How to Rotate Your Screen in Windows 11

This article explains how to change the screen orientation in Windows 11.

How to Rotate Your Screen in Windows 11

Open the built-in display settings to change the screen orientation.

1. Right-click the desktop and choose Display settings.

   Alternatively, open Settings (Win + i) and go to System > Display.

   

2. Select the monitor you want to rotate, if you have more than one.

   

3. Scroll down to the Scale & layout section.

4. Select the menu next to Display orientation, and choose Landscape or Portrait to pick an orientation. To flip the screen in those positions, your options are Landscape (flipped) and Portrait (flipped).

   

5. Choose Keep changes on the prompt to rotate your screen.

   

Which Screen Orientation to Pick

Here's what those four options will do and why you might pick one over another:

• Landscape is the default horizontal position for monitors. Keep this orientation if you have no reason to rotate your screen.
• Portrait changes the screen orientation up and down. Using a monitor in portrait mode is ideal if your workspace doesn't support landscape mode or if you need to see more of a document, photo, etc.
• Landscape (flipped) and Portrait (flipped) are the same as the other orientation options, but everything is flipped upside down. One use case for this is if you're hanging your monitor from the ceiling.

Keyboard Shortcuts to Rotate the Screen

The shortcut to rotate or flip the screen in Windows involves the Ctrl, Alt, and arrow keys. For example, Ctrl+Alt+Up returns the screen to the default landscape orientation. Unfortunately, this only works when you rotate the screen in Windows 10.

If you want to enable keyboard shortcuts to rotate the screen in Windows 11, there are third-party programs that can get the job done. One that I like is called Screen Rotate.

Below are the shortcut keys to rotate the screen with this program. You can change these from the settings.

• Ctrl+Alt+R rotates the screen. Keep pressing it to cycle through all the options.
• Ctrl+Alt+W returns the orientation to the default landscape mode.
• Ctrl+Alt+A inverts left.
• Ctrl+Alt+S inverts down.
• Ctrl+Alt+D inverts right.

How to Rotate a 2-in-1 Laptop

If your laptop also functions as a tablet, you should be able to rotate the whole computer to switch between using the portrait or landscape display. If that doesn't work, the software Rotation lock is probably engaged, preventing the screen from rotating.

To fix this, open Quick Settings by tapping the volume or battery icon on the taskbar (by the clock). If the Rotation lock is highlighted, it's turned on, and your screen won't rotate—tap to disable it.