Dual monitors

Hi all,
Does anyone know how to get Vista to both mirror and/or span across dual
monitors - without the use of extra software (is Vista capable by itself)?
The main goal is mirroring as I'm being asked by several people. I can do
it with my nVidia control panel, but others need to do it with just Vista
(even Ultramon says they can't do it on Vista, just on XP and 2000).

Thanks beforehand

Totally depends on the video card and drivers you have in the system whether
you can span across monitors. If you don't have two outputs (one on a
laptop with the built-in display) that you can hook the individual monitors
to you can't. I haven't yet seen any laptops that don't have the ability to
span. I have an older Dell with XP Home, two Averatecs, one with XP Home
and one with XP Pro, and an HP running Vista Ultimate. All can span or
display the same image depending on how I have the driver set up.

In Vista you Right click a blank area of the desktop. Click Personalize.
In the Personalization window that opens click Display Settings. Make sure
that your second monitor is connected to the extra output port on the
computer. If the computer's video driver is capable of "seeing" two outputs
at the same time you will see monitor 1 and monitor 2 displayed in the
Display Settings window that opens. To span, click on the monitor with the
2 in it. You will see "Extend the desktop onto this monitor" appear. Click
the box to the left of the message and then click Apply. You should
immediately see the desktop expand out to the other monitor.

If you want to send the same data to two monitors (or a monitor and
projector) get an amplified video splitter. A decent one can be had for
about $50. This (even with a laptop with a weak video system) will allow
you to run two outputs and not have to worry about movies or such not being
properly projected. There are many different ones and here is one, not
necessarily one that I recommend.
http://www.kvm-switches-online.com/vs92a.html

I have looked into this as well in the past..

you cant switch back to mirrored without an extra software or the driver
control panel....

that's what I have concluded

perhaps you can define key-shortcuts to do this using the nvidia driver so
you wont have to go to the control panel


otherwise both in nvidia and ati I always needed to go to their control
panel

Yes, Vista is capable of doing either by itself. Ultramon adds
additional features, but neither it nor any other extra software is
necessary.

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No offense but you didn't explain how to do it.