Change DPI Scaling Level for Displays in Windows 10  

"It may be an incompatibility issue with Speccy if it's showing the correct resolution in Settings and the Control Panel."

Thanks for the quick response, Brink. Just to be clear, with custom scaling level set to 100%, Speccy reports resolution of 2560x1600; at custom scaling level set at 150%, reports 1707x1068; at 125%, reports an in-between number.

It would appear to me that increasing the custom scaling level above 100% results in Windows achieving this by reducing the resolution.

Will do as you suggest.

Above screen shots show Speccy results with custom scaling set at 100% and 125%. Suggests that Speccy is working OK at 100%, so likely to be correct at 125% also.

Thanks, Brink. Looks like I have to choose between either high resolution or legible font size, not both. In Windows 7 I could have both. Real shortcoming of Windows 10.

Provided feedback to Microsoft.

Surprised that Windows 10 released with all these bugs. Perhaps should not be surprised given Microsoft's history. A fried CPU in Windows 7 PC forced me to a new PC and Windows 10; else I'd have waited a year before switching.

Hello Everyone,

I tried to read all of the information on this "situation." My computer is a Dell XPS 9343 with the high res touch (that's 3200 x 1800) screen.

In "the old days" when changing computers, it was tough enough. I moved from a Dell XPS 14z with a much lower res, non-touch screen to this new Ultrabook. And...

Win 10 just will not work. Dialog boxes are too small. Splash screens are too small. It's funny because I am working with Dell on this (no eta on any fix) and Microsoft told Dell that apps need to be "scaling aware." Well, Office 13 is a big offender (try Word on this setup). I guess it's not "scaling aware." Try Photoshop Elements. Same thing.

So I don't think MS knows what to do. The problem is widespread, everyone agrees there is an issue, but... sorry, no fix.

I do see that many folks have special SW and college text like explanations. Much appreciated. But this is a consumer notebook. No one should have to do all this to get a display to, well, display.

Just checking to see if anyone has this system or one like it and is experiencing the same goofy scaling, resolution, size thing.

Tell you what I did to as a test. I hooked the Ultrabook up to an external "just over HD" display (non touch). Perfect. So if I with to turn a notebook into a desktop, there's a fix, albeit about $500 to include a touch screen.

So this is Windows 10 vs. hi res. and Windows 10 lost.

Thanks to all that read and comment.

w10bls said:

Hello Everyone,

I tried to read all of the information on this "situation." My computer is a Dell XPS 9343 with the high res touch (that's 3200 x 1800) screen.

In "the old days" when changing computers, it was tough enough. I moved from a Dell XPS 14z with a much lower res, non-touch screen to this new Ultrabook. And...

Win 10 just will not work. Dialog boxes are too small. Splash screens are too small. It's funny because I am working with Dell on this (no eta on any fix) and Microsoft told Dell that apps need to be "scaling aware." Well, Office 13 is a big offender (try Word on this setup). I guess it's not "scaling aware." Try Photoshop Elements. Same thing.

So I don't think MS knows what to do. The problem is widespread, everyone agrees there is an issue, but... sorry, no fix.

I do see that many folks have special SW and college text like explanations. Much appreciated. But this is a consumer notebook. No one should have to do all this to get a display to, well, display.

Just checking to see if anyone has this system or one like it and is experiencing the same goofy scaling, resolution, size thing.

Tell you what I did to as a test. I hooked the Ultrabook up to an external "just over HD" display (non touch). Perfect. So if I with to turn a notebook into a desktop, there's a fix, albeit about $500 to include a touch screen.

So this is Windows 10 vs. hi res. and Windows 10 lost.

Thanks to all that read and comment.

Here is how I solved the problem of legible font size. In Windows 10, Start>Settings>System>Display>Change the size of text, apps and other items and then slide the pointer to a value higher than 100%. I use 150% for my 2560x1600 monitor. Not sure if this changes the display resolution; Windows says my resolution remains at the native 2560x1600 but Speccy says it has been reduced. In any case, it does what needs doing.

Hello and thank you for your reply. OEM (really ODM) was instructed by Microsoft to move the slider to 250% (recommended). It actually says "recommended." I had already been through that one and so, even at 250%, which kind of defies logic, it is still virtually impossible to enter some text in some dialog boxes. This is a notebook and the native screen is 3200 x 1080 (again "recommended") and yep Speccy agrees. If I change that, look out, it scatters the icons (another irritation which seems to have virtually no fix).

I did try one other thing... I did get my own min-display adapter. Hooked up to my four year old HD television (using TV as monitor). Perfect scaling.

My conclusion is that for some reason, Win 10 just is mad at ~4K displays.

Thanks again and I am happy this worked for you.