How often do you find yourself opening a new application and it opens on the wrong monitor? This can be frustrating, especially when you are trying to multitask. Luckily, there is an easy way to force Windows 10 applications to open on your primary monitor instead of defaulting to them opening on whichever screen they were last opened. All you have to do is follow these quick steps!
Table of Contents
3 Ways to Open am App on Primary Monitor
Set main display
When setting up multi-monitors in Windows 10, you need to tell your computer which one is the main display. There are two ways to do this, you can set it in Display Settings or via Control Panel. It is easier in Windows because we only need to care about Display Settings.
- Right-click on Desktop and choose Display Settings or browse System Settings > System > Display to open setting page for display for multi monitors.
- Click on the Identify button under illustrations of displays to show the display number (1,2,3, etc…)
- Click on a display number, scroll down and tick the Make this my main display button.
If the app is opened on main display, it will be shown again on the correct monitor.
Move app to desired monitor
Using this method is the easiest method to make an app to open on the monitor you want it to be displayed. Whether you have two, three or four monitors, you can set an app’s default display. It can be third-party program or inbuilt application and it doesn’t matter how many times they are opened; each time will automatically launch on their designated screen!
- Open the software
- Hold the mouse on the top bar of the software and drag it to the desired monitor. Or you can move it quickly by pressing Windows + Shift + Left/Right Arrow.
Later, when you open that software again, it will appear on the last monitor you dragged it to.
Resize window
In some rare cases, your computer can’t detect the move/drag, so the software will always be opened on the same monitor.
To fix this problem, launch the app on your computer and resize the window. Avoid using maximizing or minimizing its window!
Then drag the app to the desired monitor. After that, you can close it again without resizing its window.
Additional Information about Multi Monitors
The Windows operating system has always given you the choice of opening your programs on a different monitor than where they were opened previously. This is true for both desktop and laptop computers, as well as tablets which have two screens (or more). However, prior to Windows Vista there was no way to tell the computer which screen should be designated as “primary.”
When it came time to open a new program or window in that pre-Windows Vista era, the user had to decide what would go on each display by moving windows back and forth manually until satisfied with their arrangement. To avoid this tedious process now – and also because some newer PC monitors are wider than older ones so it’s hard to fit all your apps on one screen without scrolling left.
The Windows operating system has introduced the multi-monitor feature to provide a better working environment. However, some software still opens on the wrong monitor and you need to resize window or drag it to correct screen manually. That’s why Microsoft offers an option – force applications open on primary monitor in Windows!
