, does that mean the 'Generic PnP Monitor' is a software or controller of the hardware Monitor, I only disabled the controller program, but not the hardware connection? – Jules Liu Feb 18 '22 at 20:41
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    Yeah @JulesLiu, that must not cause any problem... – Saaransh Garg Feb 19 '22 at 02:42
  • @ Jules Liu, I'm not sure what exacty it does, but it at least reads the EDID, the monitor ID, from the monitor itself. The EDID, among other things, tells Windows what type of powersave options the monitor uses. If the PNP Monitor device is supposed to pass the EDID info to another driver, then what I speculated may be the case. Monitors are PNP only because of the EDID. – Brian Feb 22 '22 at 06:26