Change DPI Scaling Level for Displays in Windows 10  

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    Change DPI Scaling Level for Displays in Windows 10

    Change DPI Scaling Level for Displays in Windows 10

    How to Change DPI Scaling Level for Displays in Windows 10
    Published by Category: Customization
    29 Jul 2022
    Designer Media Ltd

    How to Change DPI Scaling Level for Displays in Windows 10


    Dots per inch (DPI) is the physical measurement of number of pixels in a linear inch of a display. DPI is a function of display resolution and size; a higher resolution or a smaller size will lead to higher DPI, and a lower resolution or a larger size will lead to lower DPI. When a display has a higher DPI, pixels are smaller and closer together, so that the user interface (UI) and other displayed content appears smaller than intended.

    Windows ensures that everything appears on the screen at a usable and consistent size by instructing applications (including the Windows desktop shell) to resize their content by a scale factor. This number depends on the display DPI as well as other factors that impact the user’s perception of the display. Almost all desktop displays and most current laptop displays are in the range of 95-110 DPI; for these devices, no scaling is required, and Windows sets a scale factor of 100%. However, there are a number of new devices, particularly in the premium laptop and tablet markets, which have higher displays with over 200 DPI. For these devices, Windows sets higher scale factors to ensure that the user experience is comfortably viewable.

    When you change the DPI scaling level for your displays, it changes the size of text, apps and other items to appear larger or smaller. A higher DPI level has everything appear larger, and a lower DPI level has everything appear smaller.

    The default DPI level is 100% (96 DPI).

    For more about display scaling, see:

    This tutorial will show you how to change the DPI scaling level for all or specific displays to make everything appear smaller or larger on the display(s) for only your account in Windows 10.

    When you use a DPI over the default 100%, the icons of the default folders under Quick access in the navigation pane of File Explorer will be on a folder instead of just an icon like below.
    Change DPI Scaling Level for Displays in Windows 10-quick_access_100_dpi.png

    If you have an app that doesn't scale properly when you are using a high DPI setting, then you could use compatibility mode to Disable display scaling on high DPI settings for the app.


    For a Windows 11 version of this tutorial, see:

    Change Display DPI Scaling Level in Windows 11



    Contents

    • Option One: To Change DPI Scaling Level Per Display in Settings app
    • Option Two: To Set Custom DPI Scaling Level for All Displays in Settings
    • Option Three: To Set Custom DPI Scaling Level for All Displays in Registry Editor
    • Option Four: To Restore Default DPI Scaling Level for All Displays using a REG file






    OPTION ONE

    To Change DPI Scaling Level Per Display in Settings app


    1 Do step 2 or step 3 below for what you would like to open Display in Settings.

    2 Open Settings, click/tap on the System icon, and go to step 4 below.

    3 Right click or press and hold on your desktop, click/tap on Display, and go to step 4 below. (see screenshot below)

    Change DPI Scaling Level for Displays in Windows 10-dpi_in_settings-1a.png

    4 Click/tap on Display on the left side. (see screenshot below step 6)

    5 If you have more than one display connected to your PC, then select a display at the top on the right side that you want to change the DPI of. (see screenshot below step 6)

    If all your displays are not shown, then click/tap on the Detect link to see if Windows can find it. If you are not sure which display belongs to what number, then you can click/tap on the Identify link to have each display's number briefly appear on each display to see.


    6 Under Change the size of text, apps, and other items, select the DPI percentage from the drop down you want to set for that display. (see screenshot below)

    This setting is stored as the DpiValue DWORD data value in a long subkey per display in the registry location below.

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\PerMonitorSettings

    Change DPI Scaling Level for Displays in Windows 10-dpi_in_settings-1.png

    7 Click/tap on the Sign out now link to apply. (see screenshot below)

    Starting with Windows 10 build 17083, your DPI scaling changes are applied instantly without the need to sign out.

    Change DPI Scaling Level for Displays in Windows 10-dpi_in_settings-2.jpg






    OPTION TWO

    To Set Custom DPI Scaling Level for All Displays in Settings


    This option is only available starting with Windows 10 build 15019.


    1 Open Settings, and click/tap on the System icon.

    2 Click/tap on Display on the left side, and click/tap on the Advanced scaling settings link under Scale and layout on the right side. (see screenshot below)

    Change DPI Scaling Level for Displays in Windows 10-custom_dpi_scaling_in_settings-1.png

    3 Enter a custom scaling size between 100-500 % you want for all displays, and click/tap on Apply. (see screenshot below)

    Change DPI Scaling Level for Displays in Windows 10-custom_dpi_scaling_in_settings-2.png

    4 Click/tap on Sign out now to apply. (see screenshot below)

    Change DPI Scaling Level for Displays in Windows 10-custom_dpi_scaling_in_settings-3.png

    To turn off custom scaling:

    A) Open Settings, and click/tap on the System icon.

    B) Click/tap on Display on the left side, and click/tap on the Turn off custom scaling and sign out link under Scale and layout on the right side. (see screenshot below)
    Change DPI Scaling Level for Displays in Windows 10-turn_off_custom_scaling.png






    OPTION THREE

    To Set Custom DPI Scaling Level for All Displays in Registry Editor


    1 Type regedit in the search box (Win+S) on the Start menu or taskbar, and click/tap on OK to open Registry Editor.

    2 If prompted by UAC, click/tap on Yes.

    3 In Registry Editor, navigate to the location below. (see screenshot below)

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

    Change DPI Scaling Level for Displays in Windows 10-custom_dpi_regedit-1.png

    4 In the right pane of the Desktop key, double click/tap on the LogPixels DWORD to modify it. (see screenshot above)

    If the LogPixels DWORD doesn't exist, then right click or press and hold on an empty area in the right pane of the Desktop key, click/tap on New, click/tap on DWORD (32-bit) Value, type LogPixels, and press Enter.


    5 Select (dot) Decimal, type in the value data from the table below for the DPI scaling level you want, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

    Change DPI Scaling Level for Displays in Windows 10-custom_dpi_regedit-2.png

    DPI Scaling Level
    Value data
    Smaller 100% (default) 96
    Medium 125% 120
    Larger 150% 144
    Extra Large 200% 192
    Custom 250% 240
    Custom 300% 288
    Custom 400% 384
    Custom 500% 480

    6 In the right pane of the Desktop key, double click/tap on the Win8DpiScaling DWORD to modify it. (see screenshot below)

    If the Win8DpiScaling DWORD doesn't exist, then right click or press and hold on an empty area in the right pane of the Desktop key, click/tap on New, click/tap on DWORD (32-bit) Value, type Win8DpiScaling, and press Enter.

    Change DPI Scaling Level for Displays in Windows 10-custom_dpi_reg-1.png

    7 Type 0 or 1 for the value data based on the table below, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

    Value data Description
    0 Enter 0 if you used 96 in step 5 for no custom DPI scaling.
    1 Enter 1 if you used any other size in step 5 for custom DPI scaling.
    Change DPI Scaling Level for Displays in Windows 10-custom_dpi_reg-2.png

    8 Close Registry Editor.

    9 Sign out and sign in to Windows to apply.






    OPTION FOUR

    To Restore Default DPI Scaling Level for All Displays using a REG file


    1 Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below.

    Restore_Default_DPI_in_Windows_10.reg

    Download

    2 Save the .reg file to your desktop.

    3 Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

    4 When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

    5 Sign out and sign in to Windows to apply.

    6 You can now delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.


    That's it,
    Shawn Brink






  1. Posts : 591
    Windows 10 Pro 64bit; Windows 10 TP; KDE Neon
       #1

    Brink, can I ask you something just out of curiosity?

    Your option 3, To Set Custom DPI Scaling Level for All Displays in Control Panel, after the .reg file has been applied, does it change the size of the Taskbar and Start Menu items', as well? So, if after applying the .reg file, you set a Custom DPI of 125%, will that get applied to the Start Menu items and the Taskbar icons, too?

    Because when I've tried the custom DPI setting on Win 10 Pro, without your .reg file applied, it changed the text size in the menus but not on the Start Menu and the Taskbar.

    Thank you.
      My Computers


  2. Posts : 68,543
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #2

    Hello Joanne, :)

    The selected DPI would be applied to everything. Did you sign out/in or restart afterwards to fully apply?

    The .reg file option is removed now, since it no longer has any affect though.
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 591
    Windows 10 Pro 64bit; Windows 10 TP; KDE Neon
       #3

    Ah yes, you are right Brink, I'm sorry.

    The custom DPI setting does increase the size of everything. It does not resolve the blurry text issue on all those windows components and menus, though. I've already resolved this. Got confused, sorry.

    :)
      My Computers


  4. Posts : 68,543
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #4

    Yeah, it would be nice to set a custom SPI without risk of slightly blurry text.
      My Computers


  5. Posts : 76
    Windows 10 x64 Pro
       #5

    Unfortunately, the DPI problem in Windows 10 is very serious. I have many system windows and non-Microsoft programs that are extremely blurry. Using 125% DPI and the "Let me choose one scaling level for all my displays" setting which helped, is gone.

    This is the only solution that currently works for me - it seems that with every new Windows edition, more and more hacks and workarounds are required to make it work sanely.

    Interesting info here too, and an alternative fix.
      My Computer


  6. him
    Posts : 31
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #6

    DPI scaling issue? Or something else?


    Guys, hoping that you will be able to help.

    I have tried all settings/tools available - WinAero Tweaker, Xplorer DPI and the Registry trick from this thread. However, the blurry text issue is not solved. Any thoughts could it be related to hardware/driver issue in my case (please see PC specs under my name/profile)? The display hardware is ATI HD 6650 which is built into the APU A8-3850. The PC is about 3~3.5 yrs old now. Also, the monitor is working on VGA rather than DVI, ever since my graphics card conked off (Sapphire ATI HD 7750).

    Please provide your thoughts.

    Update:
    Mild OC was enabled in the BIOS. The figure was set to 105% of CPU speed. This worked fine with dedicated graphics card. However, with in-built graphics, this does not seem to work. I remember this issue long back too with Win 7. When I increased the percentage to 101 or more, the font would become blurry. This is same issue with Win 10.
    Now, I have set the frequency to 100% and the fonts are much better. I cannot say that they are great, but they are much better. As someone mentioned, Win 10 bumps the DPI to 125% by default. So, everything seems bigger, but is also not as crisp. Hope this helps others who may have similar issues.

    Change DPI Scaling Level for Displays in Windows 10-dpi_scaling.jpg
    Last edited by him; 19 Aug 2015 at 12:42. Reason: Improvement in situation
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 68,543
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #7

    Hello him,

    The VGA connection doesn't help, but anytime you change the DPI, I've noticed text to be a bit blurry. It appears to be a bug from not using the recommended (default) DPI and screen resolution.
      My Computers


  8. Posts : 7
    Windows 10
       #8

    Using a Monoprice 30" monitor capable of 2560x1600 resolution connected with an HDMI cable to my PC video card.

    Followed your steps to set custom scaling level to 150%. This is necessary to make various windows and fonts legible on this large high resolution monitor. Bit this results in my resolution (as reported by Speccy) to fall from 2560x1600 to 1707x1067. [Control Panel shows screen resolution set at the native 2560x1600, as does the NVidia Control Panel.] If I remember right, this did not happen with Windows 7.

    How can I have larger legible fonts in all the programs and the desktop and still keep my resolution at 2560x1600?
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 68,543
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #9

    Hello Kumar, and welcome to Ten Forums. :)

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

    I'm afraid that it seems blurry text is a side effect of setting a higher DPI so far. You might see if playing with different combinations of DPI and resolution settings may help. In addition, make sure you have the latest video driver installed. Next, you might all see if using the ClearType Text Tuner may help.
      My Computers


 

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