External monitor with laptop

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Its been so long since I did this I forgot how. And Googling gets part of the way there, but not exactly.

I want to add an external monitor to a laptop – same resolution. What I want is for the laptop screen to go black when lid closed and external to be active – and external dark and laptop active when lid opened. Most instructions keep BOTH active when the lid is closed. Anyone know the trick? I assume duplicate for the monitors setting and Do Nothing for lid closed. What am I missing?

And, btw, increasing hard to find the new post button on the new Ask Woody.

Thanks

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In the power options you should see a setting to allow you to change what happens when the lid is closed.

Search for power options, and you should see it in the settings.

https://www.google.com/search?q=choose+what+closing+the+lid+does&oq=choose+what+closing+the+&aqs=edge.0.0i67j69i57j0i512j0i67l2j0i512l4.3888j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Regarding the second feedback item after you find the venue – and then the forum you want to ask your question, see that “new topic” button at the top?  We want people to ask questions in the right venue so that moderators don’t spend time moving topics – we’re trying to make it easier on everyone.  So what would you expect versus what your experience was?

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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Thanks. Understood, but I do not see any option for turning off the laptop screen. Just sleep, hibernate, do nothing…etc. So that does not offer selections for open switch to internal, close switch to external. Appears its both all the time.

I’ll be setting this up tonight and will play with it.

 

I would think on the NEW POST that it would appear either right menus or at least when I went to the main forums page. Then after selecting would query me and allow to drill down to the proper forum for the question.

 

I looked for it for quite some time before selecting the Questions topic.

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Most recent response is at the top:
https://www.askwoody.com/forums/view/topics-freshness/

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“Open Power and Sleep Settings > Click Additional Power Settings > Click Choose what closing the lid does (it’s on the left hand side of pane). There are options for both when the laptop is on battery or plugged in.”

Anything there?  What brand of laptop?

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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@SB

it s a Len0vo, but that makes no difference. As I said, the options are sleep, hibernate, etc. NOTHING addresses which screen is active or turned off when.

Its been a long time. Maybe it does it automatically. Will have to test.

But your lid settings do not address the issue I am trying to solve.in other words., controlling whether internal or external monitor is on or off by opening or closing the lid.

But thanks.

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When I have an external monitor plugged in, it always goes on, and won’t auto turn off when I open the laptop screen.  I’ll look around for some software/perhaps a docking station but on a native laptop it won’t do that for sure that I’ve found.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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Sorry, I was taling about NEW Question or NEW Topic. A way to ask a new question which I found hard to find. Sorry for using “post” and confusing the issue.

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Same question – when you go to any forum, at the very top there is a big blue button that says “new topic”.

When you say the “main forum” – that’s my point we need folks to go to a specific venue.  When you are up in the “main forum” that’s just catagories and organization, not the place to ask the question.  Or – on the right hand side there are shortcuts to the most common forums and from there click “new topic”.

 

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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OK, but I find it three levels deep to get to the blue button – or more!. If it were on FORUMS, then asked which I would understand. Or at worst the second level down :

Forums / Ask Woody Support

Now I click Windows – still none. Then I click Windows 10 – Still no button.

Some people would have given up before this.

Next click brings up the New Topic button.

 

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Right because we want you to go to the organized topic.  If you merely ask up at “askwoody support” you’d not be in any particular spot.  I’ll do a sticky/howto to explain.  We recently reorganized to ensure that people browsing/reading posts could find topics better I’ll work on making the menu more obvious too so thanks for the feedback!

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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Sure thing. Maybe if when you click on forums there are two sentences saying to ask a new question….

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Then you should notice if the question to be asked is about a particular version of Win10, or about hardware, or about backup, etc., then put it in the right category.

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On a laptop there is usually an Fn+F-key that toggles between “both displays,” laptop only,” and “external display only.”

Then you also choose what to do when you close the laptop – “do nothing” (so it doesn’t hibernate or turn off).

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Thanks. and there is.  Win Key + P to easily get there. But that does not control other that which monitor or both. Not what happens when the lid closes and then which is selected.

Maybe it does what I want which is lid open / internal – lid closed / external. But it is not written t hat way with either the monitor selector or lid selector or both.

 

Make sense?

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If you have it set to duplicate or clone the laptop’s panel on the external, and you set the “close lid” action to “do nothing,” does it keep the laptop display on when he lid is closed? The system firmware (“BIOS”, or more properly UEFI on a system under about 10 years old) might turn it off even without being specified as a “lid close” action. If so, this would seem to be more or less what you are asking for.

If not, is “turn off display” one of the lid-close actions available?

I don’t have Windows installed bare-metal on a laptop to try out the options, so I am not sure exactly what options are available.

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Thanks. turn off is not one of the options. But today  I will test to see what I can find. Have not had time to unbox the monitor but will today after the Masters

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Ok, technical details on how the laptop knows the lid has been closed.

There’ll be a “small hole” somewhere just above the keyboard area that may or may not have a prong sticking out of it or a small sensor located in the lid right below the screen itself.

Here’s how to test exactly what happens when you close the lid without actually closing it…

If it has a prong, pushing it down will emulate the lid being closed.

If it has a hole above the keyboard or a sensor below the screen, covering it with something opaque will emulate the lid being closed. (note, a finger doesn’t always work because light can still shine thru the edges and fool the sensor into thinking the lid is still open.)

Just FYI, every laptop I’ve dealt with since 1999 (multiple models from different manufacturers) always turns off the main display when the lid is closed.

As for having the main display switch back and forth with an external display?

I’ve set up external displays on laptops numerous times and have never seen it work the way you want (i.e. external display only on when the lid is closed.) In every case where I’ve set one up, the external display is “always on” regardless of whether the laptop’s lid is closed or not.

Another thing to consider when using an external display is its screen resolution.

If it doesn’t exactly match the resolution of the laptop’s main display (and a lot of external displays won’t) you’ll encounter a situation where the resolution “changes” every time you open/close the lid.

My Aunt has this exact problem because her external display is 1920 x 1080 and her laptop display is 1366 × 768. So, if she opens the lid while using it, the external display switches to 1366 × 768 leaving a large black area “around” the desktop.

Because this really annoys her, she connected an external keyboard & mouse to the laptop and leaves the lid closed all the time.

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Great thought on a sensor or switch, but alas neither.

Just tried the laptop alone closing the lid down to maybe a 1/4″ open and screen still on.

Screen resolutions will be identical. I knew to match that but another good thought.

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OK, tried closing the lid again and it DOES go off about 1/8th inch before being closed. DO not see any mechanical or optical switch. But that is solved. Now to see if opening turns off the external after the Masters.

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Forgot to mention the magnet/reed switch combo in my previous post!

It works using a very small magnet (either in the lid or under the lower deck) that operates a small reed switch located in the corresponding location on the oppose component (i.e. magnet in the deck/switch in the lid or vice versa.)

When the lid is closed, the magnet causes the reed switch to change position (i.e. open → closed or closed → open.)

To test this sort of lid switch, locate the magnet by “slowly” running a small, light-weight, metallic object around the edges (like a washer) until it sticks to the magnet. Then, using a small magnet (like the ones everyone sticks to their refrigerators), activate the switch which will located directly opposite the magnet on the other component.

When the magnet gets near the reed switch, the display should go off.

1 user thanked author for this post.

rebop2020

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How cool. Found it with a paperclip. The magnet is at the bottom edge to the right of the fingerprint sensor. Clever.

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Just another Forum Poster wrote:

When the lid is closed, the magnet causes the reed switch to change position

Probably a Hall Effect sensor instead of a reed. Smaller, non-mechanical, cheaper…

cheers, Paul

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Finally got everything setup. I had misremembered and the resolution of the external is indeed higher. But be that as it may, I’ll deal with that.

On Windows 7, I had a laptop and external monitor. When I had the lid closed and booted, the external monitor was my display. When I opened the laptop lid, the external went dark and the internal was the display.

No matter what I try, I cannot duplicate this behavior in Windows 10. Tried all recommended settings. Even looked to see if that is a monition function rather than windows. Has me stumped.

Once I can get that working, I can deal with the different resolutions on the displays. But one thing at a time.

I don’t recall this being difficult to set up in 7. Wondering why it has me stumped in 10.

 

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I played with this and managed to get exactly your desired result. However, getting there is counter-intuitive and involves both power and display settings.

First, the power setting, reached from Settings, System, Power & Sleep, Related Settings and selecting Additional power settings:

Then the display settings: Settings, System, Display, Multiple displays and select the option ‘Show only on 1’.

With this setup, the power option keeps the laptop awake when the lid is closed. Closing the lid seems to turn off the laptop monitor, so the display moves to the external monitor as a fallback. On reopening the lid, the display resumes on the laptop and the external monitor goes dark.

HTH

Regards, Phil

 

2 users thanked author for this post.

RetiredGeek, rebop2020

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You are exactly right Phil. That is what it took. And a bonus is that both remember their native and set resolutions. And it is counterintuitive which is why it was so hard for me to stumble upon again.  Thanks.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Phil F

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Got it. And not exactly sure how Last change was to set Project to PC Screen ONLY> Now when laptop open, it blacks the external monitor. Then when I close the lid, External comes alive and at the proper resolution. Just what I wanted. Cool!

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Yes. set to when close lid, do nothing.

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AND show only on 1. Takes both to make this work. And it works VERY well keeping each screens resolution, etc.

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