Triple Monitor setup. How to switch to single monitor mode (or maybe even dual) and use triple only when i need it.

[Plainman]

*Processor -Ryzen 7 -5700G (8 Cores+16 Threads) @ Base Clock 3.8 Ghz And Max Boost Clock 4.6 Ghz (Architecture -Zen 3). Socket AM4. 4 MB L2 Cache. 16 MB L3 Cache. Inbuilt IGPU Vega 8 (8 Core/2000 Mhz) graphics, 4K supported (3 Monitor Support). PCI Express (PCIe) v3.0. Power 65w TDP. Max Operating Temp 95 Centigrade. RAM Type DDR4-3200 Mhz Max, Max 128 GB RAM (dual channel). New installed on 04-Apr-2024.
*Motherboard -Asus Prime B550M-A-Wifi2, Socket AM4, 3 Monitor Support, 4x DDR4 RAM Slots @ 3200 mhz (128 GB Max), PCIe v4.0, HDMI (4K Support) +DVI-D+VGA Ports, InBuilt Wifi6 & Bluetooth v5.2, 2x M.2 NVMe Slots, 4x SATA3 Ports, 6x USB 3.2 Rear Ports, 2x USB 3.2 Front Panel Ports (Via Internal Header), 4x USB 2.0 Front Panel Ports (Via Internal Header), 2x AURA RGB Headers. New installed on 04-Apr-2024.
*RAM -4x 16GB, Kingston FURY, Black, DDR4, 3200mhz, CL16 (Model -KF432C16BB1~16).
*Graphics Card -Nil. Using processor IGPU Vega 8 (8 Core/2000 Mhz) graphics.
*OS Drive -Western Digital WD SN550 Blue 250GB NVMe SSD (WDS250G2B0C) -New installed on 08-Dec-2021.


I have 3 monitors connected to my computer. They work perfectly as an extended desktop. Monitors from LEFT to RIGHT 1-2-3. At times i want to deactivate 1 n 3 only using the middle monitor 2. Theres a convoluted way of doing it by going into display settings and setting each monitor to deactivate etc. But thats not what im looking for. On my Intel system i saved 3 profiles with combinations of monitors in the intel graphics tray and saved as profiles onto the desktop, then i could just click a profile (actually a batch file) and it would automatically deactivate the required monitors and work as if it were a 1 monitor setup only. Now with AMD i dont know how to do this as theres no graphics panel like that.

Can someone point out how this can be done. Thanks.

 

[GotNoRice]

What happens when you press the power button on both of the side monitors (power them off)? It should interpret that the same as if those monitors are now disconnected, and automatically switch to just using the center monitor. And when you power those side monitors back on, it should recognize them again automatically and put them back into their previous configuration. Pressing two buttons should be convenient enough.

 

[LukeTbk]

A very simple thing I do if it match your use case and are on windows.

1) Have the monitor that would be the only monitor in the 1 screen scenario be your main monitor.
2) windws + p, Pc screen only will put you in 1 monitor mode,
3) windows+p, extend will put you back to your 3 monitor like they were befre

 

[Tsumi]

What happens when you press the power button on both of the side monitors (power them off)? It should interpret that the same as if those monitors are now disconnected, and automatically switch to just using the center monitor. And when you power those side monitors back on, it should recognize them again automatically and put them back into their previous configuration. Pressing two buttons should be convenient enough.

This only works for monitors connected by DisplayPort. Other connections are interpreted as always active regardless of whether or not the monitor is on. The motherboard being used only has VGA, DVI, and HDMI connections.

@OP try using the Project function in Windows. You should be able to switch between 1 and 3 screens by choosing "PC screen only" or "Extend". The Project function is found in the notification area. I just tested this on my triple screen setup and it works, but you have to make sure the center screen is the one labeled as Monitor 1.

 

[Plainman]

What happens when you press the power button on both of the side monitors (power them off)? It should interpret that the same as if those monitors are now disconnected, and automatically switch to just using the center monitor. And when you power those side monitors back on, it should recognize them again automatically and put them back into their previous configuration. Pressing two buttons should be convenient enough.

Hi, no it doesnt work that way, lol. You power down a monitor and even after that, when booted up it remembers its a 3 monitor setup and the mouse drifts off into a non existent monitor even though its off. So ill have to be very careful and keep my mouse only on the middle screen. So the mouse and apps behave like theres 3 monitors, only thing they are off and youre working in the blind. I found that in a pinch Win+P works and can give you a cobo of only 1. Or 2 & 3 on. Or 1 2 3 on. The problem is when you want only 1 monitor, id prefer the middle monitor to be it. But in this method thats not possible as for 1 monitor only means it will only give output to display 1 (which is left most and not center. I hope im explaining this right.

 

[Plainman]

Hi if i

This only works for monitors connected by DisplayPort. Other connections are interpreted as always active regardless of whether or not the monitor is on. The motherboard being used only has VGA, DVI, and HDMI connections.

@OP try using the Project function in Windows. You should be able to switch between 1 and 3 screens by choosing "PC screen only" or "Extend". The Project function is found in the notification area. I just tested this on my triple screen setup and it works, but you have to make sure the center screen is the one labeled as Monitor 1.

i reordered the middle screen as 1 so as to form a layout as follows...... 2-1-3.....then when working in 3 monitor mode the mouse moves from middle monitor into the left monitor and then to the right monitor like a space warp. As in if you moved your mouse pointer full left it will exit into the wrong screen and appear at the other end of the right screen. It doesn't take a layout of 2-1-3 on display settings and yet maintain a synchronous flow of the mouse from 2 into 1 and into 3 if you were moving it from extreme left to extreme right.

 

[magnetik]

Currently running 3 x 40ish 4k screens and a 34" up top. I use a combination of Display Fusion and wifi switches to deal with them. Unfortunately, I found that using wifi switches abnormally triggers OLED screen cleaning mode. I use Display Fusion to break 12k x 2k down into quadrants.

 

[Plainman]

Yes i know display fusion. Pretty complex software for such a small application as mine though.

 

[Tsumi]

Hi if i

reorder the middle screen as 1 so as to form a layout as follows...... 2-1-3.....then when working in 3 monitor mode the mouse moves from middle monitor into the left monitor and then to the right monitor like a space warp. As in if you moved your mouse pointer full left it will exit into the wrong screen and appear at the other end of the right screen. It doesnt take a layout of 2-1-3 on display settings and yest maintain a synchronous flow of the mouse from 2 into 1 and into 3 if you were moving it from extreme left to extreme right.

Rearrange the monitor physical location in display settings. You can drag the monitors around to match the setup.

 

[Plainman]

Rearrange the monitor physical location in display settings. You can drag the monitors around to match the setup.

Tried it. even though you drag arrange 3-1-2. The mouse doesn't want to flow rightward from 3 > 1 > 2 as its logically supposed to. Then whats the use of rearranging....nobody knows, geniuses at MS Windows designed this. Thats why i faintly remember trying this also and was futile after which i posted here. This simple logic method doesn't work. However im still wondering, what was the point behind the rearrange feature, what is it then useful for ? What was MS thinking when they designed this ?

 

[Zepher]

I used to use Ultramon back in the day and I am pretty sure it had hotkeys or shortcuts to disable your other monitors and automatically move the windows that are open on those screens to the active one or ones.

Looks like the last update was back in 2018 to support Windows 10
https://www.realtimesoft.com/ultramon/

 

[Tsumi]

Tried it. even though you drag arrange 3-1-2. The mouse doesn't want to flow rightward from 3 > 1 > 2 as its logically supposed to. Then whats the use of rearranging....nobody knows, geniuses at MS Windows designed this. Thats why i faintly remember trying this also and was futile after which i posted here. This simple logic method doesn't work. However im still wondering, what was the point behind the rearrange feature, what is it then useful for ? What was MS thinking when they designed this ?

Rearranging has always worked for me, including when I have monitors stacked. Are you sure it's applying the rearrangement correctly?

 

[LukeTbk]

Tried it. even though you drag arrange 3-1-2. The mouse doesn't want to flow rightward from 3 > 1 > 2 as its logically supposed to Then whats the use of rearranging....nobody knows, geniuses at MS Windows designed this.

It worked for decades for me, have you clicked apply ? Click identify after to see if your computer numbers are the same

 

[Plainman]

Rearranging has always worked for me, including when I have monitors stacked. Are you sure it's applying the rearrangement correctly?

Hi, yes very sure i clicked APPLY and even scrolled below to see if theres a save button for the entire section etc (which sometimes happens), but no, and the final is it doesnt move mouse from left to right after reordering. It looks like it wants to only travel 1 > 2 > 3. Im stumped.

 

[Tsumi]

Weird. Have you installed all of the AMD software? Specifically the Adrenalin Edition one.

 

[Plainman]

It worked for decades for me, have you clicked apply ? Click identify after to see if your computer numbers are the same

Hello Luke, yes i tried clicking apply and identify and it shows 1-2-3 even though i shuffled them on the rearrange panel.

 

[Plainman]

Weird. Have you installed all of the AMD software? Specifically the Adrenalin Edition one.

I installed adrenalin one from the AMD site....though before that itself i installed VGA Drivers for the ASUS mobo and it installed Adrenalin Extreme Edition or something. But when asked i chose ONLY INSTALL DRIVER. It had another option called DRIVER and a control panel like option. When i installed that it had modes like cinema etc, nohting to do with multi display arrangement and it was kind of buggy and sluggish. So second time i did a fresh OS install and the drivers and chose Adrenalin ONLY DRIVER. The AMD site offers a package installer which seems to install the same thing.

 

[LukeTbk]

Hello Luke, yes i tried clicking apply and identify and it shows 1-2-3 even though i shuffled them on the rearrange panel.

Shuffling around should not change the monitor number (maybe setting one as primary do that-and or changing the port you connect them to)

I just mean, if you are shuffling them to be say 3-1-2, when you click identify do you see on the number that pop-up for the left screen to be the number 3, the middle screen to be number 1 and the right to be number 2.

IF you physical monitor are currently 1-2-3 I am not sure why the shuffling, I would imagine the default windows order to be 1-2-3

 

[Plainman]

What happens when you press the power button on both of the side monitors (power them off)? It should interpret that the same as if those monitors are now disconnected, and automatically switch to just using the center monitor. And when you power those side monitors back on, it should recognize them again automatically and put them back into their previous configuration. Pressing two buttons should be convenient enough.

 

[Plainman]

Shuffling around should not change the monitor number (maybe setting one as primary do that-and or changing the port you connect them to)

I just mean, if you are shuffling them to be say 3-1-2, when you click identify do you see on the number that pop-up for the left screen to be the number 3, the middle screen to be number 1 and the right to be number 2.

IF you physical monitor are currently 1-2-3 I am not sure why the shuffling, I would imagine the default windows order to be 1-2-3

Hi............ Yes default order would be 123. I arranged them post your suggestion to rearrange and try as 3-1-2 and after arranging like that and clicking apply....it still shows 1-2-3 on the identify result on each screen. It doesnt give a damn how i rearrange it on the settings. Hit identify and it goes from left showing 1 - 2 - 3. Now the actual problem is when i want single screen it defaults only to screen 1 which is the left most screen (uncomfortable for my ergonomics) and also that screen is connected by D-SUB....so no sound if i work with single monitor. If it takes the middle monitor (that is HDMI) and ill have sound also. Now thats the problem. In single screen only option (using Win+P) it only takes the left monitor.

In simple words your middle line (which i marked yellow) doesnt happen. It doesnt show that. It still shows only 1-2-3.

 

[LukeTbk]

it still shows 1-2-3 on the identify result on each screen.

is when i want single screen it defaults only to screen 1 which is the left most screen

Have you defined the single monitor you want (the middle) to be the main monitor ?
If you monitor in the real world are 1-2-3 I am not sure why you want to rearrange anything....? they are already in the good order, could you take a screen shot of your Display setup and tell us which order they show...

you should have a make this my main display and when you press the windows keys the start menu should show up on it.

 

[Tsumi]

Hi............ Yes default order would be 123. I arranged them post your suggestion to rearrange and try as 3-1-2 and after arranging like that and clicking apply....it still shows 1-2-3 on the identify result on each screen. It doesnt give a damn how i rearrange it on the settings. Hit identify and it goes from left showing 1 - 2 - 3. Now the actual problem is when i want single screen it defaults only to screen 1 which is the left most screen (uncomfortable for my ergonomics) and also that screen is connected by D-SUB....so no sound if i work with single monitor. If it takes the middle monitor (that is HDMI) and ill have sound also. Now thats the problem. In single screen only option (using Win+P) it only takes the left monitor.

In simple words your middle line (which i marked yellow) doesnt happen. It doesnt show that. It still shows only 1-2-3.

That doesn't sound right. You should physically rearrange the monitors/monitor connections such that when you hit identify, the monitors should display 2-1-3 or 3-1-2. After that, you rearrange the monitors in the Windows display setting so that it matches what is identified.

Edit: The reason you need to do this is because Windows will default to displaying only on what is physically connected as Monitor 1 when using PC screen only. I'm not sure if there is a way to change the monitor numbering in Windows; that might require a registry hack.

2nd edit: Here is an article that details how to edit the registry to change monitor numbering if swapping connections isn't an option: https://www.wikihow.com/Switch-Monitors-1-and-2-on-a-PC