How can I force my dedicated GPU to handle all applications or disable my integrated GPU?

Question

I'm a software developer and currently Electron, a library I'm using lacks a feature to choose whether the dedicated GPU handles the dynamically generated executable during development (each time you save a change, an executable is dynamically generated for quick testing.

So I can't just change Windows settings for this specific executable to use the desired GPU), so I'm wondering if there's a way to just force my dedicated (non CPU integrated) GPU to handle everything on my system. This isn't really a software question, the context just seems relevant.

How can I force my dedicated GPU to handle all applications or disable my integrated GPU?

Answer 1

From pureinfotech:

Starting with version 1803 (April 2018 Update) and later versions, Windows 10 features a new section in the Settings app, which also allows to specify the preferred graphics card for traditional desktop and Microsoft Store apps to improve system performance or battery life.

To force an app to use a discrete GPU instead of the integrated adapter, or vice versa, to provide better system performance or battery life, use these steps:

1. Open Settings.
2. Click on System.
3. Click on Display.
4. Under “Multiple displays,” click the Advanced graphics settings link.
5. Select the kind of app you want to configured using the drop-down menu: (Classic app — these are your traditional Win32 desktop programs.) (Universal app — these are those app available through the Microsoft Store.)
6. If you select Classic app, you’ll need to click the Browse button to locate the “.exe” file to add the app. Otherwise, if you select the Universal app option, you’ll see a second drop-down menu to select the app.
7. Select the app you added from the list.
8. Click the Options button.
9. Set the graphics preference you want to use: (System default — this is always the default setting, and Windows 10 decide which GPU to use automatically. Power saving — runs the application on the GPU that uses the least power, which most of the time is your integrated graphics processor. High performance — runs the application on the most capable GPU, which is most of the time an external or discrete graphics processor.)
10. Click the Save button.

Once you’ve configured the steps, the app you configured will use the graphics processor you specified optimizing battery life or performance the next time you launch it.