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I am running Windows 8.1 on a new Dell XPS laptop. I have attached a second screen via HDMI cable, and configured Windows to "extend the display". All of that is working fine.

Now, I'd like to configure Windows to display the taskbar on the second screen, as described here: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2406969,00.asp.

However, the "Multiple Displays" options are not visible where they should be, see the screeshot below: enter image description here

I don't know why the multi-display options are not available, does anyone know how to enable them?

I am definitely running Windows 8.1: enter image description here Thanks in advance.

Update

This is my screen resolution window below (for the second screen). It does have a warning saying "Your resolution is lower that 2048 x 1440. Some items might not fit on your screen.", which is because my main laptop monitor has a much higher resolution. I suppose that might be the cause of the problem? screen resolution window

Barry Pitman
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3 Answers3

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I have the same issue. Looks like this is a bug in an update to windows 8.1. The options show up again if i set the Display settings to larger than default item size ("Change the size of all items"). Man what a stupid bug, more info: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/a1dc4fa9-e3fd-4e1e-a174-5acde06a43e0/multiple-display-options-for-taskbar-missing-after-windows-81-update?forum=w8itprogeneral.

I went back to using Actual Multiple Monitor, but its having weird issues too : /

I was seeing the warning about resolution, but I don't see it anymore, and i still have the problem. So maybe its related, but not directly.

CORRECTION: I actually do see the warning about resolution only for my 2 secondary screens, not my primary screen (so maybe it is related).

UPDATE:

I found another crappy "solution". If you check the "Let me choose one scaling level for all my displays", the start bars also all show up. Unfortunately, this option kinda sucks when my laptop screen is like twice the resolution of my secondary screen.. ugh

Update: A Better Solution:

So I'm not entirely sure what I did, but I got things to work. I tried using the "Let me choose one scaling level for all my displays" option and scaling it to some middleground. Then I wanted to try switching back, and for some reason the startbars are still there, and the screen resolution settings don't have a warning anymore. So maybe you can just fiddle with this junk til it works?

B T
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I think you should check for updated graphics drivers. It looks like Windows does not detect your second screen in a correct way. I have seen issues with this using old nVidia drivers and multiscreen setups where the extend settings was unavailable or immediately lost when applying the new settings even if the secondary monitor was detected.

Per Salmi
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I too have Dell XPS laptop, but with 3 screens.

I found 2 workarounds: (1) turn off the auto DPI scaling (i.e. using "Let me use one scaling level for all displays") or (2) reduce resolution of main display to be closer to that of the others. I think the 2nd is the least worst (because the auto DPI scaling is useful) and I could restore the resolution of the main display and still work OK (albeit with small icons) until next sign-in.

Based on this, I think the issue arises because the resolutions of my monitors are so different to the laptop's (1280x1024 cf. 3200x1800).

SimonW
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