Windows – Dual Monitors Switching While Running Full-Screen Game

fullscreenmultiple-monitorswindows

I have a dual-monitor setup, and currently I can run a full screen game (Warcraft 3 and Starcraft 2 currently) and see still see anything I have open on my second monitor.

I can't move my mouse from one monitor to the other, which is a good thing. However, I would like to know if it's possible to press some key combination and "release" my mouse control from the full screen game to my second monitor without the game minimizing (which is what happens when I ALT – Tab).

Best Answer

Some games support a Fullscreen Windowed mode along side Fullscreen and Windowed. This is the only way to do this, any Fullscreen application will minimise when you alt-tab.

Some games I know support this mode:

  • World of Warcraft
  • Rift

Some games will let you simulate Fullscreen Windowed mode. There are also probably applications that help with this (EveMon will do this for EVE Online). All Fullscreen Windowed mode really is is the ability for the application to take a normal Windowed version of itself and position it such that it looks like it's running in Fullscreen mode; ie, the window chrome is placed offscreen.

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