I was trying to change my PC's resolution and noticed the Windows display scaling setting. I misunderstood what it did, so I changed the scale to 120% and then all the way up to 500%, thinking it would somehow increase the resolution. Now everything is so large that the relevant settings and buttons don't fit on the screen, and I can't return the display to normal. I don't have another monitor available. What's the easiest way to reset the scaling to 100%?
4 Answers
Try using keyboard shortcuts first. Press Windows key + Esc, or hold the Windows key and press Minus repeatedly to reduce the zoom. If this is an accessibility zoom rather than display scaling, that may bring the screen back immediately. You may also need to reset the zoom increment to 10%.
Another option is to open the Run dialog with Windows key + R, type ms-settings:display, and press Enter. Wait a few seconds, then use Tab to move through the controls until the scaling menu is selected. Use the arrow keys to choose a smaller percentage and press Enter. You may need to try different numbers of Tab presses because the layout differs between Windows versions.
The instructions worked for me, but I had to press Tab five times instead of four on Windows 10.
If navigating the settings is too difficult, you can reset the scaling through the registry. Press Windows key + R, type cmd, and press Enter. Then run `reg add "HKCUControl PanelDesktop" /v LogPixels /t REG_DWORD /d 96 /f`, followed by `shutdown /r` to restart. A LogPixels value of 96 corresponds to 100% scaling. This is more precise than trying to find the right control with the keyboard, but be careful to enter the command exactly.
You can navigate back to the Display settings without being able to see everything. Press the Windows key, type “change the size of text, apps, and other items,” and press Enter. After the settings page opens, press Tab several times until the scaling control is selected, enter 100, then press Tab and Enter to apply it. The exact number of Tab presses varies by Windows version—five worked for some systems, while others needed around eight. Restart the computer afterward if the change does not take effect.
That shortcut didn’t change anything for me when the Windows display scaling itself was set too high.