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I would like to set my monitor's scale under 100%, but Win10 only lets me set it to 100% or higher. Why won't Windows let me do that? Is there any workaround to do that? I am aware of the fact that scaling below 100% will result in merged pixels.

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2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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You must use a registry hack to get scaling values below 100%:

Open the Registry, navigate to HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop, and double-click on LogPixels to edit. If there is no LogPixels, create a new DWORD value and name it LogPixels.

Make sure the Base is set to Decimal.

The default value is 96, as in 96 dots-per-inch, which is "100% scaling". Values lower than that will be sub-100% scaling values.

Next, in that same Key, find Win8DpiScaling. It it doesn't exist, make another DWORD value and name it Win8DpiScaling. Then edit it as follows:

If the value of LogPixels is 96, then Win8DpiScaling should be 0. If the value of LogPixels is anything besides 96, the Win8DpiScaling value should be 1.

More information: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/5990-change-dpi-scaling-level-displays-windows-10-a.html

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    Thanks for the answer, sadly it doesn't seem to work anymore? I tried it several times but nothing has changed
    – Alice Wood
    Jun 11, 2018 at 19:22
  • Do you mean 0x96, or decimal 96?
    – Tripp Kinetics
    May 4, 2020 at 21:08
  • Looks like this does not work in Windows 10. It's supposed to work just by logging out and then back in, but I also tried a reboot. @TrippKinetics: it's decimal 96, as noted by “Make sure the Base is set to Decimal.”
    – Adam Katz
    Apr 8, 2021 at 22:14
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Unfortunately in Windows 10 there is no way to set lower DPI than 100%. Only way to make things smaller is setting resolution above default (or buying larger monitor). Sometimes it may mean to create custom resolution in you graphic card driver.

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    Why do write it can't be fine when there is a post describing how to do it
    – Dave
    Jul 11, 2020 at 20:34
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    Please check out superuser.com/help/how-to-answer - your answer isn't very constructive I'm afraid. If you can show research, and how you arrived at your conclusion, your answer is far more valuable.
    – 5Diraptor
    Jul 17, 2020 at 6:51
  • The post describing how to do this applies to older versions of Windows. This is noted in the comments to the older answer here as well as the comments to the answer for How to setup custom DPI below 100% on Windows 7?
    – Adam Katz
    Apr 8, 2021 at 22:17

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