GPO for Screen Resolution

[enjay]

Is there a way I can set screen resolution via GPO? I've just added a load of new computers, and they've all come up at 800x600 which is a little painful on a 19" monitor. I know that if I log in and set it to something more friendly that it will stick, however I don't really want to have do that on every computer...

[gshaw]

I use a utility called SetRes with a VBScript that also sets the resolution for certain custom locations that have widescreens etc

[enjay]

We had SetRes here a year or so back for an application which insists on being run 800x600; I'll hunt it out again, thanks for reminding me about it.

[Duke5A]

What's the hardware? If it's Intel graphics with Intel provided drivers it should automatically set the screen resolution to whatever is native for the display. I don't think the drivers that ship with Windows will do this.

[enjay]

Fairly sure it is using the native Windows drivers, although that would explain why I've not had this problem on previous new computers.

[enjay]

I'm having trouble getting SetRes to work (turns out we had a different app before). If I run it from a batch file at logon, I get an error message saying that the driver failed the command, which could be because users don't have rights to change their screen resolution; I tried setting it as a machine startup script instead, but it doesn't do anything. How should I be doing this?

[Duke5A]

Well, I guess you could set the resolution on one of the systems, export the reg keys, and use a script to import them back onto the rest.

 

HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\iAlm\Device0
HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\iAlm\Device1
HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\VIDEO

 

I had to do this to fix a resolution problem on a group of netbooks. It worked, but this is for Windows XP and I'm not sure if it'll work on anything newer. Really though, I would look at silently installing the Intel display drivers. You may run into another problem if you don't and use Office 2010. I actually had lab machines randomly restarting and locking up when using Power Point. The slide transition effects use the GPU and the MS provided drivers were crashing the systems.

[enjay]

Don't think those keys are the same in Win7, looking at my computer.

 

How would you silently install drivers? I've never done that before, previously I've put everything in the build area and let them get picked up that way.

[itsmemario]

It's not possible to set it through GPO. You will need some utility. There are multiple small programs that will do just that. nircmd.exe looks nice. Windows 7 also has switchdisplaye.exe to switch displays But normally Windows will detect the correct resolution...

[FragglePete]

Had this issue the other day in our new ICT Suite - used a application called QRes - ran it from a share and initiated it with Impero, but you could do it with a logon .bat file. Was as simples as 'Qres.exe x/ 1600 y/ 800'

 

Pete

[enjay]

Couldn't get any of those to work! Nircmd works when manually called from a batch file but that same file in the All Users startup folder doesn't work. Even when called manually, it reverted at logoff.

 

I ended up going round and manually changing the screen resolution on the computers, as I figured I'd wasted enough time trying to get this to work, and by now it was quicker to do it manually. I might go back and install the Intel drivers when I have a bit more time on my hands, but the second week of term is a time to "make do and move on".

[Duke5A]

Don't think those keys are the same in Win7, looking at my computer.

 

How would you silently install drivers? I've never done that before, previously I've put everything in the build area and let them get picked up that way.

 

 

Graphics — Silent installation of the Intel® graphics drivers

 

Give a look first in device manager and make sure that they are in fact using a MS supplied driver.

[enjay]

Graphics — Silent installation of the Intel® graphics drivers

 

Give a look first in device manager and make sure that they are in fact using a MS supplied driver.

 

Looks promising, thanks. So, I would put that in a startup script, yes?

[Duke5A]

Well, startup scripts run with local machine credentials so I would think it would work. I would update the drivers in your image too to make sure this doesn't happen again (if in fact this does fix the problem).

 

Did you load them by hand on one of the machine with the issue? Did it fix it?

[TheScarfedOne]

Also using a separate app her...qres which is similar, and launched from script

[enjay]

Turns out that more than just screen resolution is wrong on these computers, as Movie Maker won't open. Turns out I need to get the Intel drivers on; silent install isn't working so I think I'll have to go round manually installing them.

 

I'll add them to the build area to stop this happening again. There's a thought - I wonder if it is actually quicker to add the drivers to the build are and re-image them all...