Windows 10: Possible to re-assign monitor identities/numbers?

On boot up, the video card decides what monitor is main, the one the BIOS POST and boot screen show on. It's coded in the video cards firmware. If I connect 2 or more monitors to my Video card my BIOS boot screen will always show on one specific monitor. I have no control over that. The video card decides that based on how many monitors are connected and where they are connected. Once Windows loads I can set any of the three monitors to be the Main Monitor in Windows. Even then, that will not change what monitor shows the BIOS POST screen. I know this from observing what happens with different combinations of monitors connected.

 

You're not understanding the issue the OP is asking for a resolution to... I stumbled in from a Google search so that lead me to this thread where I've read it all to see if a solution was found and all I got was you constantly telling the OP they are wrong... They aren't...

Additionally, the monitor your UEFI shows up on has no bearing on what monitor Windows will mark as your "Monitor 1". My board boots with my UEFI showing on my primary screen, but Windows considers that same screen to be "Monitor 3" so it isn't the screen selected if I use Windows + P and set "PC Screen Only", but it will show if I select "Secondary Screen Only" (entirely skipping over "Monitor 2").

The issue is simply this:

Is there any way to determine what screen is set as the "PC Screen Only" and "Second Screen Only" when Windows + P is used for fast display toggling?

PC Screen Only appears to be set to "Monitor 1" with no way to change this...

"Make this my main display" has no correlation to what screen Windows + P "PC Screen Only" will use.

 

On my PC, that is running 3 screens. The monitor I set as main display is the one that stays on when I select PC Only. If I change what screen is the main display, that screen becomes the one that stays on. The numbers have nothing to do with it. I've done this several times, the results are the same each time.
The screen numbers I get for each monitor depend on how many monitors I have connected and what ports I have them connected to. I can't change what number they get from Windows.

 

Guys, if your system is doing things different from mine, it must be due to the Video card BIOS? All I can say is how things are working for me. As far as I know, there is no way to change the number Windows assigns to the monitor without physically changing what port its plugged into on the video card. I have not seen or found any menu option in Windows to change it with a mouse click. Laptops may behave differently than a desktop does, they have one monitor built in and wired directly to the motherboard. The *Start + P GUI looks to be geared to laptops more than desktops.

 

Man! I'm so glad you said that. Sometimes it seems as if they think we are idiots! My computers, normally, go as I set them. Although the screen ID is always backwards. If I choose the PC monitor as primary, the ID will be #2. If I choose the external monitor as primary, the PC monitor is still #2. I can live with that, but when I try to extend from the KMC Video app on one system it gives the error message that 'it can't play on the primary monitor'. On this particular system, it gives that message regardless.

 

Unsubscribes from thread. I hope you solve your issue but from this point on I wash my hands of the whole thing.

 

Really? Wow..., now what do we do?

Please....

 

I found this topic via google and wanted to shine some light on this for you guys.

the way windows assigns monitors has nothing to do with anything anyone is saying here and this thread has given me a lil laugh.

Windows asigns monitors in the order they are plugged in. this means if you plug them all in at once and turn on it just uses whichever port comes first in its list as it uses them. The lazy long way to fix this is to plug in one monitor at a time in the port you want it to be in and in the order you want it to be on. so turn off pc and plug in the monitor YOU WANT to be #1 into whatever port you wish then turn on PC. that monitor is now #1 since it is the only 1 of course. so turn off then plug the second screen you want to be #2 into whatever port you want it to operate on and turn on pc, it should now be #2. do this for the next one and so on. It works this way simply because windows has a registry entry where it records the monitors plugged in. if you dont want to do all that turning on and off then you can just delete the monitors from the registry and then plug and unplug them in the order you want as described below.

go to the registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\D ISPLAY there, find the monitors and delete them in the enumeration, you will probably have to right click and set the permissions (even when your admin) to "everyone" to delete these items. once you do that, physically disconnect the monitor wire you want to call 2 or Second, and when you boot up again, as the primary monitor re-installs it will be #1, and your obsessiveness over the number will be finished.

[ POST EDITED BY MODERATOR]

 

Interesting. I'll test that solution this afternoon.

 

... It's not obsessiveness, I have the same problem on my Windows 10 desktop PC.

My Asus monitor is #2 and set as the PRIMARY DISPLAY. The system boots on this display and most programs work fine.

My LG television is #1. My TV is usually off when I'm using my PC, but many programs launch incorrectly on the LG ... Then I have to turn on my TV, wait for it to start up, change to the PC input, and drag the window over to my PRIMARY DISPLAY, and turn the TV back off. Very annoying.

The numbering is the issue! Most programs will correctly launch by default to the PRIMARY DISPLAY, but many programs will launch by default to display #1, regardless of whether its defined as the primary display or not.

EDIT: At least WINDOWS KEY+SHIFT+(LEFT/RIGHT ARROW) will move the active window

 

Now, that is true. There ARE occasions when the apps will open on the wrong screen. Especially "Settings". It seems that 9 out of 10 times, it opens on the #1 screen, when #2 is my main screen. Numbering makes all the difference is some cases.

 

Hi, I hope it is not too late to ask... I have the same issue as discussed, however I cannot delete the two items, although I gave full control to everyone, please see my screenshot. Also, do I have to delete both folders DELA05D and DELA0DB or shall I also delete the one called 'Default Monitor' ? Your advice is much appreciated. Thank you! Alex

 

I would not delete "default Monitor", without further research. A restart would probably reinstall it if you lose your monitor from deleting that. But probably it would not delete anyway.

 

Any idea why the permissions do not allow me to delete the two folders DELA05D and DELA0DB? I cannot see any other way to get my monitors to be detected as 1 & 2 and not vice-versa. Thanks Alex

 

That's the research YOU must do. I have a project that requires multiple monitors, as many as 5, with 4 displaying the same files, and the other with a timer. But I don't sweat over which one is 1, or 2. I select the one on the screen for the control dashboard. And use the other one, whether ID'd as 1, 0r 2, for the extension project.