Enable Fake Second Display in Windows 10 – How to Guide

desktopmultiple-monitorswindows 10

I just updated to Windows 10 and discovered that Microsoft broke this method of adding a fake second monitor: Is there a way to fake a dual (second) monitor which I rely on for scaling some small programs to full screen with OBS. The "Detect" button in Control Panel seems to do nothing, and the "Detect" button in Settings simply says a display was not connected.

Is there any way to force Windows 10 to think there's a display connected on VGA without extra hardware or paid software? I'm using a laptop with an NVIDIA 970M with HDMI, VGA, and DisplayPort out.

What I've tried:

  • The "My display is not shown…" option in the NVIDIA Control Panel, which won't let me add anything and only has options for televisions
  • SpaceDesk, which almost works except that my real display is bumped to #2, and requires a client to be connected
  • DemoForge Mirage/ZoneScreen, which also require a connected client and are somewhat unstable on recent versions of Windows
  • VirtualMonitor which I think is almost what I want, but isn't compatible with Windows >7 and has some compatibility issues (?)

Note that I am not looking for Virtual Desktop software, and I don't need anything as fancy as Matrox PowerDesk or Virtual Display Manager.

Best Answer

Just spent last two hours trying to figure this out.

  1. First go to Control Panel (not Settings app)
  2. Go to Adjust Screen Resolution. You will get a similar window as you did in Windows 7.
  3. Click Detect
  4. Go to display Drop Down and select "Display Device on VGA"
  5. Select Desired Resolution. If windows is unable to save your settings use the software from your video card to adjust the resolution.
  6. If you aren't able to output the display to the Fake screen only, Press Windows+P and the select "Second display only"

I hope this helps.

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