How to switch between monitors

Sometimes it becomes necessary to connect to the video card, in addition to the main monitor, another one, or a projector. Regardless of the tasks facing the person - to show a presentation, play on the big screen or watch a video, for these purposes you will need to perform a series of actions - connect the device to the video card and then configure its operation through the operating system. How to do this is described in the article.

How to connect a second monitor

The video card has connectors for connecting a cable from the monitor. As a rule, modern cards have two connectors, and on some, if you count HDMI, then three. The following standards are most common:

1. VGA
2. DVI
3. HDMI

If the video card does not have any of them, then you can use the adapter.The HDMI connector is used to connect to modern TVs, monitors, as a rule, use the standard VGA or DVI.

If the devices are connected correctly, when the computer is turned on, the image appears on both, after which after a few seconds the picture on the additional device disappears. This is due to the fact that the video driver after loading takes control, turning off the second monitor.

IMPORTANT! You can connect and disconnect connectors to the video card only when the system unit is turned off. Failure to comply with this rule is fraught with the failure of the video card.

How to switch between monitors

After loading the Windows system, it is necessary to adjust the image on both devices. The operating system recognizes one monitor as the main, the second as an additional. To configure switching, you need to go to the screen resolution settings in the desktop context menu.

This menu allows you to select an image on both devices, the screen resolution on each of them, assign which device to accept as the primary, which - as an additional, to determine the orientation of the image.

There are four display modes with this connection:

1. Duplicate these screens is an identical image on both devices.
2. Expand these screens - this function allows you to display the taskbar on the first monitor, and the second serves to expand the first. When opening programs, the picture is displayed on the first screen, but it is possible to use the mouse to drag the image of the window with the program to the second.
3. Display desktop only 1 - only the main device is used.
4. Display the desktop only at 2 - only the optional device is used.

To quickly switch, for example, during a game, the key combination Win + P is used. You can switch between the four modes described above, for which the above combination is pressed, then, while holding the Win key, by pressing P, the modes are switched sequentially.

This combination can be useful if you first used both monitors, then the main one was removed from the system. As a result, after disconnecting the additional device, when you turn on the computer, you can observe a dark screen after loading Windows. When you press the Win + P combination, the required operating mode will be selected, that is, "Display the desktop only by 1".