How to set display resolution via PowerShell on Win10 Pro

Question

I was asked by a client's IT admin to "write a powershell script that sets the resolution manually on bootup". Presumably it is possible if they're asking me to do this. I have absolutely no experience with powershell. My scripts/commands and their errors are as follows:

Set-DisplayResolution -Width 1024 -Height 768

Set-DisplayResolution is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program.

Set-ScreenResolution -Width 1024 -Height 768

Set-ScreenResolution is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program.

SetDisplayResolution -Width 1024 -Height 768

SetDisplayResolution is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program.

What am I missing? Thank you.

score 16 · Answer 1 · edited Jan 21 '23 at 19:46

16

You need to install the DisplaySettings module from Powershell-Gallery to get this function.

Module Installation

Install-Module -Name DisplaySettings

Usage

Set-DisplayResolution -Width 800 -Height 600

edited Jan 21 '23 at 19:46

Guilherme Silva Sousa

781

answered Apr 26 '22 at 09:25

Yechiel Worenklein

191

Albin · Accepted Answer · 2019-10-17T17:42:30.303

Not sure where you got your example from but in a native powershell there is no command to set the resolution.

I use AutoHotKey. You can build your own script there or use an example from the net.

Or you could write your own function, that can be called from powershell: see here

And of course there are several 3rd party tools depending on your requirements. Here's one example that works with a script as well or here are 7 others. What exactly are you trying to do?

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 09 '21 at 16:53

Per Albin's answer:

Make a setResolution.ps1 file with the following contents (src):

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(&quot;user32.dll&quot;)] 
    public static extern int EnumDisplaySettings(string deviceName, int modeNum, ref DEVMODE1 devMode); 
    [DllImport(&quot;user32.dll&quot;)] 
    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 &quot;Unable To Process Your Request. Sorry For This Inconvenience.&quot;; 
            } 
            else 
            { 
                iRet = User_32.ChangeDisplaySettings(ref dm, User_32.CDS_UPDATEREGISTRY); 
                switch (iRet) 
                { 
                    case User_32.DISP_CHANGE_SUCCESSFUL: 
                        { 
                            return &quot;Success&quot;; 
                        } 
                    case User_32.DISP_CHANGE_RESTART: 
                        { 
                            return &quot;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.&quot;; 
                        } 
                    default: 
                        { 
                            return &quot;Failed To Change The Resolution&quot;; 
                        } 
                } 

            } 


        } 
        else 
        { 
            return &quot;Failed To Change The Resolution.&quot;; 
        } 
    } 

    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 1024 -Height 768

Then the file can be executed from powershell as follows

`C:\path-to-file\setResolution.ps1`

score 0 · Answer 4 · edited Feb 14 '22 at 13:04

The powershell script from Albin's post was working OK - but on one machine only let me set 1920x1080 and not 1920x1200 which I was able to do manually. In the end I had to use Nirsoft MultiMonitor which lets you save and load profiles. I was able to edit the config file and just put in the resolution parameters and it is working quite nicely. The config file looks like this :

Name=\\.\DISPLAY1
Width=1920
Height=1200

While I prefer to avoid third party tools where possible, on this occasion its free, lightweight and just works very well (and didn't complain about any virus)...

How to set display resolution via PowerShell on Win10 Pro

4 Answers4

Module Installation

Usage