Vista logon changes Dual monitor display settings

I use an external monitor with my laptop for a dual monitor extended desktop.
I want the external monitor to be the primary. This is easily setup via my
video driver software, windows display settings, or third party SW like
UltrMon. The problem is at logon Windows Vista resets the display settings
to make the Laptop screen the primary display, and changes the "layout" of
the monitor locations, and sometimes the refresh rate of the external
monitor. This happens at any logon whether from system restart or a simple
logon from locking the system.

I experimented with UltraMon to see if simply forcing the display settings I
want via the StartUp menu would work. It appears the change Vista causes
happens after the services and StartUp programs load. This seems consistent
with the fact that a simple unlock logon causes the same problem.

Note: the reset occurs at the end of the logon sequence. The logon screen
itself is always positioned correctly, and the desktop is redrawn properly on
both monitors until the end of the sequence when the display is changed.

System Info: Dell XPS M1212 Laptop, NVidia Ge Force Go 7400 Adapter, Dell
2007WFP external Monitor, Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade, all latest
drivers from Dell and MS, clean system (only OEM as delivered software with a
by the book upgrade to Vista), software passed vista compatibility checks.

I think I solved my own problem. After a second pass at selectively enabling
each service, I found that disabling "Windows Event Log" solved the
problem... at least for now.

Right click the Computer Icon, select Manage, open Services and
Applications, open the Services snap in, find "Windows Event Log", right
click "Windows Event Log", select Properties, in the dialog select Disable.
The restart.

Hope this helps others

Found a different solution that I wanted to pass on. For me, Nvidia
has a control panel that allows you to change the monitor
configuration. It appears that Windows and NVidia were fighting over
control, and Nvidia was winning. So, I stopped changing the dual
monitor settings in Windows -- starting changing them in Nvidia, and
my problems went away.

HTH!

[Thomas51]

I too was having the same problem with my laptop and an external monitor. Whenever I logged in, my display settings would get all get reset.

I tried disabling the Windows event log as suggested and that corrected the monitor issue, but had some other unintended consequences. By disabling the event log, the Windows Task Scheduler also becomes disabled, thus any applications dependent on the Task Scheduler won't run.

After further research I found the root cause of the dual monitor problem. There is a task in the task scheduler called TMM (Microsoft Transient Multi-Monitor Manager). I disabled this task, and all seems to work fine now.

Hope this helps others.

Thomas

Disabling TMM worked for me too, thanks a million!

But when TMM was off, it wouldn't detect if I had one plugged in when I
logged in or came out of sleep, which was helpful. So I came up with a few
modified settings of the TMM task. Basically, it tells TMM to run at log-on
and when coming out of sleep, but to turn off after a minute so it won't be
active during lock or unlocks. I still have to rearange every morning though.

The layout problem was annoying me too, my external monitor kept defualting
to the right. I have a DELL FP1905 Monitor and noticed that the monitor
driver was defaulting to the Generic PnP driver, then realized I never
installed the driver for this monitor. Once I installed the Dell driver for
the FP1905 display (including restart, and updating the monitor layout
settings once more) it seems to work flawlessly now. Vista must save layout
settings per driver type and only resets the settings associated with the
generic driver.

So I have removed Windows Event Log with vlite. But I still have this problem.

I can't remove TMM (Microsoft Transient Multi-Monitor Manager) because
Windows Task Scheduler is disabled, thus disabling all task schedules.

And I can't install a driver for my CT-934D monitor because they came with
no drivers. Searching didn't help.

So I ask, when is this going to be fixed?

I found this problem to be caused by a registry setting created by the nvidia
drivers I installed.

It created a DWORD registry value in HKLM\Software\Microsoft\TMM called
UseIViewHelper and set it to 1. I renamed this key to "UseIViewHelper old",
rebooted and the problem is now gone.

When I login, the external monitor resolution stays as it should and if I
unplug it, Vista detects this and switches the laptop monitor back to be the
main desktop.

[teq]

Do you have any idea how to do a fix for non nvidia? I have a dell w/ intel
integrated 965 and am getting truly annoyed...

Programs generally decide where thier windows go. Try changing resolution
(windows attempts to make them show). Else use the keyboard to move the
window, Alt + Space, M, press left then up arrow keys (experiment on a
window you can see first).

Thanks _Tux_, after changing that, and rebooting, I didn't have this problem
again (until I installed Vista SP2, I think!).

Have a look at this thread;
Vista logon changes Dual monitor display settings

Particularly this post;
<quote>
I too was having the same problem with my laptop and an external monitor. Whenever I logged in,
my display settings would get all get reset.

I tried disabling the Windows event log as suggested and that corrected the monitor issue, but
had some other unintended consequences. By disabling the event log, the Windows Task Scheduler
also becomes disabled, thus any applications dependent on the Task Scheduler won't run.

After further research I found the root cause of the dual monitor problem. There is a task in
the task scheduler called TMM (Microsoft Transient Multi-Monitor Manager). I disabled this
task, and all seems to work fine now.
</quote>

Do not disable the Event Log, but try going into Task Scheduler and
disabling TMM (Microsoft Transient Multi-Monitor Manager).
That seems to have worked for me, too.

This has been just another very annoying Vista bug.

Disabling TMM in Task Scheduler worked for me on my laptop. I searched
all over the place for a solution and am glad that I stumbled upon this
page for help. To access Task Scheduler in Vista, go to the Start Menu
and type in Task Scheduler. In the 'Task Scheduler Library', select
Microsoft->Windows->MobilePC. Right click 'TMM' and select 'Disable'.
You will need to log out and then log back in for changes to take
effect. After you finish doing that, you may want to browse 'HelmetHead
Cycle Gear™ Motorcycle Accessories'
for motorcycle/scooter accessories. :-)

[Wyan]

Secondary Question. I use a laptop and monitor or projector for dual screen when i do presentations. Recently something happend and browers windows don't apear in the screens. Let me be precise. A 3rd party sofware calls on windows to import files, that widow (just like the window you receive when you want to insert a file in word does NOT apprear anywhere. Monitor 1 or 2. It freezes my operation cause i can't select files of close the window. I have tried disabling the TMM, i have resest all NVIDIA settings but i still can access the windows. Any way to tell Vista to make all windows apprear on the default monitor. THank you

[Dannyboy888]

Try switching the primary monitor to secondary and the secondary monitor to primary (or vice versa). It worked for me on a Toshiba Satellite running on Vista 64 bit. In Vista you can go to display setting --> advanced setting --> Intel® Graphic Media accelerator driver for Mobile --> graphic properties --> then, reverse the settings under display selection (primary to secondary or secondary to primary, in other words make display 1 into 2, 2 into 1 or vice versa). Hope this works for you.

Dannyboy888

Hello, I have the very same problem on Windows 7 RTM x64. Stopping the
Windows Event Log process solves it, but it also has impact on other
software that I need, so its no way. TMM then doesnt seem to exist on W7
- I cant see it in task scheduler:-(

any suggestions? thanks a lot

Had the same problem here. I looked under Device Manager and noticed that I
had two installations of the same generic PnP driver. I uninstalled one and
everything seems to work fine now. I think it must have been saving settings
to one and getting them from the other, or something.