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There are many similar questions but most of the answers mention a tool that splits a single desktop into different areas and make it easy to move windows from one area to another, maximize in an area etc. This applies to DisplayFusion and nView Desktop. There are other paid tools that I haven't tried, Actual Tools and iShadow Virtual Display Manager, but they seem to be doing the same thing.

None of these address my use-case: When I share (in Teams) etc the "entire screen" that should only share one of these virtual desktops. This is because I need to share multiple windows with a customer but ensure they do not see all of my windows.

Is there a software solution possible?

I thought of RDP to my localhost but that of course does not work. I came across some exotic approaches such as modifying terminal server dll and rdpwrapper but I cannot tell if they do what I need.

One comment I came across says the only way to do this is by using a dummy display emulator adapter. But I am unable to figure out how that will work: my laptop has only one HDMI port. Do I need to use a splitter?

My monitor (Dell Ultrasharp 38) does have multiple inputs and can show two screen side by side. I can probably use that but I switching from one input to another needs hardware buttons and it is quite slow.

I am wondering if it will just be easier to add another physical monitor.

Miserable Variable
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3 Answers3

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I got it to work as seen below. The second image shows 2 displays working as 3 physical displays. The third image shows the two physical dp cables and the two virtual adapter plugs (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FB8GJ1Z).

Once the virtual adapters are setup, you can open OBS and get a feed from the two virtual displays to a physical display.

The advantage here is that windows will treat these as 4 physical displays allowing you to run full screen apps on any of them.

To view the feed of the "virtual" displays you need OBS to view the output, and a physical display to actually see anything. I was surprised at how well it works, apps can run in full screen mode or however you want to set them up to run.

This does not use any screen splitting software, it runs natively on your GPU and I was able to run any app in full screen mode on display 3,4.

Another configuration could be 3 adapters ($8 each on Amazon) and 1 physical. With OBS you can display them however you want - 2 on top and 1 on bottom for example.

enter image description here 2 displays acting as 3 enter image description hereenter image description here

AntonB
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As none of the products you tried truly fulfilled your demands, for both free and paid software, it's time to look at simpler and more powerful solutions.

The virtual desktops feature of Windows may allow you to share one virtual desktop, keeping the non-shared programs on another one (depending on how the sharing product works). But you won't be able to watch both at the same time.

The most flexible method would be to acquire a second monitor that would allow you to watch both at the same time. It's also the simplest and most useful solution for your work.

harrymc
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I personally use Microsoft Powertools (link below). This has something called "fancy zones" which are completely customizable. I have a single large 49" LG monitor for work which has a resolution of 5120 × 1440 and I split it up into 3 sections using the standard "Priority Grid" layout so that the main window is focused in the middle of your viewing area. I would recommend anyone to try it out.

enter image description here

https://learn.microsoft.com/windows/powertoys/awake

Microsoft store page: https://aka.ms/getPowertoys

Amazon Dies In Darkness
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DelboyJay
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