Can’t change screen resolution after the recent Windows 10 1909 update? The screen freezes at some basic resolution, it always reverts to the old resolution or while trying to change the resolution by going to settings > System > Display can’t change the resolution as the option is greyed out? You are not alone a number of users report, that Windows 10 won’t let me change the resolution, few others can’t change the resolution as the option is greyed out and more. And the primary source of this issue appears to be incompatible or outdated Display Drivers which appear to conflict with the current Windows 10 version and thus making the problem. If you are also unable to change the screen resolution in Windows 10, please try out the following solutions in that order.
Cannot Change Screen Resolution Windows 10
Before trying out the solutions mentioned on this page, we advise you to reboot your PC once.
As discussed before the primary reason for this issue is display driver misconfiguration. Sometimes Drivers aren’t compatible, and they choose a lower resolution to stay safe. And we need to focus on display drivers such as update the Graphics driver or maybe roll back to the previous version to resolve the issue.
Check with clean boot
Restart windows into clean boot state, where windows start without third-party add-ons.
- Press Windows + I to open Settings,
- Select the system and then choose Display Tab.
- Or you can just right-click on Desktop and select Display settings.
- Here you can adjust the size of text, apps, and other items by sliding the scroll bar.
- Also, change the Screen resolution, Orientation and Adjust the brightness level.
This is a very useful solution if any third-party app or Theme causes the issue “can’t adjust the screen resolution in Windows 10″.
Check if the display driver is installed
More often than not, you cannot change the screen resolution without installing the correct display/graphics driver. Especially if you have switched from Windows 7 or 8.1 to Windows 10 or perform a clean installation we recommend to check windows installed the display driver:
- Use the keyboard shortcut Windows + R, type devmgmt.msc and click ok
- This will open the device manager and display all installed device driver list,
- Now Expand Display or Display adapters.
- The entry of your display/graphics card indicates that the driver is installed.
- If the display driver is not installed, you will see Microsoft’s basic display driver entry instead of the graphics card entry. And that cause we recommend install the latest driver for display adapter or graphics card.
Update Graphics Driver
If you notice the display driver is already installed there and still windows 10 won’t allow change resolution We recommend to update or reinstall the Display driver (Graphics). Well with default settings, Windows 10 is set to automatically download and install the latest version of the display driver whenever available. But If you have turned off automatic driver updates, you can manually check if an update is available for your display driver.
- Press Windows + X on the keyboard and select device manager,
- Expand Display adapters then right-click on the Intel HD Graphics and select Update driver software.
Note: For you, the Display driver may be AMD, Intel, NVIDIA or Basic Display driver.
- Click on Search automatically for updated driver software and follow on-screen instructions and let windows to download and install the latest display driver for you.
Also, you can select the second option “Browse my computer for driver software”. Choose the option Let me pick from a list. Select the compatible driver > Next This will automatically install the compatible display driver for you. After that restart windows and check are you able to change the screen resolution of Windows 10.
Install Display driver manually
- Open Device Manager using devmgmt.msc
- Expand Display Adapters, and select the GPU listed there.
- Note down the OEM, and Model no, and download the latest driver from their website.
- Run the driver program which you just downloaded, and install it.
- If it’s an INF file or some other format, you can right-click on the CPU, and update the driver.
- It will ask you to locate the INF file, and then install it.
In case your driver is already updated to the latest version, you can try rolling back to the old driver. It is only possible if you have a backup for your driver before the update or you can find one on the OEM website.
Install Graphics Driver in compatibility mode
Still need help don’t worry, let’s check if driver compatibility causing the issue. Visit the graphics card manufacturer website. For example, I am using the NVIDIA Graphics card on my system, then you need to visit the NVIDIA webpage and download the latest available Driver.
- Now Right-click on the graphics card driver setup file and select Properties.
- Go to Compatibility and checkmark on Run this program in compatibility mode for.
- Select Windows 7 or Windows 8 as shown image below Apply and Ok.
Again Right-click on the setup file and select Run as administrator Follow on-screen instructions to install the Graphics driver then after Reboot the PC. On the next login Open Settings > System. Click on the advanced display settings. Click on the recommended value.
Turn on GPU Scaling
Here is another optional solution that probably helps to fix the issue.
AMD:
- Open your AMD Radeon settings
- Click on ‘Display’
- Find GPU Scaling there and enable it
NVIDIA:
Open NVIDIA Control Panel. Here you have two options:
Change Resolution or Create New Resolution: Here you can create a custom resolution for your display, but keep the refresh rate the same. You can test it before finalizing it. This is useful when you know a particular resolution was there, but the monitor resolution not listed now.
b) Adjust Desktop Size: You can choose between Full Screen, Aspect Ratio, or no scaling. Scaling can be on GPU level or just monitor. Here is a bit of warning though. While it might not show any visible signs during regular work including video playback, you might see noticeable lag when playing a video game.
Also If you are unable to change the screen resolution after installing some programs or making changes to the operating system, you can try restoring Windows 10 to an earlier date.