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I really messed up my windows PC today. I tried to connect my laptop to a projector via HDMI. When nothing was showing up on the projector I went to the display settings to see if I could fix the problem there. I changed the settings to only show screen 3, thinking it was the the projector. Unfortunately that was not it. Instead this screen appears to be some non-existent screen (maybe some sort of virtual screen? I'm not sure where it comes from) and now I am no longer able to see anything on my laptop screen, even when no other screens are connected to it. I tried connecting a second screen via HDMI but nothing shows on there either. I am now stuck with a black screen on my laptop whenever I switch on my PC and don't know how to change these settings back to show screen 1. When booting my PC I see the windows logo as usual, but as soon as the pc is started and I should be able to enter my password, it is all black since it is only shown on that non-existent screen 3.

I have no idea what to do now, so any help is greatly appreciated. I am using windows 10.

EDIT: I was able to fix the problem by following this procedure in safe mode: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/windows-10-reset-external-monitors-settings/b3a53cef-e54f-4410-b09e-6846fa297a3f

Also, my problem with non-existent monitors seems to be connected to this issue: Windows 10 detects too many monitors

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  • Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking.
    – Community Bot
    Commented May 5, 2022 at 13:17
  • Try this: Enter Advanced Startup Options menu on boot, get to the command prompt and enter: DisplaySwitch.exe /internal
    – Saaransh Garg
    Commented May 5, 2022 at 13:31
  • Unfortunately the DisplaySwitch.exe command is unavailable in that command prompt.
    – user1690510
    Commented May 5, 2022 at 13:59
  • Another solution might have been to plug in a new HDMI output source (monitor,tv). This should be enabled when plugged in and will give you a chance to reset. I like you solution though.
    – Señor CMasMas
    Commented May 5, 2022 at 15:02

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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I know it sounds really, really silly, but have you tried turning it off and on again?

We have a similar issue at my work with teachers connecting to projectors and setting the Display to 'Show Second Screen Only' and sometimes when they disconnect it goes black.

I would suggest following the below (to see if it tricks screen into working):

Restart your PC.

Press Shift + F8 before the Windows logo appears.

Click See Advanced Repair Options.

Click Troubleshoot.

Click Advanced Options.

Click Windows Startup Settings.

Click Restart.

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  • Thanks for your reply. I can start my laptop in safe mode, unfortunately there I cannot remove the other display or change the display settings for the regular mode because the other displays are not shown here. If I exit safe mode and reboot normally I am once again stuck with the same problem.
    – user1690510
    Commented May 5, 2022 at 13:48
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I am now stuck with a black screen on my laptop whenever I switch on my PC and don't know how to change these settings back to show screen 1. I have no idea what to do now.

While in Safe Mode, delete the following registry keys, after exporting them to a flat file as a backup.

  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\GraphicsDrivers\
  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Connectivity\
  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ScaleFactors\

After the removal of the keys you should perform a system reboot.

Source: Clear and Reset External Display Cache in Windows 10

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